Talking Fiery, PRINTING United, and production and industrial print with EFI’s Frank Mallozzi.
With PRINTING United around the corner, and EFI an exhibiter, I spoke with Frank Mallozzi, chief revenue officer at EFI, to discuss a variety of production and industrial print-related topics, including the upcoming PRINTING United show; current developments with the company’s flagship product, the Fiery digital front end (DFE); the supply chain; and the potential for dealers to be successful in the production and industrial print segment.
FGC: What can we expect from EFI at the PRINTING United show in October?
Mallozzi: PRINTING United will be our main tradeshow in North America this year, and it will highlight our best offerings across the digital commercial and display graphics markets. There will be a strong cloud component to our exhibit as we show the capabilities of the end-to-end workflow solutions created by our Fiery business, including the EFI IQ Cloud Suite.
Our newest Fiery digital front end platform, Fiery FS500 Pro, will be present in a few of our partners’ booths at the show, running the latest digital cut-sheet printers from major manufacturers. We’ll also be previewing advances coming to the next-generation Fiery launch that users can look forward to seeing and many innovations in upcoming releases.
There is also going to be a partner at the show presenting a new label production solution that features the first-ever implementation of our new Fiery Impress DFE. Impress is part of delivering higher speeds, high-end color management, automation, and integration. Our booth will also show many of our newest superwide-format solutions, including the EFI Pro 30h, a highly versatile, high-quality, 126-inch-wide hybrid roll/flatbed printer that is generating a lot of success.
FGC: Should dealers attend PRINTING United?
Mallozzi: PRINTING United is the perfect place for dealers to learn about the new opportunities in print. When you walk across the show floor, you can see much of what represents the growth in print. In some cases, it is applications dealers had not seriously considered supporting.
FGC: The dealers we interviewed for an article on production print in this issue provide Fiery with their Canon, Konica Minolta, and Ricoh products. What can you share with our audience about new developments with Fiery, particularly for these three manufacturers?
Mallozzi: I don’t think it is a coincidence that Canon, Ricoh, and Konica Minolta are first to market with new print servers that feature our latest-and-greatest technology, the Fiery FS500 Pro. They are taking advantage of important new technologies we’ve developed. The market is demanding more automation, and the innovation in FS500 has a strong focus on features and functions that reduce human touches and are easy, scalable, and flexible to implement and adopt. FS500 Pro and our latest Fiery workflow innovations are designed to reduce waste and drive efficiency. They provide tools, so that the customers’ prints are right on the first try, and production-printer users are able to get the absolute best out of their digital investments.
Dealers are also beginning to implement important technology we’ve brought to the office space because they see a trend with their customers wanting to bring high-end print in-house. That’s made one of our new offerings, Fiery TrueBrand, especially important. It gives users outstanding control and accuracy in reproducing corporate brand colors using Microsoft Office applications.
FGC: Of the three dealers I interviewed, two are selling industrial print products. Applied Innovation (formerly Applied Imaging) in Michigan sells the Canon Arizona, and Systel Business Systems sells the KM-1 and Mimaki large format. Can dealers successfully compete in the industrial print space? If yes, what do they need to do to take on these products and be successful?
Mallozzi: Yes, it can be done, and we have seen dealers create a strong competitive advantage for themselves doing just that. Atlantic, Tomorrow’s Office, as The Cannata Report has covered in the past, has been strong in developing its wide-format business to create new opportunities. And we have seen the same with other dealers, like IntoPrint, which has seen wide format take off among its customers.
Our deep commitment to dealer training and support is critical. We have all the programs—training, application expertise, and much more—needed to help ensure dealer success. We understand what it takes for dealers to succeed. We help them create new revenue streams for services such as color management that they can sell.
FGC: Dealers have been hammered by a ruptured supply chain. If they were to take on any of EFI’s industrial products, how likely would they have to deal with the same backorder problems?
Mallozzi: Our channel partners are among the best in the world when it comes to accountability to their customers, and we stay focused on holding up our end of the bargain to help them. Has that been more of a challenge in the past two years? Of course, but that’s not an excuse at all. We work with our partners to make sure we have great communications between us as a manufacturer, our dealers, and end customers. That is essential today more than ever before.
We have one of the world’s largest UV-LED ink manufacturing facilities. Having that plant in North America is an advantage here in terms of ensuring fast delivery. We also have an e-commerce solution for partners, and it is an important part of our ink and supplies infrastructure.
FGC: Given the current environment of declining print, particularly in the SMB market, how does industrial print provide an alternative and a means for dealers to diversify their businesses?
Mallozzi: As you know, anyone that proclaims “print is dead” is not looking closely enough at the market. Looking at the traditional office print environment, which, of course, has been hugely impacted by work-from-home trends, overlooks many of the transformations in print taking place right now.
A lot of it comes down to the remarkable innovations happening with inkjet. Business documents are being printed better and faster than ever with newer solutions. And beyond that, there are different types of inkjet solutions such as wide format that drive a ton of value. Dealers are finding businesses that can save money and improve quality and turnaround times by bringing signage and graphics production in-house. EFI has a proven line of printers to do that. In addition, there’s a proven Fiery workflow that helps ensure businesses are getting consistent professional-level output.
FGC: Can you tell us more about the EFI Ignite events?
Mallozzi: We have been building very strong relations through a successful series of open-house events called EFI Ignite in our Display Graphics facilities in the U.S. and Europe. They have proven to be an excellent venue to educate customers, prospects, and channel partners on the growth opportunities with digital. For dealers, these events enable a cost-effective, in-depth discussion to present technologies and our product roadmap.
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