Can we REALLY Make Money in Digital Print?

I remember more than 10 years ago, when in the company I would later run, as VP Sales, recommending that we begin the journey into digital print. At the time, we were printing (UV offset) overhead transparencies for the Educational Publishing market.

College publishers served the professors at the universities who wrote the books being printed. And the professors wanted the transparencies as teaching aids for their lectures. So to secure the book business, the publishers provided the overheads, usually at no cost, to the authors.

The big challenge was to improve the service to the professors while decreasing the cost (which ate into the publishers' profit). We provided a solution. With the aid of our pre-press & IT persons, a consultant wrote software for us to attach to the publisher's website. Meanwhile, we digitized/prepared the files with the publisher. What resulted was that the professor could go to the publisher's website, & choose not only which slides she wanted, but in the order she wanted. Delivery was in about 4 days (quite good back then!)

Meanwhile, we had grouped several Printronix printers (a blast from the past) and tied them to what was then an Indigo (now HP) press. We also constructed a climate controlled work area for not only the press, but finishing equipment like drilling, cutting, and wrapping. The collation sequence was handled in the software we created with H/P.

We would then summary bill the publisher monthly, which was very clean while reducing expense since the professor only ordered what she wanted. Previously, they were ordering the whole set, which could be as many as 200.

Did we make money? Yes we did. Not a lot, due to the learning curve, build out, and custom software.

But it did 2 very critical things for us: 1) It got us in the game way before 99% of the marketplace. This would eventually grow into expanded digital production for book components (covers and jackets), and other classroom materials. Eventually we had H/P, Xerox, and Kodak presses and an exemplary understanding of the workflow and marketplace.

Secondly, and just as importantly, it secured a great deal of additional business because we could serve all of the customer needs. If we got the digital portion, we would get the offset as well, and vice-versa. We also got the jobs at a higher gross profit level because our competition couldn't do the same.

What's to learn from this bit of history? Well, it's the same now, really. It's a bit scary, it's a challenge, but the winners will jump in and start the learning process. When you do things that others cannot, or will not, do, you win; it's that simple. Hire and develop good people, and together you will discover the right course of action!