Consulting Services
FLAAR offers professional consulting services on UV-cured flatbed and roll-to-roll printers for a variety of business and industries in the professional printing markets.
FLAAR offers a variety of consulting services for the inkjet printing industry. FLAAR is increasingly sought after by investment analysts. One investment analyst said clearly that the FLAAR data is valuable for documentation of sales potential, which directions the markets are going, and most of all the true pros and cons of a product and a company, "all we otherwise ever hear is management's rosy picture.”
FLAAR consultant Dr. Nicholas Hellmuth can conduct his consultation services on-location anywhere around the globe. He has consulted in Japan, Latin America, Europe, Turkey, Greece, and across the United States and Canada.
Dr. Hellmuth was educated at Harvard, trained at Yale, and received his Ph.D. from Karl-Franzens Universität (Graz , Austria). We are especially interested in consulting for museums, museum exhibits, and field research programs since we have also spent many decades doing field projects in remote areas of Central America.
Dr. Hellmuth/FLAAR consult on UV-cured flatbed and UV-curable roll-to-roll applications, RIP software, inkjet printers in general, inks, media, and lamination. We also provide knowledge on market research. Several printer companies have come to us to ask assistance in acquisitions (either them acquiring another company, or preparing themselves to be acquired).
In addition, he is knowledgeable in giclee, fine art photography, solvent, eco-solvent, mild-solvent, as well as in scanning and high end digital photography.
For training in color management and ICC color profiles we work together with experienced color consultants who can provide hands-on training. Two of our color management partners are multi-lingual. Dr Hellmuth is tri-lingual (German, English, Spanish) and he can understand Italian, most Portuguese and basic French.
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Dr. Nichollas Hellmuth at BGSU FLAAR office using Nik Sharpner software |
Dr. Hellmuth's consulting services are valuable for manufacturers, distributors, dealers of any size, as well as print shop owners, operators, and individuals.
The difference between reading the FLAAR reports and web site, compared to retaining Dr. Hellmuth for an on-site visit, is that he can provide fresh information not yet published in the written reports, or posted on the web site. Therefore, an on-site consultation with Dr. Hellmuth is invaluable to keeping up with the latest trends and technologies in professional printing.
Listed below are a few of the topics our consultation services cover. This list is not exhaustive and is only meant to highlight the services FLAAR has to offer. A brief list of services includes:
• Discussing which printer(s) are optimal for your business, franchise sign shop, museum, studio, university or company's specific needs;
• Explaining of the pros and cons of piezo vs. industrial piezo vs. thermal vs. continuous inkjet technologies for your specific printing needs;
• Discussing which inks and media work in which printers (and which inks and media will not function in popular printers);
• Explaining inks, colorants, media, paper, substrates in a non-technical, easy to understand manner;
• Providing a follow-up list of key contacts within the industry, pertinent individuals in ink chemistry, media/substrates, printer technology, business-plans and strategy;
• Discussing digital image storage options, digital asset management software, computer platforms (Macintosh vs. PC);
• Discussing color management options, training, follow-up, software, color measurement tools;
• Teaching techniques for printing on ceramic tiles, wood, leather and metal foil (even onto solid metal);
• Understanding how to print art onto silk, cotton, and onto other fabrics with a wide format inkjet printer;
• Providing analysis of market potential for the market(s) your company is seeking to enter.
• Market analysis, who are the competitive players (strengths and weaknesses both of products and company per se).
Market Analysis, Marketing Survey Data, etc. FLAAR also offers market survey information and product analysis for ink, media, hardware, and software manufacturers. FLAAR's market information can help your business focus on the features end-users are most happy with or would like to see improved.
Almost every month investment analysts are coming to ask for information from FLAAR. This suggests that the data and knowledge that we possess is not readily available elsewhere. Seemingly our reputation for blunt pros and cons is becoming better known.
Consulting on large format printer reality in China , Korea , and Taiwan Are you a Chinese manufacturer wishing to enter markets in Europe, the US, or Latin America?
Are you a manufacturer in the US, Europe, or Asia who seeks a trustworthy partner in China?
Are you a printshop owner, manager, or investory seeking to learn the pros and cons of Chinese, Korean, or Taiwanese printers?
Dr Nicholas Hellmuth can assist your company relative to China, Korea, and Taiwan.
Distributors Are you unsure which brand or model of printer to distribute in your country?
We can provide you the knowledge so you can decide which printer to distribute or resell in your country.
Expert Witness
We prefer to do the research aspects leading up to an Expert Witness, since an actual court case appearance is difficult due to our busy schedule. So far, of the lawsuits that have been shown to us, half were inappropriate. So we may be able to save your stress simply as a consultant in advance of the actual case going to trial.
Contact Info
If you wish to hire Professor Hellmuth as a consultant to come to your company, please contact info@FLAAR.org or ReaderService@FLAAR.org. If no answer, telephone 419 823-9218 (Vonage/VoIP service). But this is NOT a telephone number for access to general FLAAR information whatsoever. No information is provided by phone other than to companies and individuals who wish to consider sign professional consulting at standard industry rates; we ask that all other contact be via e-mail please.
