Today’s PSPs need to be a Jack Of All Trades —Including Embellishments

If you are reading this, then you probably already know how a PSP is defined within the printing industry. Yes, Print Service Providers are considered printers that offer printing as a service to buyers and consumers. PSPs can be small, medium or large and are found all around the globe. Traditionally, they offered large-run offset products. It was also not uncommon for a PSP to specialized in more embellished print by offering foiling, unique papers, die-cutting and more.

Of course, speciality printing came at a premium, which made it more often reserved for special occasions, large brands, luxury goods and high-profile events. The landscape has changed quite a bit, especially over the last decade, with the continued evolution of digital printing. That didn’t solve the speciality nature, but PSPs could still add foil and spot floods offline as they had done with offset. Or they could also send it out to another printer that had the capabilities.

Printers in the past didn’t need to be a “Jack of all trades”. Today, the competitive nature of the print industry and the accessibility of digital technology does not require a printer to be able to offer a wide variety of products; it does make it advantageous if they do. In another Scodix blog, we share 4 Key Trends we see in the printing market space. Those include:

1. Smaller Orders with lower quantities to produce (short runs)
2. Increased volume
3. Demand for personalization
4. Ability to meet the requests of their buyers/customers or lose them to another provider

With a digital toner or inkjet printing device, you have many choices. You may choose from slower speed such as 100 pages per minute and a cutsheet application (precut letter or tabloid paper). Or a choice can be made to go with a roll-fed press that allows for higher speeds (e.g., 600 feet per minute) and continuous operation. Options for finishing that attaches to a digital device is also possible—an area the drupa Global Trends Report for No. 5 and No. 6 said PSPs would look to invest for future growth. This is where we hope you will turn to Scodix and truly become that “Jack of all trades”.

By choosing a Scodix digital enhancement press, you will be able to deliver incredibly embellished print offerings whether you service web-to-print, commercial and specialty, packaging or many markets in your organization. Examples of finishing applications we can help you achieve include:

• Scodix Foil™: Print real foil, cost-effectively, without the need for dies and molds for short to medium runs; includes an option to use variable data and personalize products using real foil to achieve unmatched foil enhancement results.
• Scodix Spot™: Print selective spot varnish for short to medium runs, digitally recreating the effect of traditional analog flat varnishes, but without the set-up time or mess.
• Scodix Cast&Cure™: Unique capability based on the Scodix Foil™ station design, creating high-impact, 3D-holographic dramatic effects.
• Scodix Crystals™: Add colourful sparkle effects with Scodix Crystals™ and create real 3D items with a high-build polymer; replacing the manual positioning of crystals on products such as greeting cards and brochures.
• Scodix Metallic™: Enables users to enhance prints with metallic colouring by simply using the Scodix Sense™ CMYK colour process.
• Scodix Glitter™: The usage of Scodix Foil with the texture of glitter and the combination of Scodix Sense™ with a pattern of glitter, enables users to get the look and the feel of real glitter without any mess all in a digital process.
• Scodix Uncoated: Scodix technology is uniquely capable of digitally enhancing uncoated substrates with quality integrity.

We invite you to watch our Studio Station Webinar for insight into how we are delivering technology that PSPs are using to win more business from their current customers and new business as a whole. During this on-demand webinar, you will hear about and see real-world examples of Scodified print, learn about how quickly you can add embellishments, see a Scodix press in action and get answers to commonly asked questions.

As you look to 2021, give your print shop a new tool to answer print buyer demands. Make it possible to deliver on standout print or packaging. Start your journey by connecting with one of our Scodix representatives. We look forward to assisting you in setting your print offerings apart from the competition.