My talk from the FESPA Digital Textile Conference in Milan on 2-Oct-14. It covers changes in the industrial printing industry that have enabled a new wave of unlimited creative freedom. He walks through the case study of ThinFolio Custom Wallets. He walks through every step of the process and the evolution of their systems from 100% manual to nearly totally automated production with online design tools and integration with a fully digital workflow.

1. AUTOMATE YOUR PROFITS
WITH ONE-OFF & SHORT-RUN PRINTED PRODUCTS
1
Mark Abramson
@mark_ _a
ThinFolio Wallets
mark@thinfolio.com
PrintForm Corporation
mark@printform.co

2. UNLIMITED
CREATIVE
FREEDOM
David Hockney

3. OVERVIEW
• Key Changes in the Digital Printing Industry
• Case Study: ThinFolio Custom Wallets
• Lessons Learned: How to Automate & Profit
• Jobs to be Done
• Make Customers Awesome
• Planning for Flexibility & Success

4. INTERNET-SCALE
CREATION

5. CLOUD PLATFORMS
• Amazon Web Services
• Adobe creative cloud
• Adobe Photoshop online
• Dropbox Image: Adobe

6. ONLINE COMMUNITIES
• dribbble.com
• behance.net
• 99designs.com
• elance.com
• odesk.com

7. ACCELERATING
HARDWARE INNOVATION

8. PRINT HARDWARE

9. CASE STUDY: THINFOLIO

10. HUMBLE BEGINNINGS

11. CONCIERGE
SERVICE

13. WORKFLOW

14. NOV 2013: CONCIERGE
• Order tracking: spreadsheet
• Production management: trello.com
• Job management: one folder for each order
• Tracking: free online barcode generator
• Shipping: endicia.com
• File transfer: ShareFile, Dropbox, YouSendIt, Google Drive, Email
• Payments: Paypal, check, cash, square.com
• Production Picture Sharing: iPad + WordPress Blog
• Workflow: USB keys (!!!)

17. APR 2014: ONLINE DESIGN
• Order tracking: spreadsheet (shared, cloud-based)
• Production management: trello.com
• Job management: Designer
• Tracking: Designer
• Shipping: endicia.com
• File transfer: Designer
• Payments: Designer (via Stripe API)
• Production Picture Sharing: iPad + WordPress Blog
• Workflow: USB keys + FTP

20. AUG ’14: ERP/SUPPLY CHAIN
• Order tracking: ERP
• Production management: ERP
• Job management: Designer / ERP / API
• Tracking: Designer / ERP
• Shipping: endicia.com
• File transfer: Designer
• Payments: Designer (via Stripe API)
• Production Picture Sharing: iPad + WordPress Blog + SmugMug
• Workflow: Download via ERP to RIP

23. NOV 2014: HOW CLOSE?
• Order tracking: ERP
• Production management: ERP
• Job management: Designer / ERP / API
• Tracking: Designer / ERP
• Shipping: ERP
• File transfer: Designer
• Payments: Designer (via Stripe API)
• Production Picture Sharing: iPad + ERP
• Workflow: ERP API w/ File Sync to RIP hot folder

24. NOV 2013: CONCIERGE
• Order tracking: spreadsheet
• Production management: trello.com
• Job management: one folder for each order
• Tracking: free online barcode generator
• Shipping: endicia.com
• File transfer: ShareFile, Dropbox, YouSendIt, Google Drive, Email
• Payments: Paypal, check, cash, square.com
• Production Picture Sharing: iPad + WordPress Blog
• Workflow: USB keys (!!!)

25. CREATIVE BUSINESS
MODELS

26. RESULTS

27. MOQ = 1?
!
ꜛꜛ
PROFIT
LOVE
!
ꜛ
ꜛ
RISK ?
COST ?
http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/
how_technology_can_drive_the_next_wave_of_mass_
customization

28. LESSONS LEARNED
1. Think “Jobs-To-Be-Done” (JTBD)
2. Make the Customer Awesome
3. Automate in Flexible Phases

29. 1. THINK “JOBS-TO-BE-DONE”
(JTBD)

30. 3 TYPES OF WORK / JOBS
Necessary
Waste
Value Add

31. 3 TYPES OF WORK / JOBS
Necessary
Waste
Value Add

33. TRACK TIME / COST

35. Manufacturing
Color Management
Digital Capabilities
Digital Limitations
Materials / Media
Design Process
Finance
Customer Requirements
Networking / Cloud
User Experience
ASSEMBLE “JTBD” TEAM

36. 2. MAKE THE CUSTOMER
AWESOME

38. CUSTOMERS = AWESOME

39. • Designer
• Templates
• Guidelines
• Details
• Samples
• FAQ
•Webinars
• Concierge
• Gallery

40. 3. AUTOMATE IN FLEXIBLE
PHASES

41. REALISTIC PLANNING

42. ONE STEP AT A TIME
• Only automate the obvious bottlenecks
• Have a back-up / failure plan
• Can still do manually
• Don’t rush

43. FLEXIBLE BY DESIGN

44. FLEXIBLE BY DESIGN
Image: @LavaLab

45. LESSONS LEARNED
• Think “Jobs-To-Be-Done” (JTBD)
• Make the Customer Awesome
• Automate in Flexible Phases

47. THANK YOU
Mark Abramson
@mark_ _a
linkedin.com/in/abramsonmark
ThinFolio Wallets
mark@thinfolio.com
PrintForm Corporation
mark@printform.co