API crash course – How printers can benefit from API.

Interview in Dutch - subtitles in English. Print & Sign in Gorichem klingt als een klok en bekend in de oren bij de meesten uit de branche uit de Benelux. Velen onder ons zijn er wel al eens geweest of plannen dat te doen in 2025. Maar - and pay attention here ! - , naamwissel naar “Visualise Expo”… Een nieuwe naam dus, en ook een nieuw gezicht van de drager van deze grafische vakbeurs. Wij ontmoeten samen Martijn Brandse. -- EN -- Print & Sign in Gorichem sounds like a bell and is familiar to most people in the industry in the Benelux. Many of us have already been there or are planning to do so in 2025. But - and pay attention here! - , name change to “Visualize Expo”… A new name, and also a new face of the head of this graphic trade fair. Together we meet Martijn Brandse.

Marrs is a super interesting company, producing luxury packaging. Besides the Eagle Systems Cold Foiler and the two Koenig & Bauer Rapida 106 presses, Marrs is equipped with everything needed to produce beautiful boxes. They even produce all the dies inhouse - and to give you an idea of how much they produce, they have two people employed to only produce die forms - and seeing how the dies are prepared for the die-cutting machines is super nice. The family-owned company is VERY pleased with their second investment in the Eagle foiling system, and it's being used almost all the time. Super interesting to meet the next generation (cousins) John Brigsby and Andrew Marrs - and, of course, also talking to Ricardo Lopez, who's worked in offset for years - after giving up his dream of being a professional football player many years ago. A truly nice company with a convincing family spirit.

Markus Winkler is the Head of Business Unit Life Cycle/Service for BHS Corrugated - and as service and lifecycle obviously are important, his role is interesting and important. In this interview, he also explains how BHS offers solutions to essentially manage plants entirely on behalf of their customers - that can be for shorter/longer time. It's amazing how business models have changed everything these years!

German language - English subtitles In this Weber Reitoft - already our 5th edition - we have invited General Manager Markus Weiss of HP Industrial Printing EMEA to talk about HP from a German perspective, but also based on whether we in Europe and Germany in particular can learn from the Americans. The inspiration came from an interview Editor Morten B. Reitoft did with Marc Johnson from HP in San Diego, who interviewed at HP's PrintAhead event in Alpharetta, Georgia. Super interview with English subtitles - so dig in.

How does HP gather data from customers to understand future needs and requirements? Listen to what the head of HP Deutschland, Markus Weiss, explains at the HP PreDrupa event in Indianapolis.

Markus Klopf is today the Team Leader of Weilburger Graphics R&D department. He has been with Weilburger Graphics for many years and finds the job very interesting - as he explains, it's about developing new coatings for packaging and label converters. About 70% of the production is water-based coatings, and the rest is UV-based. Interesting behind-the-scenes film - enjoy! Interview by James Quirk Filmed by Jan Majnik Edited by Jack Fisher

Markus Hoffmann is the Senior Vice President of Industrial and Applications, and a member of the board with Leonhard Kurz. In this interview, Markus Hoffmann talks about the broader perspective of competition, business models, future investments, and what drives him in his leadership position. Good to learn from!

Roughly FESPA is divided into Machines, Substrates, and Software - and then all the other things, of course. In this short interview, European Sales Manager Marko Martinovic explains to Jacques Michiels the difference in the offerings Kaspar Papir offers.

INKISH.TV made an interview with Nils Petter Nordskar at the annual meeting in Trondheim in September - an interesting interview, claiming that the printing industry have a great potential selling more.. The Norwegian Federation of Printers is now inviting their members for a two day seminar. We have made a small teaser for the event. Enjoy and click link below to get more to know! https://www.norskindustri.no/Bransjer/Grafisk/AKTUELLE-SAKER/lag-din-egen-markedsforingsplan/

Managing Director Lucy Swanston from Nutshell Creative Marketing in the UK has used Market Direct for nine years and sees the solution as a competitive advantage for her customers and her company. Listen to her in this interview we did at the eProductivity Software/EFI Connect 2022.

