Hayco Van Gaal starts a new professional life with RPI Print
In this conversation, Morten from INKISH speaks with Hayco, who has just concluded a remarkable 26-year journey at Canon EMEA. After more than two decades helping shape Canon’s commercial print direction, he begins an exciting new chapter at RPI on Monday.
Hayco reflects on the emotional challenge of leaving Canon — a company that has been central to his identity for over half his life — and the colleagues who became close partners throughout his career.
He introduces RPI, a global leader with more than 500 employees and production sites in Seattle, Rochester, Atlanta, and Eindhoven. The company specializes in:
High-end white-label production of personalized photo products, including photobooks for major brands
Self-publishing platforms like Blurb and MagCloud supporting creators who want to design, sell, and distribute books and magazines
He explains that while creating one photobook is easy, producing thousands every day — with consistent routing, quality, traceability, and fast delivery — is highly complex. Only a small number of companies worldwide can do this at scale. Hayco was especially impressed by RPI’s investment in workflow, automation, IT, and APIs, designed to make customer integration efficient and straightforward.
In his new role as head of European sales, Hayco will support existing global customers, explore new opportunities, and drive diversification. Because photobooks are highly seasonal, he sees big potential in using RPI’s production capacity for other applications outside peak periods.
As ordering moves increasingly online, printers must act more like IT companies — and strong PSP/OEM partnerships become essential. Morton notes that RPI’s focus on personalization, waste reduction, and sustainability positions the business well for the future — a point Hayco fully agrees with.
He also shares that RPI works with multiple OEMs, including Canon and HP, and highlights sustainability as a key focus area.
Hayco feels a strong cultural and personal fit with RPI and looks forward to staying close to the industry. He confirms he will attend the NON-EVENT in January.
Larry Corwin · President · Rollem International · PRINTING United 2025
At Printing United Expo in Orlando, Wayne Beckett from INKISH sits down with Larry Corwin, President of Rollem International, to talk about the company’s strong presence at the show and its latest developments in finishing technology.
“Day two — you survived the first day,” Wayne begins.
Larry smiles. “Yes, we did. It was very busy all day long. We haven’t seen a show of this size and magnitude in 10 or 15 years. This is what the old Chicago show used to be — and it’s great to see Printing United building that same kind of momentum.”
Rollem International, known for its precision slitting, scoring, and perforating systems, showcased an impressive lineup of new equipment at the show. “We’ve always been known for card slitting and paper converting,” Larry says, “but now we have two or three completely new models — the kind of machines we’ve dreamed about for years. They’re modular, so a printer can start small, say on a 13x19 format, and later expand into B2 just by adding modules.”
That modularity, combined with faster changeovers, is opening Rollem’s technology to a broader audience. “We’ve always appealed to large-volume users,” Larry explains, “but now, with quick changeovers and more flexible setups, we can serve short- and medium-run printers too.”
Wayne brings up the company’s success with the Insignia die-cutting line. “Insignia’s been out maybe six to eight years now,” Larry says, “and it’s been a huge success. It gives printers tremendous flexibility — they can move into decals, packaging, boxes — all kinds of new applications. It’s been very well received by the print community.”
Rollem has also long dominated the playing card market. “We pioneered that space,” Larry says. “We have a very strong market position, and we’re introducing new systems there as well. But beyond that niche, we’re expanding to broader applications like postcards, greeting cards, and business cards — jobs that appeal to many more printers.”
Another highlight at the booth is the Streamline System. “It’s the platform that lets us build out scalable finishing lines,” Larry explains. “You can start with two pieces, add more, and run different jobs at once — postcards and business cards simultaneously, for example. It’s a clever, efficient setup.”
Also drawing attention is Rollem’s new folding and gluing line. “It’s compact, attractively priced, and still delivers the performance of much larger systems,” Larry says. “It can run up to 48,000 boxes an hour — and it’s running live here at the show.”
Talking about Rollem’s legacy, Larry shares that the company is now in its third generation. “The company’s 63 years old,” he says. “I started working for my dad, and now my two sons are in the business. You could say it’s in our blood.”
Rollem has also been expanding geographically. “We’ve opened a much larger office in Florida,” Larry adds. “It includes parts, service, sales, and a full demo floor — joining our Midwest office outside Chicago and our headquarters in Anaheim, near Los Angeles.”
Wayne wraps up with a smile: “It sounds like things are going really well.”
Larry nods. “They are. It’s been a great show so far — and we’re just getting started.”
