The company’s press statement states that the global restructuring is expected to generate annualised savings in the range of $3.0 to $3.5 billion exiting fiscal year 2014, of which the majority will be reinvested back into the company.

HP says enabling investments in people, processes and technology will allow it to accomplish the restructuring effort and to generate the savings. These moves are expected to yield significant improvements in efficiency and customer service during the next several years. HP expects to use the savings to boost investment in innovation around its three areas of strategic focus: cloud, big data and security, as well as in other segments that offer attractive growth potential.

As a result of this restructuring, HP expects to record a pre-tax charge of approximately $1.7 billion in fiscal 2012 that will be included in its GAAP financial results for that period. Through fiscal 2014, HP expects to record additional pre-tax charges approximating $1.8 billion that will be included in its GAAP financial results for the appropriate periods.

John Madden, principal industry analyst at Ovum says: "HP’s restructuring is painful but necessary in order to restore market and customer confidence after last year. We’ve been down this road before, of course, and the market remains sceptical about how these operational changes will enable HP’s stability, especially for its enterprise business. What’s somewhat encouraging is HP’s indication that most restructuring savings will be directed toward R&D – a part of HP’s legacy and history which the company has sorely undervalued in the past few years, but which will be a critical component of HP’s recovery in new product and service development. So as of now we’ve seen the major pieces of Meg Whitman’s restructuring and operations plan – the key missing piece is her long-term company vision and strategy, which hopefully will be revealed to an anxious customer base soon. Even with this restructuring, the question still remains: Just what kind of company does HP want to be next year, three years, five years from now?"  

www.ovum.com

Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in North Eastern China has won the grand prize in Roland’s global Creative Awards competition. Accepting the award were Du Haibin (left) and Jiao Hongwei, industrial design professors at the university. As the grand prize, Haibin and Hongwei have selected a Roland EGX-360 gift engraver for the university.

The awards event was attended by Roland DG employees, affiliates, customers and friends from all over the world who gathered at the company’s headquarters in Hamamatsu, Japan to celebrate three decades of Roland innovation and creativity.

The week-long 30th anniversary event included a day of fun and festivities at the company’s headquarters, followed by tours of Tokyo and Kyoto. Throughout the event, all eyes were on the 16 attending regional finalists in the company’s recent Roland Creative Awards international contest, whose work was recognized as the world’s most creative and innovative from 1,193 contest entries.

The highlight of the celebration came Tuesday evening when Roland DG President Masahiro Tomioka awarded the contest’s grand prize to the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts in North Eastern China.

“Our entry, a scale model tunnelling machine, was part of a transportation-themed project that teaches students how to transform a 2D design into a 3D prototype,” Haibin said. “Winning the Roland award is important to our school as it provides visibility to our efforts and assists us in attaining funding for future projects.”

The elaborate winning prototype was produced on a Roland MDX-540 milling machine and is comprised of several sections that were each milled separately from a variety of materials. Along its surface are many intricate contours, textures and details made possible by the precision of Roland subtractive rapid prototyping technology.

The Roland Creative Awards invited Roland businesses from more than 120 countries worldwide to submit their best work as produced on the company’s wide-format inkjet printers, vinyl cutters, engravers, 3D milling machines and other production tools. Entries spanned industries and applications, and included everything from signage, banners and vehicle wraps to personalised accessories, jewellery designs, decorated apparel and even tattoo art.  The entire gallery of entries can be viewed online at www.rolandcreativeawards.com.

More than 75 prizes were awarded throughout the contest, which ran from Sept. 2011 to Jan. 2012. In addition to being a showcase of creativity, the contest illustrated the breadth of Roland’s technological achievements, developed and advanced over the past 30 years.

“It is a privilege to be part of such a dynamic, accomplished organization and to be here among friends and colleagues for this very special event,” Tomioka said.  “When I look back at the company’s origins, it’s hard to imagine how far we have come and how many lives we have touched.  The tremendous work of our customers on display through the Roland Creative Awards really says it all.  When you empower creative professionals with innovative tools and technologies, the possibilities are endless.  To that end, we will continue to pursue excellence, and we look forward to inspiring our customers’ creativity in the future.”

www.rolandcreativeawards.com

Available to customers in the United States only, the new Roland Rental Program provides flexible financing options for customers with short-term equipment requirements as well as businesses that do not qualify for traditional financing programs.

"Buying a new Roland inkjet is one of the best ways for a graphics provider to expand his or her business,” says Andrew Oransky, director of marketing and product management for Roland DGA Corp. “However, the credit crunch of the past few years has made it difficult for many businesses to qualify for a lease or other financing. The Roland Rental Program is designed to help these businesses quickly and easily obtain the equipment they need in order to grow. It is also an excellent option for businesses with short-term projects, such as election year signage, where added production capacity is needed on a temporary basis.”

Available exclusively for Roland VersaCAMM, VersaArt and VersaStudio models, the Roland Rental Program offers one-year and three-year options at affordable monthly rates. Warranty coverage is included in the monthly payment for the life of the rental, covering parts and labour, with the exception of consumable items.  
www.rolanddga.com

On its most basic level, a management information system (MIS) will simplify the everyday business processes for most print service providers (PSPs). It will also help reduce administrative overheads and increase accuracy throughout the entire printing company.

Therefore an MIS is one of the most powerful business tools a printer can use and it can also save you lots of money. But don’t take our word for it; take a minute to hear what Paul Deane of MIS supplier Shuttleworth had to say at the recent Sign & Digital UK show about improving your profit margins and therefore improving your cash.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nOev2s8rxw

As he says: Focus on the basic principles of business to deliver real business improvements.

www.shuttleworth-uk.co.uk

While EFI's executives are obviously very serious about their business, they don't always take themselves too seriously as this bizarre corporate video more than ably demonstrates.