At Printing United Expo in Orlando, Wayne from INKISH meets Mark Syswerda from Truly Engaging Print to discuss how digital embellishment—especially with Scodix technology—has transformed their business. Mark explains that Truly Engaging is a 30-year-old company specializing in direct-to-consumer (DTC) and wholesale printing, with most of its work handled online. “We’re primarily an e-commerce brand,” he says. “The majority of our jobs come through web-to-print, but we also handle wholesale projects for other brands, especially where we’ve built niche expertise—like magnets, stickers, and Scodix embellishments.” The company operates a fleet of HP Indigo presses—12,000s and 15,000s—alongside two Scodix presses. “Our first Scodix arrived in 2019, right before COVID,” Mark recalls. “A few years later, we added another one. The new polymers work across a wider range of substrates, and that’s opened up a lot of possibilities.” Wayne asks how customers experience embellishment when ordering online. “That’s the tricky part,” Mark admits. “You can’t feel raised foil or spot gloss on a screen. We rely heavily on sampling—single personalized proofs—so customers can actually hold and feel their design before ordering. For life events like weddings or births, that tactile quality is everything.” The Scodix investment, he adds, has been a major differentiator. “It lets us stand out with products that others simply can’t offer,” he says. “We’ve even become a demo site for Scodix. They bring potential customers to see our machines running in real production, and that’s brought in new business for us too.” Designers at Truly Engaging have also embraced the technology. “Our team’s creativity has exploded,” Mark says. “They’re experimenting with gradients, texture variations, and layered effects. It’s not just putting down polymer—it’s turning every piece into something you can feel. Our design department keeps developing new templates and ideas that push what’s possible.” He praises Scodix’s collaboration and support: “Their product teams have done training sessions with us both at our Chicagoland production facility and our Minnesota marketing hub. They’ve been fantastic partners.” Looking ahead, Mark sees more opportunities for innovation. “We’re applying embellishment to magnets, postcards, even sticker mailers,” he says. “And we’re taking advantage of USPS’s Tactile, Sensory, and Interactive (TSI) discount program—it’s a perfect fit for embellished print.” Mark concludes: “Scodix has been a game-changer for us—creatively and commercially. It’s helped us stand out, raise our average order value, and deliver print that people genuinely want to touch.”

Mark Subers is the President of PRINTING United and NAPCO, and in this video, we ask Mark Subers why there is a need for a new large expo - PRINTING United. The event takes place in Dallas, TX, USA October 23rd to 25th 2019 and just two weeks after Print19 in Chicago. PRINTING United grows out of the SGIA expo that for many years focused on Large Format printing. With PRINTING United NAPCO and SGIA are joining forces to attract both more visitors as well as more exhibitors. Looking at the exhibitor map here: https://pru19.mapyourshow.com/8_0/#/ the space is already limited for exhibitors who have still not decided to go. This is, of course, great news for the visitors since this indicates a massive interest from the industry. In this film, Mark Subers talks about the event and rest assured INKISH will, of course, cover the event with a daily LIVE show report. Remember to watch, like, and share this video.

PRINTING United Expo was cancelled a few days ago - sad but somehow expected. In this interview, editor Morten B. Reitoft sits down with President Mark Subers to learn why the decision was taken, Subers' view on the future of PRINTING United, tradeshows in general, and other very important and exciting topics. The consequences for the industry with the many cancelled tradeshows aren't at the current time clear, mainly because the buying cycles are LONG in our industry. But listen to the conversation, and as usual, enjoy! LinkedIn Profile: Mark Subers

PRINTING United takes place October 18th-20th in Atlanta, Georgi - and of course, INKISH will cover the event - and as usual, in-depth, engaging, and hopefully something you will like. Part of coverage is as often as possible to talk to the people behind the scenes and for PRINTING United Expo, one of the leading forces in Mark Subers. In this session, we talk about whether the Under One Roof approach is still the right approach that visitors can expect, and, of course, we also talk about the industry in general. It was nice catching up with Mark; we hope you enjoy it!