Mark Little · Senior Director, Global Product Marketing · Ricoh USA · PRINTING United 2025
At Printing United Expo in Orlando, Morten B. Reitoft from INKISH meets Mark Little to talk about Ricoh’s VC80000, the company’s newest high-speed inkjet press—shown publicly for the first time in North America.
Mark gestures toward the towering machine beside them. “We’ve had one running in our Customer Experience Center in Boulder,” he says, “but people want to see the real thing. They’ve seen the installations around the world, and now they can finally experience what makes it so special.”
Having spent years working across toner and inkjet platforms, Mark believes the timing for a true digital shift is now. “People talk about ‘offset to digital,’ but really it’s ‘offset with digital,’” he explains. “Offset isn’t going away, but for short runs, variable jobs, and faster turnarounds, digital is the smart choice. The VC80000 fits perfectly—it’s already running in publishing, commercial print, data-driven direct mail, and transactional mail. It’s a Swiss Army knife for production printing.”
The VC80000 is a ground-up Ricoh design, not an iteration of earlier systems. “It’s all Ricoh technology,” Mark notes proudly. “Every new platform brings challenges, but customer feedback has been outstanding. One customer told me they’re saving thousands of dollars every day on metal plates alone. That’s massive, and it’s why several are already ordering their second unit.”
When asked about costs, Mark acknowledges that total cost of ownership has long been a key discussion point for digital inkjet. “We perform ROI analyses with customers before installation,” he explains. “In most cases, digital comes out ahead. Roll-fed paper is cheaper than cut-sheet, uptime is higher, and with our 23-inch web width, we can run letter workflows in landscape orientation—boosting efficiency by over 20%. Add grain-correct folding and full-speed handling of up to 300 gsm, and suddenly, commercial printers see applications they never thought were possible on inkjet.”
He highlights automation and AI-driven intelligence as Ricoh’s biggest differentiators. “Labor shortages are universal,” he says. “So we built intelligence right into the machine. The VC80000 automatically manages alignment, density, and registration—it even calibrates itself. Operators don’t need to understand every technical parameter anymore. Just push the button, and the system does it.”
During live production, the printer scans every page in real time at 150 meters per minute (492 feet per minute). “If it detects a jet-out,” Mark explains, “it corrects it instantly—milliseconds—without stopping the press. Later, it self-cleans and permanently fixes the issue. That’s ultra production efficiency in action.”
Morten laughs. “With half a million offset presses still out there,” he says, “I suppose they all just need to buy one of these.”
Mark grins. “Exactly. And if they order by the dozen,” he replies, “I’ll wrap them myself.”
Josh Romberg · President · MBO North America · PRINTING United 2025
At Printing United 2025 in Orlando, Morten B. Reitoft from INKISH sits down with his good friend Josh Romberg from MBO on the third day of the show. They both agree that this time, the conversation should dig deeper—no soft questions, just a real discussion about the market, the challenges, and the opportunities.
Josh begins by describing MBO’s long history. The company’s roots are in commercial sheet folding, going back to the 1960s and continuing through the early 2000s with a strong focus on buckle folding, combi folding, and pharmaceutical folding. Around 2010 to 2015, especially in the United States, MBO shifted its focus toward the roll-fed finishing business. Today, roll-fed solutions lead their business in the U.S., complemented by rotary die-cutting with Bograma, the pharmaceutical and specialty folding division H+H, and MBO’s commercial folding machines.
The system on display behind them represents MBO’s newest roll-fed finishing line, featuring zero-speed splicing, rotary cutting, die-cutting technology, dynamic perforating and scoring, and MBO’s signature folding integration.
Morten then challenges Josh with a question: “The technology is amazing, but I can’t help thinking—you could sell more. Why don’t you?”
Josh smiles. “It’s a fair question. We have one of the most talented sales and service teams in the industry. For us, it’s not just about volume—it’s about enhancing value for the customer. We punch above our weight in roll-fed finishing. The goal is efficiency, enhancement, and creating more value.”
He adds that MBO continually expands its offering with modules and add-ons, such as flood and spot coating, designed to help customers increase both value and revenue.
Morten presses further, asking about the challenge of profitability and scale in such a competitive space. Josh explains, “We differentiate on product quality. Our systems are industrial-grade, high-speed, and high-productivity. We don’t consider ourselves a commodity player. Modularity is key—you can add or remove components as needed. That makes it easier for customers and OEM partners to grow and evolve with their markets.”
Morten accepts the answer but pushes the conversation toward competition. “Most roll-fed OEMs, whether EMT, Tecnau, or Hunkeler, come from the transactional printing space. You come from offset and book production. What makes your approach different?”