It’s called The Pitch and it features EFI's Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing Frank Mallozzi enlisting the company's senior leadership team to help present a new sales pitch that is so bad, it’s actually quite good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf5Qjuf1E7U

Did that get your chain hangin’ low bro’? If so tell us below-ow ow.

www.efi.com

There will be no salespeople on the Roland DG stand at Sign & Digital UK next week as the company moves to boost its dealer channel and provide visitors to its stand with a more consultative approach to getting into wide format printing.

“We recognise that printers coming to the show are already very well versed in the wide format technology that will be on offer at the show. They will have read about it in trade magazines and on the internet and, such is the power of social media these days, they would have most probably have watched a video of it on YouTube too,” says Roland DG Technical director Brett Newman.

“We believe that the majority of our visitors will be looking to us to provide them with business and application advice rather than the same old feeds and speeds,” he says.

Equipment will also be limited to just three wide format printers which will be manned by Roland’s own customers including Jason Godridge of Bath based Freestyle Designs who is featured in the company’s current advertising campaign. Watch his testimonial explaining why he invested in a Roland VersaCAMM and why he'd recommend one to other printing professionals below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMQC7gTB4Oo

“There’s no better way for a prospective customer to find out how a Roland machine can benefit his own print businesses than by having it demonstrated by a successful and profitable end customer,” says Newman. “Our approach this year is to sit down with visitors to ascertain their needs and wants before introducing them to one of our key distributor partners who can then demonstrate the correct wide format printer that has been matched to the customers application needs.”

The Roland Creative Centre will also be missing from the company’s stand this year as the company moves away from static displays of finished products in glass cases to a much more informal approach to show visitors the benefits of adding wide format printing to their existing workflow.

It’s a bold move but Newman still has a few tricks up his sleeve that he is not prepared to reveal before the show.

“We expect our stand at this year’s show to be busier than ever before, and we have a coup le of other things on the stand that will be highly attractive to commercial printers looking to explore the wider opportunities presented by adding digital inkjet to their production workflows,” he says.

www.rolanddg.co.uk

Hybrid Services Ltd is undertaking a smarter thinking initiative at this year’s Sign & Digital UK exhibition with the Mimaki Learning Zone.

Situated on Hybrid’s stand at the entrance to Hall 3, the Mimaki Learning Zone is a destination both for existing Mimaki customers seeking expert advice on how to get the most from their investment and prospective wide format companies looking to learn from independent industry professionals on how to integrate new technology into their operations.

In addition to members of the Hybrid Technical Services team, The Mimaki Learning Zone will feature a different independent industry expert on each of the three days, allowing visitors to glean valuable business knowledge from successful companies who use Mimaki wide format solutions in the day-to-day running of their businesses.

The first day of the exhibition sees The Printing House director, Peter Harrison, on hand to discuss how commercial litho printing companies can add an outdoor durable print and cut solution to their equipment line-up based on his own company’s successful model. On the middle day, Austin McKinlay – director of Colchester based UIS – will be available to assist customers seeking to leverage opportunities presented by dye sublimation printed polyester point of sale and exhibition graphics.

Matthew Cooke – owner of thriving sign maker and vehicle graphics company M C Signs features on the final day of the exhibition when visitors can talk to him about how a pair of Mimaki outdoor durable printers and cutting plotters caters for his business, producing everything from stunning commercial vehicle liveries to banner stands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpaTuIvub_0

Anybody can attend the Mimaki Learning Zone but visitors wishing pre-book an appointment can email mlz@hybridservices.co.uk with their preferred day, time and contact details.

www.hybridservices.co.uk

Roland DGA Corp is helping its customers to develop the skills they need to build their businesses through its Roland Academy Digital Printing Boot Camp workshop.
This is the first time the Boot Camp has been held on the East Coast and will be held on April 10th – 12th in Baltimore, Md.

Led by large-format digital printing expert David Goetter, Digital Printing Boot Camp is a three-day, hands-on workshop focused on teaching the 10 core applications important to every digital print shop, including signage, floor graphics, backlit displays, window graphics, rigid displays, presentation boards and more.

In addition, attendees learn to accurately evaluate their cost structure, acquire trouble-shooting techniques, and explore a variety of waste reduction strategies to increase efficiency and profits. Boot Camp is considered ideal for production managers, printer operators, shop managers and sales representatives. Roland DGA says past attendees have reported that this class more than paid for itself within weeks, if not days.

“Digital Printing Boot Camp is an exciting, intensive training experience for sign industry professionals of all skill levels,” says Dana Curtis, product manager for Roland DGA Corp. “This course has been popular among our users, who gain new levels of technical expertise, up-to-date market analysis, and business management strategies they can implement immediately to further their own success.”

www.rolanddga.com/training/workshops

There will be vehicle wrapping training and workshops, applications help, along with a showcase of consumables and substrates for wide format printing at Robert Horne’s Trafford Park centre.

To discover more register for free now.

www.discovermoreuk.com

For.Tex is a leader in textile printing, and the move strengthens Epson’s efforts to establish itself in the digital textile printing market.

Located in the heart of the Italian textile industry, For.Tex specialises in sales of textile printing inks, manufacturing and sales of treatment agents used in textile printing processes, and digital textile printing chemical consulting.

The Italian company has worked closely with Epson since 2003, when Epson entered the market by jointly developing the Monna Lisa digital textile printer with Robustelli of Italy.

The two companies plan to work closely together to help customers improve the quality of their products and the efficiency of their work processes. For.Tex will be responsible for marketing textile printing, selling dedicated Monna Lisa inks developed by Epson, and manufacturing and selling treatment agents that work in perfect combination with both the inks and textiles.

www.epson.eu