These contact routes are not intended for:
• Circumventing the inquiry survey form; or
• Submitting miscellaneous questions before a professional consulting relationship is established
This contact route is only for opening up a professional consulting appointment with Dr. Hellmuth coming to your company or to arrange a conference call. We can sign an NDA or your preferred Confidentiality Agreement if necessary, though that just adds a layer of additional paperwork.
FLAAR serves as consultant for Fortune 500 companies as well as companies who wish to reach that level. Because about 100,000 people every month read the FLAAR reports on our dozen web sites it is not possible to respond to fax inquiries or e-mail inquiries unless to establish a professional relationship on a fee basis.
If you are an individual, a small business, as well as a large company, we reply to the Inquiry-Survey Form usually within 48 hours, so submitting the form via e-mail is the best way to contact us. There is no cost for the e-mail service. We are not able to respond to random e-mails or random fax messages.
Please understand that due to the size of the readership it is not realistic to handle inquiries by telephone unless we have a working relationship with your company initiated by your email followed by a day of consulting at your place or at FLAAR's home facility.
We accept inquiries in Español, Deutsch, English, French, Portuguese, and Italian.
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| Consulting for giclee, decor, fine art photography and scanning. (FREE Download) |
For all wide-format inkjet printers, RIP, Ink & Substrates. (FREE Download) |
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| Consulting for UV printer manufacturers, available to manufacturers only: ink, media, substrate, scanner, RIP software, printer manufacturers, integrators, parts manufacturers, please request this by e-mail from ReaderService@FLAAR.org |
FLAAR Schedule for 2009-2012
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| February 2012 |
Jan. 31 - Feb. 02: Sign and Graphic Imaging Middle East in Dubai |
| Feb. 18-21: D-PES Guanzhou, China |
| Feb. 20-23: China Sign , Guanzhou |
| Feb. 21- 24: FESPA Digital in Barcelona, Spain. |
| March 2012 |
March 1-3: Graphics of the Americas, Miami |
| March 22-24: ISA Orlando |
| April 2012 |
Apr. 17-19: China Sign Expo (CIEC) in Beijing, China |
May 2012 |
May 3-16: DRUPA in Dusseldorf, Germany |
| May 22-25: Rapid & 3D Imaging Exposition in Atlanta, GA |
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| January 2011 |
January 24-26: Dubai SGI, Sign and Graphics Imaging, the first major international sign industry event in the world each year. 25th January 2011, Seminar Room, Airport Expo, Dubai, UAE. Lectures by Nicholas.
- Seminar 1, 11:00hrs Green Inkjet Printing (Ink & Media) vs Greenwashing (over-exaggerated claims)
- Seminar 2, 1400hrs After-Market (wide-format inkjet) Inks: How to Assess and Evaluate
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| February 2011 |
February 24 -26: FLAAR at FESPA Americas + Graphics of the Americas (GoA) Lectures by Nicholas Hellmuth |
At GoA:
Feb 24: 12:30 PM-2:00 PM New Technologies in Wide Format Printers
Feb 25: 12:30 PM-2:00 PM Wide Format Opportunities with resin ink Technology |
At FESPA
Feb 25: 3:00 - 4:00 Cartón con estructura de nido de abeja: Materiales innovadores y amigables con el medio ambiente
Feb 26: 12:00 - 1:00 Impresión sobre todo tipo de materiales: La impresión decorativa para sobresalir ante su competencia |
| February 28: Dongguan |
| March 2011 |
March 22 - 26: Graphispag Digital Barcelona |
March 25 - 27: Art Expo |
| April 2011 |
April 28 - 30: ISA Vegas |
| May 2011 |
May 4 - 6: Visual Impact Expo, Sydney, Australia, and PrintEx11 |
| May 24 - 27: Fespa Hamburg, Germany |
| June 2011 |
June 17:11:30 AM Lecture Toner at Wide-Format Print Size, How can toner best compete with Wide-Format Inkjet? Santa Monica, C.A. Double Tree Suites by Hilton Hotel Santa Monica, 1707 Fourth Street, Santa Monica, CA, United States |
| July 2011 |
July 8-11: APPPEXPO. Shanghai, China. Then guest at four Chinese printer factories. |
| July 18 - 22: Arqueology Congress, Guatemala |
| July 20 - 23: Serigrafia Sign, Sao Paulo, Brazil |
| August 2011 |
August 16 - 20: Fespa Mexico |
August 24 - 26: Sign Africa. |
| Sept 2011 |
September 11 - 14: Graph Expo, Chicago. |
September 22 - 29: ITMA, Barcelona. |
September 27 - 29: Viscom Paris. |
September 27 - 30: Reklama, Moscow. |
| October 2011 |
September 28 to October 1: Label Expo, Brussels. |
| October 19 - 21: SGIA, New Orleans. |
| October 13 - 16: VISCOM Germany. |
| October 27 - 29: PhotoPLus, NYC. |
| Nov 2011 |
November 3-5 : VISCOM Italy |
| November 9 - 11: IV congreso C.A. de Arqueología, El Salvador. |
