More than 30 print shops network at Antalis and Zaikio Summer Meetup

"It was good to have a personal conversation with colleagues, suppliers and business partners again. That's something we've been missing for the last two years." Daniel Duzynski, Technical Manager at Badische Neueste Nachrichten Badendruck GmbH, speaks from the heart of many participants at the Antalis and Zaikio Summer Meetup. 

Zaikio and Antalis invited participants to Ladenburg near Mannheim (Germany) on July 19, and a good 30 print shops took part, some of them with several staff members.  

 

The Dr. Carl Benz Automuseum in the historic Benz factory served as the location. The museum shows the history of motorization in five areas – from the Benz Patent Motor Car to the McLaren-Mercedes Formula 1 racing car. 

 

The location symbolized the message of the afternoon: just like the automotive industry, the printing industry is undergoing an epochal transformation. One is moving away from the combustion engine towards e-mobility, while the other, for all its sense of tradition, must push ahead with digitization in order to increase productivity and efficiency. For both, the ultimate goal is to stay "in the game“, to make themselves ready for the future.

 

On this occasion, Benjamin Sajovitz, Business Development Manager at Antalis, and Andreas Aplien, Partner Success Manager at Zaikio, provided exciting insights into digitization in the printing industry – both have decades of experience in the printing business.

 

Andreas Aplien outlined how print businesses can use innovative software to shape their operations for the future. Zaikio networks all market participants – suppliers of consumables as well as providers of workflow solutions, Web2Print tools and MIS applications. Everyone gathers in one virtual location. Data is standardized, processes automated, all with the aim of streamlining workflows and increasing efficiency.

Benjamin Sajovitz from Antalis explained on behalf of all Zaikio partners why the company decided to join Zaikio: "We want to use Zaikio Procurement to provide our customers digitally with all the information relevant for ordering, for example concerning availability. This will enable our customers to simplify and speed up their processes. The secure and reliable submission of paper orders, including immediate confirmation of prices and availability, saves our customers a lot of time compared to ordering by phone or e-mail. This frees up resources that can be put to good use for other activities."

Andreas Aplien added that 20 partners – 8 ERP providers and 12 manufacturers or suppliers – are currently already connected to the platform. This means that print businesses can order paper, printing plates, inks, blankets, coatings, glue and much more efficiently and conveniently via a single interface.

A key pillar of the Zaikio philosophy is openness – the technical openness of the systems to each other, but also of the partners in their collaboration. But openness is also necessary on the part of printing companies – the willingness to question familiar processes, to put aside blinkers and "fears" and not to close minds to the knowledge and experience of others.

 

In his keynote address "Milestones of Digitalization – and what people in the

printing industry can learn from it", business consultant Tom Müller addressed this topic. He is a specialist in change processes, group intelligence and quick decisions. For more than 30 years, he has accompanied companies through change in the face of complex challenges such as digitization, growth, sustainable development and corporate succession.

 

Tom Müller's credo is to see change as an opportunity and to actively tackle change processes. You can't ignore the development of the market and technical progress anyway – everything that is technically feasible will come as soon as customers want it.

However, it is important not to simply believe the first thought, but to make use of group intelligence – after all, the wisdom of the many is more than a lot of knowledge. Things just work better together. Of course, this often requires a change in thinking, but Müller is an optimistic believer and immediately reassured his audience with the insight: "you can change your behavior.

 

Müller also gave the participants a quote from Henry Ford to carry away: "Whether you think you can or you can't: you'll be right no matter what." Translated: Your own thinking defines your success.

 

Daniel Duzynski was reminded by the keynote that digitization "is not a technology, but something that must be reflected in all our thinking, actions and processes."

Matthias Gruber, Managing Director of Gruber Druck & Medien GmbH in Walldorf (Germany), was also positive in his assessment: "In my view, the event was very successful. The topic of digitization is very complex and can be discussed from many angles, so the input we received was very good. I would be very happy to attend similar events."

Zaikio is already planning further Meetups to offer print businesses throughout Germany the opportunity for a fruitful exchange on the topic of digitization.