Bernd Zipper had an old companion sitting at the table who actually doesn’t look that old. Ralf Schlözer grew up in the printing industry. He studied in Stuttgart, Berlin and the USA, was deeply involved in research at MAN Roland and knows the exciting way through the jungle of figures at Infotrends (now Keypoint Intelligence). A man who researches markets and technologies and then draws his conclusions from them.
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Without much press hype, the news fluttered into the company’s own newsletter: Cimpress has made a strategic investment in CloudLab AG, it said, in order to make the cooperation even closer in the future. But what is the background to the strategic partnership and what will it change for the software developer’s existing customers? Beyondprint asked CloudLab founder and CEO Marc Horriar.
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Axel Lilienblum is a physicist. Technically, that is. But today he is one thing above all: the founder of Grow.Photos, a start-up founded last year that takes a completely new approach to the subject of photo books. Grow.Photos is a photo book that literally grows with the user and is a subscription-based model.
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It all started with an algorithm that matches print job requirements with production machine specifications and immediately outputs prices. A few years later, the Cologne-based start-up sourc-e has become a full-service print broker that, with a team of 40 and an international network of 250 print shops, is rethinking the purchasing of print products and, above all: digitizing them.
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Print buyers know the procedure: Specify requirements, find suitable production partners, obtain offers, evaluate, decide. This takes time; sometimes even 10 to 15 days. But it doesn’t have to, says Lucas Scherer, founder and CEO of sourc-e. The Cologne-based start-up has since developed into a full-service print broker with a powerful network of international print shops behind it.
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Labelprint24 and Packaging Warehouse have recently become part of the All4Labels Global Packaging Group but will continue to operate as subsidiaries under their own brand. Beyond Print spoke to Stefan Harder, Managing Director of Labelprint24, about the background to the takeover and what plans the companies now have – with the clout of the group behind them.
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Do you know how much your business is worth? Or what you should look out for when it comes to buying or selling a business? No? Then you should definitely tune into the latest episode of the Beyond Print podcast! Because that’s exactly what Bernd Zipper discusses with Jens Freyler, Managing Director of the Hamburg-based consultancy, Knox, and initiator of print-eXchange.de, the new business exchange for the printing industry.
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In the past we have observed the path of Cimpress and have had intensive discussions with Robert Keane about the industry and his company. At the Online Print Symposium, Robert Keane gave a much-noticed lecture. He has experienced and moved a lot and acts like a metronome in the online print world.
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Bernd Zipper is considered a visionary in the printing industry for good reason. He has been explaining and predicting many trends for years – such as in an interview with the marketing magazine, “Horizont”. Developments such as mass customization and automation are now indispensable in the print sector. Many are therefore worried that the industry could die out.
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Our colleague Knud Wassermann asked Adrian Mayr, Head of Product Management & Corporate Marketing at Müller Martini, how the company is driving the digital transformation in print finishing and what further development priorities are envisaged.
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