At Drupa, we're at the Weilburger Graphics booth, talking to partners, including the Italian ink producer, Colorgraf. They've collaborated with Weilburger Graphics for over 35 years, offering a range of inks for various applications. The ink company, founded in 1951, has expanded from sheet-fed inks to UV and flexo inks, aiming to provide a comprehensive product lineup. They emphasize technical support and passion in their work. Discussing market trends, they see sustainability and investment as key future challenges, believing in quality growth. They hope to pass the business to the next generation.

At Fespa 2023, we meet Dr. Aleksey Etin, the owner of UAB Veika but better known in the market under the brand name DIMENSE. A really interesting showcase of 3D digital large-format printing and embossing technology. Let's see what's so special and new in this niche market. Interesting stuff, enjoy!

Pat McGrew from Inkish interviews Dr. Adrien Steel, Managing Director of Mercian Labels, at LabelExpo 2025 in Barcelona, about how CERM has been central to the company’s drive for efficiency and growth. Adrien explains that CERM has become the “point of truth” for Mercian’s entire production platform, integrating all their hardware and software systems into a single cohesive workflow. They adopted CERM in 2016 and, after an initial implementation phase, have continually built deeper integrations over time. He highlights their biggest productivity leap: integrating CERM with ABG’s Connect platform to automate the conversion of short-run digital labels into finished rolls—traditionally one of the biggest bottlenecks. This project, launched in 2019 and fully operational from 2022, won a global label industry award and has delivered major results: a 9% improvement in turnover per employee in 2023, followed by another 13% in 2024. Adrien notes that this automation not only boosts efficiency but also builds customer trust by improving delivery reliability and product quality, which in turn strengthens sales and retention. He adds that productivity gains have continued despite tough market conditions across Europe, and that profitability has grown as a result. Looking ahead, Mercian is now exploring ways to integrate AI into order processing. Adrien also discusses the cultural side: staff at Mercian expect continual change as part of the company’s drive to be a world-class label manufacturer, and seeing ongoing improvements motivates them. Rather than resisting new tools, employees embrace them as part of their culture—so much so that stopping innovation would unsettle them. Adrien concludes that embracing change, automation, and innovation through platforms like CERM has made Mercian more competitive and secure and has helped build a high-performing, future-ready team.

Of course, the coronavirus is a subject that concerns many people. How does the virus spread, and is paper products something you should be worried about? In this 'Over the Skype' INKISH editor and Country Manager INKISH India, K.S. Ashik talk to the recognized Dr Lal Sadasivan from FHI360 based in Washington D.C. about this - so here you get the newest and latest. 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!

The printing industry is all too measured by the developments in printing technology. Ultimately, however, postpress determines the quality, quality and effectiveness of a print production. All the more exciting the Over the Skype conversation between Volker Leonhardt, President and Member of the Board, Müller Martini AG, with Andreas Weber, CEO INKISH D-A-CH. From the provider of mass production solutions i. e. in the newspaper sector, the solution provider based in Zofingen, Switzerland, has become a top player in on-demand and short run productions. Target markets range from on-demand productions to the manufacture of digitally printed books. Made in Switzerland is becoming a quality mark all over the world. What sounds like squaring the circle is explained by Volker Leonhardt as a logical consequence of turning to Industry 4.0. The digital know-how is used in new, ultimate solutions and in the handling of services and spare parts delivery. --- Die Druckbranche misst sich all zu sehr an den Entwicklungen in der Drucktechnik. Doch letztlich bestimmt die Weiterverarbeitung die Güte, Qualität und Wirkungsweise einer Druckproduktion. Umso spannender die Over the Skype-Konversation von Volker Leonhardt, President and Member of the Board, Müller Martini AG, mit Andreas Weber, CEO INKISH D-A-CH. Vom Anbieter von auf Massenproduktion ausgelegten Lösungen v. a. im Zeitungsbereich hat sich der in Zofingen, Schweiz, beheimatete Lösungsbieter zum Top-Player bei On-Demand und Short Run-Produktionen. Zielmärkte sind anspruchsvolle Produktionen bis bin zum Fertigen von Büchern. Made in Switzerland wird zum Gütezeichen in aller Welt. Was wie die Quadratur des Kreises klingt, erläutert Volker Leonhardt als logische Konsequenz in der Hinwendung zu Industrie 4.0. Das Digital-Knowhow findet Anwendung bei neuen, ultimativen Produkten/Lösungen und im Handling der Services und Ersatzteillieferung. LinkedIn profile https://www.linkedin.com/in/volker-leonhardt-5b887419/

