Yellow Springs company, DMS ink, elevates inkjet capabilities

 

One-stop print shop opens the doors to new business opportunities

MELVILLE, N.Y., June 15, 2016 – Canon Solutions America, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc., today announced an advancement in its ongoing strategic relationship with DMS ink, a full-service direct mail marketing company located in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The installation of the Océ VarioPrint i300 and Océ ColorStream 3900 color digital presses in the DMS ink facility serves to expand their services to their customer base, and illustrates Canon Solutions America’s ongoing commitment to advancing customers’ print output through cutting-edge inkjet technologies.

DMS ink, formerly Dayton Mailing Services, recently moved its headquarters and most of its production to Yellow Springs, Ohio from Dayton.

DMS ink, originally known as Dayton Mailing Services, was founded in 1983. The company has thrived in the direct mail space for more than 30 years through its ability to adapt, staying at the forefront of the industry with cutting-edge concepts and solutions while serving a dynamic customer-base. Since its inception, DMS ink has been known throughout the region for providing best-in-class mailing services and handling its customer projects from design to distribution. With a team of dedicated professionals, the direct mail marketing leader helps a wide range of businesses including healthcare, financial, retail, insurance, and many others, to reduce their costs by offering unique capabilities that go beyond industry benchmarks.

As successful and reliable as DMS ink is within the mail marketing business landscape, to put an emphasis solely on those capabilities would be a disservice to a company that has recently expanded its operations to include leading data services and digital print offerings. Over the last five years, the Ohio-based full printing and fulfillment center has grown into a prosperous digital print provider that now boasts some of the most game-changing technologies that are redefining the industry. This transition began in early 2005 when DMS ink began its shift from a traditional letter shop to a variable data printing provider, and is most recently represented by the company’s acquisition of the Océ VarioPrint i300 sheet-fed inkjet press and the Océ ColorStream 3900 inkjet press. Since the arrival of these advanced presses, the early adopter of inkjet has opened the doors to even broader business opportunities.

“I cannot stress enough the level of activity and excitement within DMS ink as we continue our migration to a critical document company with state-of-the-art digital print capabilities,” said Christine Soward, president and owner of DMS ink, whose commitment to innovation and emerging technologies has grown the company’s revenue by double digits over the last several years. “The enthusiasm around our company is perhaps best highlighted by our purchase of what we feel is the product that will lead the charge in the industry-wide inkjet movement, the Océ VarioPrint i300.”

When DMS ink went to market for an answer to its crucial digital print needs, it specifically searched for improvements in print quality and a press that could provide commercial-type color at transactional-type costs. With a commitment to innovation, Soward and her team put an equal focus on finding a digital press that could help diversify their client roster and overall offerings while handling new and more diverse applications with an eye toward profitability. Additionally, DMS ink knew that with the emergence of new inkjet technologies, there was an answer to its ongoing quest to break down the barriers it was finding that pertained to offset printing, short-run jobs, postal optimization, one-on-one personalized communications, and the ability to maximize uptime.

“The new Océ products have allowed us to run jobs at an unbelievable rate and with incredible quality,” added Jim Hoffman, vice president of Business Development at DMS ink. “Of course you always want to get the most out of your investment, and with the Océ VarioPrint i300 and Océ ColorStream 3900 we can now fully leverage our finishing capabilities, which has resulted in heightened efficiency and automated workflows. Our core goal of becoming less of a mail house and more of a strategic partner has been greatly enhanced with the print functionality we now have with our newest acquisitions.”

Built to allow its users the ability to grow within a market that is evolving rapidly, the Océ VarioPrint i300 bridges the gap between the application flexibility and efficiency of sheet-fed presses and the economy and productivity of web-fed systems, without compromising quality. As witnessed by DMS ink, the digital press was designed to offer premium quality output with proven inkjet productivity and flexibility. Operating as the ideal complement to this leading press is the Océ ColorStream 3900 full color inkjet printer. Recognized as one of the fastest growing inkjet presses in the industry, its production and media flexibility enables a simplified transition of applications and business models to more sophisticated documents with variable personalization and smarter communication in color.

“With the confluence of new technologies and the ever-apparent shift to inkjet, we have dedicated ourselves to finding the best way for our customers to accelerate the offset-to-digital print migration with products that will set the bar for the inkjet movement,” said Francis A. McMahon, senior vice president, Marketing, Production Print Solutions, Canon Solutions America. “However, none of that is possible without feedback from our valued customers like DMS ink, which allows us to modify the technology to best fit their business goals and prepare them for expansive growth.”

The collaboration between Canon Solutions America and DMS ink did not end with the installation of the Océ VarioPrint. With the intention to migrate the rest of its inkjet products and to further enhance its workflow, DMS ink additionally implemented the Océ PRISMAproduction print workflow and output management system. This addition is set to provide DMS ink with the ability to create a unified platform for mid to high volume, high speed printing for its entire production print fleet.

“This is very much a time of change and growth here at DMS ink, and we could not be more excited to experience that growth alongside Canon Solutions America,” added Soward. “The future looks bright for DMS ink and our customers!”