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February 25-27: Graphics of the Americas (GoA trade show). Two presentations by Dr. Nicholas Hellmuth, one in Spanish. |
| December 2010 |
December 7: Costa Rica conference on cultural heritage (Dr Hellmuth will be a speaker). |
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| January 2009 |
FastSigns franchise convention and trade show, Orlando. Nicholas gave four lectures including on UV and on solvent wide format printers. |
| Feb 2009 |
February 15-17: Sign & Graphic Imaging Middle East, Dubai Airport Expo, Nicholas will be lecturing on decor and architectural applications for UV-curable flatbed printers, and on giclee and fine art photography printing. |
| February 26-27: VIP Guest, WP Digital AG (Spuhl) for Open House launch of their new 5-meter roll to roll printer. Open to the public (as long as you are printshop owner or manager). |
March 2009
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March 1-2: Art Expo trade show, New York. |
March 3-5: PMA trade show, Las Vegas, Nevada. |
March 14: Art Petrus, two days site-visit case study of the leading giclee atelier of Europe (in Monaco). Analysis of Cruse scanner and Canon iPF inkjet printers. |
Tuesday, March 17: Zagreb, Croatia, (Contact IB-ProCADD). |
Thursday, March 19: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. |
Tuesday, March 24: Beograd, Serbia. |
Tuesday, March 31: Consulting on dye sub textile printing and UV-curable printing markets. Eurotech, Turkey. |
| April 2009 |
April 15-18: ISA (printers for signage) trade show. Las Vegas, Nevada. |
| Wednesday, April 15, 12:00pm: Lunch with new CEO and international sales manager of WP Digital at Excalibur Hotel. |
| Wednesday, April 15, 7:00pm: Dinner with president of GCC and key US manager. |
| Thursday, April 16, 12:00pm: Lunch, EFI VUTEk Press Conference, Mandalay Bay South Convention Center. |
| Friday, April 17, 7:30am: Breakfast with two managers of key components of UV-curing wide-format inkjet printers at Luxor Hotel. |
| Saturday, April 18: Dinner with GCC. |
| Wednesday, April 29: Telephone conference for two hours with a component manufacturer for UV-cured wide-format printers. |
Thursday, April 30: Robert Sibthorpe consulting. |
| May 2009 |
May 12-14: FESPA Digital (printers for signage) trade show. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. But Nicholas was in Amsterdam from May 11th and available for consulting elsewhere in Europe after FESPA too. |
| Saturday, May 30: Consulting with textile printer start-up company. |
| June 2009 |
Wednesday, June 3: Site visit GDS Business Displays. |
| June 5: visit to Summit LED, for LED curing of UV flatbeds. |
| July 2009 |
July 8-11: APPPEXPO. Shanghai, China. Then guest at four Chinese printer factories. |
| July 20-23: at world headquarters, wide-format division, of the leading printer manufacturer in Europe. The next day, consultant to packaging printing company elsewhere in Europe that needs to print on PP, needs about 1000 sq meters an hour output. |
| August 2009 |
August 3-4: taking photos at the La Aurora Zoo. Guatemala, City. |
August 6: photographing in Auto Safari Chapin. Taxisco, Escuintla, Guatemala. |
August 7-8: Cacao show. Guatemala, City. |
August 11-13: taking photos in Museo Santa Lucia. Santa Lucia, Guatemala. |
August 17: photographing textiles in Antigua Guatemala. |
August 18-21: Museo de Arqueologia, Guatemala, City. |
August 24: taking photos at the La Aurora Zoo. Guatemala, City. |
August 25-27: taking photos at the Hotel Casa Santo Domingo. Antigua, Guatemala. |
| Sept 2009 |
September 1: Meeting with Rob Makinson, Midcomp CC. Sandton, South Africa. |
September 2: 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM Lecture on “Anatomy & Applications of UV flatbed Printers” by Nicholas Hellmuth. Sign Africa, Johannesburg. |
September 3: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Lecture on “New & Unusual Inks for Signage on Lower cost Subtrates” by Nicholas Hellmuth. Sign Africa, Johannesburg. |
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September 4: 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM Lecture on “Giclee and Fine art Photography Printing & Workflow” by Nicholas Hellmuth. Sign Africa, Johannesburg. |
September 11-16: PRINT '09 (GRAPH EXPO) trade show, Chicago. A presentation by Nicholas Hellmuth about trends in UV-curable, solvent and textile printers and especially, what new wide-format flatbed printer technologies will be available in 2010-2012 (that will replace everything you know today....). |
| October 2009 |
October 1-3: VISCOM Germany trade show. |
| October 7-9: SGIA (printers for signage) trade show. New Orleans, LA. |
| Nov 2009 |
November 5-7 : VISCOM Italy, Milan trade show. |
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