Douglas Gibson is the Managing Director of Infigo Software in the UK. In this 'Learn with Us' session he talks about the processes you should consider before investing in Web-to-Print. What we really like about his presentation is his use of "dreams" vs "reality" approach - it inspired us, what do you think?

Doron Lerner is an Israeli printer offering extensive label services. From Flexo jobs to short run digital S.Lerner printing services every major sector in the label market from food to household to packaging. He describes the complexity of supporting manny product lines and explains how they work with the clients for the best result.

Dorinda Gibbons has worked as a recruiter focusing on the Graphic Arts Industry for the past twenty years with great success. It's about matching talents, and in this chat, we get a chance to understand how she works and the value she brings to the table. It's great to hear the HR perspective, which rarely happens!  

The train is rolling. If you are convinced that inkjet is the future, why not join us and learn how you can optimise the result and make the print run efficient. Let us share our experience on working with hundreds of applications and printers worldwide and help you to find the correct paper for your customer’s job.

Whether in offset or digital printing: the production process of a print product does not end with printing. Suitable finishing equipment contributes significantly to the added value of the final product. The market demands finishing solutions that keep pace with the variability, format diversity and output of modern inkjet systems in an industrial scale. We present various solutions and business cases for softcover, hardcover and magazine production that fully meet the requirements of individualized mass production in an industrial environment - in line to the Muller Martini strategy of "Finishing 4.0".

In this Print Sample TV episode, your host, Pat McGrew, explores the wonderful world of small-size, small print run boxes. She is pleased that the boxes are used at various tradeshows to showcase print, laser, die-cutting, and embellishment technologies. Still, she reminds everybody to include logos and explanations so their print samples won't be in incognito :-)

When we spoke with Chris Manley from GraphCo before going to Verdant, he said we would be intrigued by the owner, Don Kallil - and yes - that's an understatement. When you step into the company, you realize this is different. In a way, it's an in-plant because the technology is specifically acquired to serve Don Kallils's design business - another story and a fantastic story - but for now, let's stick to Verdant. Going from a small DI machine to an 8-color RMGT machine is impossible. You see every day, but then again, having an owner who calls himself Chief Vision Officer reflects quite well that visions, ideas, innovation, and a lovely personality define Don Kallil. Super friendly staff, beautiful products, and a happy RMGT customer - but dig into the story and listen for yourself.

Pat McGrew from Inkish interviews the team from Jetron at Label Expo about their LB3550 single-pass label press. The machine uses LED UV technology with a 350 mm print width and can print up to seven colors, including CMYK, orange, green, violet, white, and spot varnish. It combines two types of printheads: Epson heads for CMYK to achieve very fine details and Ricoh heads for white and varnish to deliver high opacity and density. The press is designed to produce high-quality, embellished labels for markets like cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals, and customers have been impressed by its quality and capabilities. Jetron focused on making the machine easy to use, with a simplified touch interface that allows operators to quickly select and print jobs without needing advanced computer skills, which is important for short-run digital jobs. They also developed their own workflow platform called Saga. This browser-based job management system handles prepress tasks such as file checks, color conversions, and trapping automatically, reducing errors and operator intervention. This ensures operators receive ready-to-print job orders with all critical settings preconfigured, improving consistency and minimizing waste. Saga integrates seamlessly with the press and is designed to help converters adopt digital printing easily, even in emerging markets where skilled operators and prepress expertise may be limited. Jetron positions the LB3550 as a cost-effective, low-barrier entry into digital printing while maintaining build quality and functionality, aiming to make the transition to digital and inkjet technology as smooth as possible for new users.