 

About DMS ink
DMS ink (formerly Dayton Mailing Services) has thrived in the direct mail, digital print, and data management industries for more than 30 years. Their goal is to become a true partner to their customers and an extension of their business through trust and dedication. DMS ink provides innovative, cutting edge solutions using the latest technology to increase capabilities, improve efficiency and reduce costs, while maximizing consumer response and meeting the needs of the client. DMS is a minority and woman owned certified business serving clients nationally. Their unique capabilities are sought by a wide range of businesses from healthcare, financial, retail, political, energy, automotive, non-profits, and many others that require full project management of design, material acquisitions, complex data programming, variable content, printing, fulfillment and mailing services.

About Canon Solutions America, Inc.

Canon Solutions America provides industry leading enterprise, production, and large format printing solutions, supported by exceptional professional service offerings. With the technology offerings of the Canon and Océ brands, Canon Solutions America helps companies of all sizes improve sustainability, increase efficiency, and control costs through high volume, continuous feed, digital and traditional printing, and document management solutions. A wholly owned subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc., Canon Solutions America is headquartered in Melville, N.Y. and has sales and service locations across the U.S. For more information on Canon Solutions America, please visit csa.canon.com.

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Canon is a registered trademark of Canon Inc. in the United States and elsewhere. Océ is a registered trademark of Océ-Technologies B.V. in the United States and elsewhere. All other referenced product names and marks are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby acknowledged.

© 2016 Canon Solutions America, Inc. All rights reserved.

Hogan’s hero: author celebrates life of slain actor

Deer In Headlines
By Gery L. Deer

In 1978 “Hogan’s Heroes” star, Bob Crane, was murdered in his Arizona hotel room. The scandalous details of his death have been the subject of speculation and salacious headlines ever since. Crane’s murder was never solved.

I won’t give more press time to the dark circumstances surrounding this man’s death, except to say that Americans can’t seem to ever get enough of sensationalism when it comes to celebrity. Over the years a great deal of negative material has been written about the actor’s life, troubled marriage, divorce and personal addictions, and that was all anyone ever seemed to say about him.

Gery L. Deer, with author Carl M. Ford at the Liberty Aviation Museum in Port Clinton, OH

Always left out of those stories were the facts about Crane’s long career in entertainment and the character he couldn’t leave behind. Barely spoken of were his level of commitment to his colleagues, to his children and to the armed forces to whom he felt a deep responsibility and connection through his “Hogan’s” character and his older brother, Al, who was severely injured while serving in World War II.

Enter author Carol M. Ford, who has written a new biography about Bob Crane in a dedicated effort to celebrate the life and career of this beloved actor. Her care and commitment to restoring this man’s honor and humanity is nothing less than incredible.

I had the good fortune, recently, to meet Ms. Ford and talk with her about her experience in writing this book. She was holding a signing at the Liberty Aviation Museum in Port Clinton, Ohio, on the shores of Lake Erie. Next to her table was a display featuring a very important artifact – Col. Hogan’s leather flight jacket from the “Hogan’s Heroes” series.

“We all have those parts of our lives that we’re not proud of,” she told me. “Divorce, family strain, addictions, whatever it is, everyone has something. The sad part about Bob’s death is less about how he died but that how he lived had always been so completely overlooked. This is a celebration of his life.”

Ford’s new book, “Bob Crane: The Definitive Biography,” is a fitting tribute to a man whose life is, to most fans, a blur between fact and fiction, where the focus has been for more nearly 40 years on his death. This book chronicles, in great detail, Crane’s life as told by family, friends, colleagues and fans who had the good fortune to share a moment with him.

Ford’s research is impressive, having collected interviews from nearly 200 people who actually knew Crane. Going as far back as elementary school, the interviews, photos and stories provide us with a real picture of the man we loved as Colonel Hogan but who was obviously so much more.

Bob Crane’s costume jacket from Hogan’s Heroes is on display at the Liberty Aviation Museum in Port Clinton, OH

Crane’s character of Hogan was a hero to me, and to countless others of my generation. But, like so many celebrities, most of us never knew who he was outside of Stalag 13 or away from the microphone.

As a fan, I am grateful to Ford and her colleagues for writing this book to focus on the life of a man I had admired since childhood. Much of my stage persona comes from watching him – and Colonel Hogan. I’m glad I get to understand the man over the mystery.

This wasn’t intended to sound like a book review, but I have a great respect for the effort, time and commitment that went into this book. As a fellow writer, I can’t imagine the work, personal expense and thoughtful insight that went into the attempt to capture the life of someone whose life was so full and still resonates today with all those who knew him.

You can find the book Barnes & Noble, on Amazon and at the website for the official campaign to have Bob Crane entered into the National Radio Hall of Fame www.vote4bobcrane.org. I highly recommend the hardback version, filled with historical documents, more than 200 pictures and more. So, all my thanks to Bob for his talent, and to Carol Ford for hers.

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Author’s Note: I strongly related to the idea of writing the positive of a celebrity’s life after they’d died in scandalous circumstances. A colleague and friend of mine, well known in the media, passed away suddenly after a long struggle with addiction and depression. The only things the media would write about seemed to be the negatives in her life and the circumstances surrounding her tragic death. I couldn’t let that stand. I wrote a piece, from her own word as she had told me, of the good in her life, the promise and the hope. It is my hope that her legacy carries more of that than of her ending, as I hope with Carol’s book and Bob Crane’s story. 

 

Gery L. Deer is an independent columnist and business writer. Deer In Headlines is distributed by GLD Enterprises Communications, Ltd. More at deerinheadlines.com.