If you’ve been reading The Cannata Report for any length of time or watching Fridays with Frank for the past year, you know that Frank G. Cannata is the document imaging industry’s staunchest advocate for production print. He speaks prolifically about it, any time, any place. When manufacturers such as Canon, EFI, Konica Minolta, Ricoh, Xerox, and now Kyocera introduce a new production print device, Frank pays attention. And he believes that more dealers should pay attention as well.
Post-COVID, there’s been a lot of chatter about future-proofing your business. If you ask me, future-proofing is a euphemism for diversification. Moving upstream into production print and even further upstream into industrial print are two ways that larger dealers are diversifying. That doesn’t mean mid-sized dealers should be left out, and based on the early returns of our 37th Annual Dealer Survey, more mid-sized dealers are engaging in production print. But it’s still a small percentage. For dealers of that size and even smaller dealers, light production is an excellent starting point and a gateway opportunity to move further upstream to production print.
I’ve attended numerous print conferences over the years focusing on production and industrial print and spoken with many OEMs with robust production and industrial print lines. Like Frank, most believe that this is a terrific diversification opportunity. Still, dealers who have decided not to venture into the production print space won’t change their minds no matter how many times Frank or their OEMs promote the technology. That’s okay. File that under “Different Strokes.”
If you are prepared to think big, a conversation with your OEM is a great place to start but also consider attending PRINTING United in Las Vegas in October. I will be there. Expect detailed reports on everything we see and hear in print and online. Historically, we haven’t seen many dealers at these types of shows. Even though PRINTING United is focused primarily on end customers, that doesn’t mean a dealer interested in production print can’t glean valuable insights from walking the show floor, meeting with vendors, and attending the many breakout sessions. These sessions provide a deeper understanding of what’s on the mind of the production print buyer.
In the meantime, check out our light production and production and industrial print coverage throughout this issue. These articles might help you decide whether to go big.
