i was the founding chairman of theinternational printers network back in 1993. that s almost 20 years ago! at that time, it was just onthe introduction of the internet and 17 companies got togetherto form an alliance, not only to distribute and print,but more importantly, to share knowledge,to share technology and ideas. this formed the basis of theinternational printers network. it s been a privilege to be a part of thisorganization and have the opportunity to be able to find partners throughoutthe world where our customers,
as they grow and they need accessto markets outside the united states, we have those partners available where we can send their work to easilybe accomplished in any region in the world. that adds lots of valueto our customers. so, we find that yes in a digital age, people arelooking for digital opportunities to communicate but they have to have printto supplement that digital. so, through the differentpartnerships we ve created, through the different pieces of technologythat we ve been able to bring into our business, we can add that value whetherit s digital or it s print based.
it s allowed us to createa successful business. our customers are asking more and morefor combinations of web and print, so not only web to print ordering systemsbut, for example, a registration site. from the information thatwe gather in the registration site, we would print the badges,booklets, agendas, etc. and via emails and sms texting, we send themfeedback during this registration cycle. since yamagata started to do marketing,social media as well as printing as well. so printing is one of thetools of the communications. so, what is happening in thecommunications area in our world now
is that social media has reallybecome big in our history. we re trying to combine with oursolutions of personalization prints and image personalizationas well as social media. so, we can provide someof these good solutions. as graphic arts companies, we needto change how we service our clients with the new toolsthat are available to us that we can use to give them whatthey need to run their businesses better. they look to us as theiradvisors, as their consultants. so, we no longer can be just printcompanies providing print output,
we need to be consultants for themproviding solutions for their business needs. the tools that we have are the new digitaltools, new software, new technologies that allow us to do things differentlythan we could have done five years ago. one of the benefits that ipn gets from themajor manufacturers is to visit their plants to look at the developing technology and, moreimportantly, the direction that technology is moving. over the last 20 years, we ve seena fundamental change in technology
3d printing industry in india,and i m sure over the next, we regoing to see and even greater move. so, it s important that our member companiesunderstand where the technology is going and where the opportunities are
and we re very grateful to hpfor giving us this opportunity.
