Here’s another thINK 2018 panel discussion you won’t want to miss, especially if you’re in the book printing arena or looking for niche opportunities there.

Marco Boer from IT Strategies will moderate this session and he has a lot of information to share about  where the market is today, and the opportunities Inkjet presents for book printers. He says book printing is stable in North American market with modest growth. However, there is pressure on margins and even bigger operations are having to move faster to survive. The ones who find themselves still printing offset are becoming less profitable. As big companies standardize on size and drive down margins in trade books, smaller, more nimble companies can pick up full-color work in other areas of the book printing world. 

Hear it from the Book Printers
You’ll also hear from three diverse companies as they share the challenges and rewards of their move to production inkjet book printing with the Océ VarioPrint i-series sheetfed inkjet press. 

• Books International is a family owned and operated company in Dulles, Virginia. It’s provided fulfillment services since its inception in 1984 and in recent years expanded its services to include print-on-demand and digital services to publishers worldwide. 
• McNaughton & Gunn has 40 years of book manufacturing knowledge. Serving publishers and self-publishers, they specialize in offset printing, 4-color digital printing, eBook conversion, and short and medium runs for web, sheet-fed, and digital printing.
• Bookmasters, Ashland Ohio, has been a publishing industry leader for more than 40 years. It now serves as the manufacturing division of Baker & Taylor, which offers full-service book publishing and distribution services.

What’s the Takeaway?
Marco says the key takeaway from this session will be how to create new applications and streams of revenue. This information should help you think ahead about what do next and what to budget for in terms of equipment, software, and finishing equipment that can add productivity.

Find information on all the thINK 2018 sessions here.

Bob Radzis is Chief Customer Officer at SG360°.