HP ‘Reinvents’ Publishing Supply Chain with Print-to-Order Book Manufacturing Services

HP Inc. at the London Book Fair introduced HP Piazza, a set of independent and interlocking cloud-based services that enable publishers to make book manufacturing and distribution more time- and cost-efficient. Now, publishers can build a virtual warehouse for the management, automation, distribution, print, and direct fulfillment of book orders, while holding zero inventory.

“Pearson is undergoing a digital transformation to become a simpler, more efficient business and our U.K. book supply chain is a key part of this,” said Stephen Jones, Pearson director of Global Direct Procurement. “We are moving from a ‘print to warehouse’ to a ‘print to order, direct to consumer’ model. Partnering with our print providers, HP Piazza will support us in managing our print workflow and optimizing our book supply chain to help reduce costs and better serve our customers.”

Bridging the worlds of book publishing and digital book printing, the Piazza platform focuses on the needs of publishers in a world where short-run digital production is an everyday reality. With Piazza publishers can control, monetize, and secure their valuable content, while growing their revenues. Designed to connect seamlessly via PrintOS SiteFlow, this end to end workflow enables accurate, transparent SLA management, quick time to market and reduced waste.

“HP Piazza has enabled us to change the conversation and to offer solutions that have a direct impact on the publisher’s bottom line, improving their profitability and efficiency,” said Rob Hutcheson, managing director of Ashford Color Press, “Piazza is a game changer for Ashford in that we can expand our focus on supply chain initiatives and now offer true print-to-order, and book of one manufacturing. For the publishers, this means titles are always available, ‘never out of print’ and for us, exciting new opportunities to further strengthen our client relationships. Today, we are receiving hundreds of direct orders for titles stored in the Piazza repository, producing thousands of books – all printed to fulfil orders that the publisher has received, rather than to meet forecast sales.”

“In recent years, while we have seen a resurgence of the love people have for physical books, we are very aware of the continued financial pressure for publishers regarding inventory and shipping costs,” said Enrique Lores, president of HP Printing & Imaging. “With Piazza, publishers and printers can support the renewed interest in print and turn the page to a smarter future, moving from a print-to-sell model to a sold-to-print one.”