Obviously not. This is a brilliant example of what happens when printing on Ricoh's 7XXX series where you can add white ink to your print. Print Sample TV host Pat McGrew is truly impressed with the samples delivered by our friends out of Ricoh.

At PRINTING United, the exhibitors showed more gear than earlier, which was the case for Standard Finishing. In this film, we get a great chat with the Director of Sales, Paul J. Steinke, about the market and products, and we end with a walk-through of the Docutrim to see and understand what it does.

Docus is the biggest exhibitor at this year's Sign, Print & Promotion exhibition in Helsinki, Finland. In this interview, I get the chance to talk to Jari Kunnas who is one of the owners - and besides the interesting products from Ricoh and MultiCam, I was surprised to learn how Docus is bringing Samsung displays through their resellers to market to enable both print and e-signage. Great to see when companies embrace technology and use their knowledge, skills, and network to enable continuing growth!

We love Art - and in this Print Sample TV edition, the featured print sample shows off! This is a Jazz festival poster that has been done with the utmost care for decades. DMR Graphics are producing it, and it's not a standard CMYK job, but something that requires skills out of the extraordinary - watch the sample, learn from Pat McGrew, and as always, use print samples in the promotion of your company!

Håvard Grjotheim is now CEO of Scandbook - a public company within the Scandinavian printing industry, and we got the chance to talk with him at Print Next in Stockholm earlier this year. The exciting thing about the book printing companies is that they seem to have got a renewed interest in the printed book - not only from readers but also from the publishers. See what Håvard Grjotheim thinks about this.

DJM makes inkjet print heads - meet them at www.argosinspirationdays.com in Brussels!

Mark Hunt is the Director of Strategic Alliances from Standard Finishing Solutions. Standard Finishing Solution is the American distributor of Horizon and Hunkeler, and we met him at the Think Smart Factory event in Kyoto. In this INKISH interview, Mark Hunt speaks about the transition both Hunkeler and Horizon have been in since they started working with both companies many years ago. Obviously, the market has changed, and in the interview, Mark Hunt concludes that both companies are VERY well fit for the future of digital printing. Enjoy!

LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dirk-walgenbach-37556bbb/

Interview in Dutch - subtitles in English. Hoe bescherm je de marges het best en hoe pak je een steeds competitievere markt aan? De Multipress MIS-software van Dataline Solutions klinkt – zeker in de Benelux – bekend in de oren. De huidige Print Service Providers (PSP's), printproducenten, hebben vaak zeer specifieke behoeften/eisen. Het zwart op wit kunnen aantonen van de “monetaire” meerwaarde voor een organisatie, van haar investering zeg maar, is iets waar Dataline dan ook trots op is. Dataline geeft een ​​succesgarantie af, na een speciale prestatiescan, “in bloed getekend” aldus een zelfzekere Dirk Deroo. -- EN -- How do you best protect margins and how do you tackle an increasingly competitive market? The Multipress MIS software from Dataline Solutions sounds familiar - especially in the Benelux. Today's Print Service Providers (PSPs), print producers, often have very specific needs/requirements. Being able to proof in black and white the “monetary” added value for an organization, its investment, so to speak, is something Dataline is proud of. Dataline issues a success guarantee after a special performance scan, “drawn in blood” according to a confident Dirk Deroo.

Dino Pagliarello discusses "uncommon print" and Sharp Electronics' partnerships with Color-Logic, Duplo, and Takitful. Embellishments and the touch-feely side of printing add value and capture attention.

Dimitri van Gaever took on the role of Marketing Director at Kongsberg in June. We've only just had the opportunity to discuss his new position, and it's been a good time for him to reflect on some aspects that we'll explore in this chat. Enjoy!