PRINTING United had its first show in 2019 and planned a physical show in Atlanta in 2020. Due to the pandemic, PRINTING United soon realized that it had to either cancel, postpone or change. In this session, we hear more about the considerations, the outlook, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic directly by President Mark Subers - and most likely, we will also hear about the upcoming PRINTING United 2021 show.

Mark Stephenson is the Product Manager for the Jetpresses in Europe. In this conversation, we speculate over the future of drupa. One reason is obviously Fujifilm's own presence at the show, but also because Mark Stephenson has a crush on the drupa-songs, so he has created a Facebook page with all the songs - you can find that here: https://www.facebook.com/DrupaSongs/ As with all our 'Over the Skype' interviews, quality is limited to bandwidth, web-cams, and ability to literally LIVE mix the conversations. However, it works, and with Over the Skype, we will bring you more than 20 exciting people, and angles on the industry as it is right now. Enjoy!

We are warming up to Hunkeler Innovationdays #HID25, and once again, we offer free interviews to all exhibitors before and during Innovationdays. We are excited and thrilled to welcome our first guest, Mark Stephenson, from Fujifilm. Fujifilm is one of the most interesting companies to follow these years, with tons of acquisitions, new employment, and consequently so much new and exciting equipment. At Innovationdays, Fujifilm will focus on their Inkjet series of printers - and I am sure you can look forward to engaging presentations by the entire Fujifilm team!

My father, who was a church minister. He would use, I guess, a Techni Duplicator to publicize his rallies and meetings. And try to bring people to Jesus. All this blessed thing, he would say. It's been the first time I ever saw print happening. There was the smell of the ink. Things took a long time. And sometimes it was not just budget. It was like you wanted to do something now. You could have 30 or 50, 100 within half an hour. Somebody comes up with a bright idea. And when you look at the background to it, you find out: Actually, that's how things used to be. But just framed in a different story. By 1977, this was me. Handsetting type. Out by the poster machines this was. You've got a very tight set of constraints to be able to design something. You know, putting text on a curve is like: Whoa! I'm one of those sort of sub creative people that knows when they look at something, if it's right or not. A lot of the terms we use today go back to letterpress composing. So, leading between lines was a physical piece of lead. When two characters are one like ‘fi’ and ‘ffi’. We call it a ligature. This is a Wharfedale. The one I operated was called an Elliott. But it was all out of the same factory in Otley. It was a double Demy press. That was the biggest sheet it would take. And I would hand feed this press. And hand ink it. On my training, I was told: Never walk around the back of this machine. The last person that did that when it was running, lost their leg. It was taken at our Advanced Print Technology Center in Brussels. Where I haven't been in fourteen months. And I've been here in this room with the exception of one trip. I have this picture on my desktop. And on another screen, I have a picture of that old press. I can see the journey I took. And this process has been my life now for around four years. We're reaching the speed. An offset B2 press. It's bringing together a whole team of people. To achieve what we've done. But at the moment we're being quiet about it.

Screen has long been recognized as one of the leading Inkjet printer OEMs in the market. At PRINTING United, we got the chance to talk to VP of Marketing Mark Schlimme about their continued focus on web-fed Inkjet printing and how the new Truepress JET S320 fits the bill as a machine that can be used as a backup for the popular 520 series. It was great listening to Mark Schlimme, so please enjoy!

Senior Director of Global Product Marketing Mark Little and Editor Morten B. Reitoft spent some time at Ricoh's booth to learn about what Ricoh exhibits and its motivations. We, of course, talk about the VC40000, which is shown in Europe for the first time at a show despite being one of the world's most used print engines. We also talk about toner, color management, and software, and finish with the VC80000 - enjoy!

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.”

Mark's Quest for American Exhibitors takes him to Ricoh, a global player—but Mark Little, Senior Director of Global Product Marketing, is as American as it gets. Here, Mark and Mark talk about the booth traffic, the new VC80000, the types of applications, and who this printer is made for. Great work!

Almost 34 years with Standard Finishing, and one of the most influential people in the US printing industry, Mark Hunt, is soon retiring. 68-year-old Hunt looks back on his career in this interview with Editor Morten B. Reitoft, but also forward as he expects to see more of his family. Enjoy!