They haven't heard about the End of Print or the economic blablabla in Pawtucket, RI

In the same week, I read about Cenveo closing Anderson in California, I got news this morning from WTT about Matlet Group in Rhode Island.

It's a good story about how skilled craftsman work with a professional press manufacturer to create something new. Engineers couldn't do it themselves. The craftspeople couldn't do it themselves. It's an example of what co-creation of value means in the physical world, as opposed to the cyber world.

Man Roland is an OEM. Packaging Graphics is an OPM - Original Print Manufacturer. They are not market service providers. They are printers who seem to be able to focus on following their DNA, their top customers and have a reasonable time horizon. OEM + OPM = innovation. They improved the process to print better, faster, cheaper ( cheaper means lower cost, not lower price.)

The OEM works with the OPM to invent new stuff that creates "innovative solutions for our customers.” It's what Printers have done since Mr. Franklin and Mr. Gutenberg. That's a Printer's DNA. It's also just common sense.

Some snippets from the story. The first one is the co-creation stuff.

. . .Plant manager Brad Hankin and pressroom manager Patrick Gilmartin led the design team responsible for the configuration of the ROLAND 700 Ultima press with In-line Foiler Prindor.

. . . it also allows Packaging Graphics to manage spikes in customer demands with the excess capacity provided by the new press

Once a printer can load balance, they can lower their costs.

. . . Packaging Graphics has many long standing relationships and their top customers have been with them for over 15 years.

Long standing customer take a long time. They are the human capital that powers a business.

They do retail package design, folding cartons, displays and thermoforming for many Fortune 100 companies.

I wonder how much they invest in marketing or whether they use Twitter.

. . . Carafa, who spent the first two of his seven years at Packaging Graphics as the company’s Controller. A former GM with Quebecor, Carafa said . . .

I bet that Quebecor lost this obviously amazing person either in some downsizing or by not figuring out the right working conditions and incentive package to keep him in the mother ship..

. . . Packaging Graphics in Pawtucket, RI, unveiled its new 17-unit, custom-designed manroland foiling press earlier this year . . .Our group visited their Print Technology Center near Chicago when we attended Graph Expo in 2006, and we later went to Germany to test the foiling system. . . . Three year plan . . .