Josh explains that MBO approaches the market from the opposite direction. “Most competitors come from transactional print and are trying to move into commercial. We come from commercial and are moving into digital. We bring the industrial quality of web and sheetfed offset into this space.”
He then breaks down MBO’s philosophy of automation. “There are two kinds of automation: software automation and process automation through step removal. The transactional model takes a roll, cuts it, stacks it, and moves it to binding. We eliminate those steps. We aim to go from roll to finished product, minimizing human touchpoints, reducing errors, increasing throughput, and boosting customer profitability.”
Morten agrees, calling it a perfect answer. He then recalls seeing MBO at the Hunkeler Innovationdays and asks why he didn’t see a full MBO end-to-end setup there.
Josh explains, “Our end-to-end solutions aren’t one-size-fits-all. Between roll and sheet, there’s a lot of flexibility. We can add a perforator, a plow fold, or a merge unit depending on the job. The modularity means a setup can change completely from shift to shift or job to job. That’s the real value—adaptability.”
He continues, “Commercial printers today might be book printers one day, postcard printers the next, and mailers after that. Our systems adapt instantly with minor changes. That’s our strength. An MBO end-to-end solution could easily be three times the size of this booth depending on complexity. We offer breadth, flexibility, and scalability that fit how modern printers actually work.”
As the conversation wraps up, Morten thanks Josh for the honest answers and insights. Josh laughs, shaking his hand, “Good deal, Morten. Always appreciate the tough questions.”
Christoph Schacht · Co-Founder · Printess · PRINTING United 2025
At Printing United 2025 in Orlando, Morten B. Reitoft from INKISH meets his good friend Christoph Schacht, co-founder of Printess, on the final day of the show. Both laugh about how tired everyone feels after several intense days of meetings and interviews, but the energy returns quickly as they begin talking about how far Printess has come in just a few years.
Morten recalls speaking with Christoph during the COVID years, when he and his partner, also named Christoph, were quietly building something new. At that time, he wouldn’t say much, but Morten remembers seeing the name Printess already written on their office staircase. Christoph smiles and says that’s where it all started—an idea, a bit of secrecy, and a lot of hard work. About a year later, at LabelExpo Europe, the industry first saw the now-iconic pink branding and the platform's first working version. Since then, Printess has developed into a full-scale editorial and personalization solution for professional online printing. Christoph explains that they wanted to do one thing and do it right, focusing entirely on editing. Not a simple online editor, but something powerful enough for professionals and built to scale for the largest players in the industry.
Unlike typical web-to-print tools that offer only simple business card editors or lightweight design interfaces, Printess is built for complexity. It handles text flow, typography, image manipulation, dynamic layouts, and automated data integration, all inside the browser. Christoph says that this is their seventh editor, and they have learned from every earlier version. This time, they didn’t cut corners—they built their own typography engine, even though it was costly —and now they deliver true Adobe-grade quality. Today, more than fifteen million print products are created annually through the platform.
Morten points out that Printess also includes AI-driven template generation, allowing a user to type “barbershop” and receive instantly customized, print-ready marketing materials. Christoph confirms that under the hood, it’s complex technology, but for the end user, it’s as easy as using an iPhone. They combine powerful design tools for professionals with an intuitive buyer-side editor for consumers. That simplicity, he says, is key. Christoph also introduces Printess Make, a new solution for online printers that currently only offer PDF uploads. He explains that Printess Make was built for print providers who risk losing customers to platforms like Canva. Canva moved from being just a design tool to also offering printing, and that changes everything. Printess gives printers the same power—a complete online design experience under their own brand without losing customers to someone else’s platform. Printess operates as a white-label SaaS platform that enables printers to maintain full control of their brand and customer relationships.
Christoph explains that the buyer never leaves the printer’s website, and Printess earns per transaction, so printers only pay for what’s actually produced. This year marks Printess’s first official appearance in the United States, and Christoph says the response has been very encouraging. They focused first on Europe to refine the model and support structure, but now, as a pure SaaS platform, scaling globally is easy. They don’t ship servers or need large local teams, just great people willing to stay up a bit later for U.S. time zones.
When Morten asks about the company’s next steps, Christoph says they are happy where they are and will stay laser-focused on editing—precise, powerful, and scalable. Partners like Infigo have already integrated Printess into their web-to-print systems. Printess is not a competitor but an enabler, helping partners grow stronger. As they close the interview, Morten smiles and says that the name that once appeared quietly on a staircase is now on everyone’s lips at Printing United. Christoph laughs and says it has been quite a journey and that this is only the beginning for Printess.
