By: Skip Henk, President/CEO of Xplor International

I recently had a chance to catch up with a longtime Xplor supporter and our newest Elite sponsor, Roger Gimbel of Gimbel & Associates.

Roger has been involved with Xplor for almost 25 years as a frequent speaker at Xplor events. He received his Electronic Document Professional (EDP), certification 21 years ago. He recently decided to participate in the Xplor Elite Sponsor program so I wanted get to know a little bit more of what Gimbel & Associates does, a bit of history and Roger’s views on the direction of the industry.

Skip:  Roger, I would like to thank you for both personally and on behalf of Xplor International for your support over the years and now as a Platinum Elite associates sponsor and Diamond Conference Sponsor.

Roger:  Roger:  I am happy to have the opportunity this year to enhance our relationship with Xplor as the association has been a valuable resource of information for personal and business growth. Gimbel & Associates joined Xplor in 1996 making this our 25^th year in membership and support for the EDP (Electronic Document Professional) program, a valuable certification for all print professionals.

Skip:  For our readers who are not familiar with Gimbel & Associates, give us your 15-second elevator pitch about the company.

Roger:  Gimbel & Associates is a print industry international consulting firm that works with both print service providers and enterprise corporations to help them with strategy planning and implementation of business development projects.  The G&A team consists of SME’s that each have 25+ years’ experience with hands on participation and knowledge of the industry.

Skip:  The Gimbel family has been part of the printing industry for a long time.  If I am correct, starting in 1942.  Tell us a little bit about the company itself, a bit of history.

Roger:  The Gimbels in Print family has been in the printing business with over 80 years as of 2021.  The company evolved from manufacturing print products to helping develop new applications and technology products which has expanded into our current international consulting group. We use all the experience we have learned over the years to help others in printing and related industries succeed.  This ultimately saves them time, costs and promoted ROI.  There’s a newly published eBook on our site titled “Gimbels in Print” which goes into greater detail.  You can download this eBook and other publications at www.rogergimbel.com/library.

Skip:  Your new book, “A Printer’s Perspective & Guide to Digital Printing and Variable Data,” along with the “Guide to Better Business,” provide insights in how to succeed in a changing industry.  Looking 2-4 years from now, what do you think our industry will look like?

Roger:  I believe that printing will be an industry of service providers that will be providing very specialized services, less commodity print and will incorporate targeted, analytic marketing. Multichannel delivery of information will be in the forefront of advertising and social communications. 

Skip:  What emerging technologies do you believe with further change the industry?

Roger:  Inkjet technology will continue to evolve and be the foundation and benchmark of all quality print.

Skip:  For our closing question, are print centers going to disappear?

Roger:  Print centers will not disappear, they will become hybrid locations where a print center in enterprise corporations will be producing immediate, required, same-day projects and more complex projects will be outsourced to print and service providers.

Skip:  Roger, thank you for your time.  Do you have any closing thoughts?

Roger:  I thoroughly believe that it is extremely important to be assessing your current operations to set up a strategy and plan that is managed by an internal champion with the backing of corporate commitment to create the “new” norm of the future.

Skip: Roger, once again, thank your thoughts and support. If anyone would like to more information Roger can be reached at: Roger P. Gimbel, EDP, roger@rogergimbel.com, Office 646-472-1932, cell 917-415-3125 or in case they can’t reach Roger; Gail Gimbel, Executive Director, gail@rogergimbel.com , Office 646-472-1950, cell 516-521-9522

Until next interview! Take care.

Skip Henk, EDP
President/CEO
Xplor International