The Think Patented team can spot a margin leak before it ever hits the pressroom. The red flags are rarely mechanical. They show up as stalled approvals. Incomplete job specs. Last-minute file changes that ripple through prepress, scheduling and finishing. While the presses may be calibrated and efficient, profitability erodes if the workflow hesitates.
For President & CEO David McNerney, the warning signs are visible long before a press speed report enters the conversation. “Honestly, the biggest margin leaks aren’t on the press—they’re in the hand-offs. Anything that forces us to stop and ‘figure it out’ costs real money: incomplete specs, back-and-forth emails, manual preflight, chasing approvals, re-keying data into multiple systems.”
McNerney’s observation defines a broader industry shift. Commercial printing profitability has decoupled from raw volume. Rising material costs and the “Silver Tsunami” labor shortage have exposed the limits of a manufacturing-first mindset. Running more sheets no longer guarantees healthier margins.
Today, profit lives in workflow orchestration and high-utility applications. And McNerney’s approach offers a practical blueprint. For decades, printers evaluated jobs primarily by unit cost at scale. The larger the run, the better the margin—at least on paper. “The profitability conversation used to be, ‘What’s the lowest unit cost at this volume?’” McNerney says. “That’s not enough anymore, because labor is the wildcard now—harder to hire, more expensive, and more disruptive when you don’t have enough of it.”
“..when actual site and prints don’t line up, we need to improve our site survey process and get it 100% accurate.”
– Dilo Wijesuriya, President & COO, ARC Document Solutions
Even without a high-speed production inkjet press currently in place, Think Patented evaluates digital versus offset using an end-to-end framework. “We look at profitability more like total cost to execute the job end-to-end: how many touches it takes, how much setup time is involved, how much waste and make-ready we burn and how predictable the run is,” McNerney says. “Inkjet and digital workflows win more often because they remove steps, reduce setup waste and keep the schedule stable. Predictability has become a margin strategy.”
The mindset mirrors what many PSPs are experiencing as they aggressively migrate offset volume to high-speed production inkjet for short-run and mid-run efficiency. The tipping point is no longer just about click cost versus plate cost. It is about labor insulation, schedule stability, and waste reduction.
McNerney is equally focused on automating administrative friction. “So the stuff we’re most focused on automating is job intake and normalization, preflight checks, proofing and approvals, and routing exceptions to the right person once—not three times. The goal is to keep people working on decisions and quality, not on administrative motion.”
Agentic artificial intelligence (AI) and intelligent workflow systems are increasingly taking on those normalization and exception-routing roles—absorbing variability before it reaches production. In an environment where experienced technicians are retiring faster than they can be replaced, preserving institutional knowledge inside the system becomes essential.
In McNerney’s view, margin protection also extends beyond production into adjacent, high-utility services. “Think Patented has had success in expanding into labels, packaging components, kitting and fulfillment. “Some adjacent offerings are great as add-ons because they deepen an existing relationship.”
But the real leverage emerges when those services integrate into a client’s operation. “Where it becomes a real growth engine is when it ties into the client’s operation—speed to market, fewer SKUs sitting in warehouses, less obsolescence, more versioning and personalization,” McNerney says. “At that point we’re not just selling a product, we’re helping them run their business better—and that’s where margin gets protected.”
Security and sustainability reinforce that positioning. McNerney says many printers claim to be secure—something he admits is easy to say. “The reality is it comes down to making security something the customer can feel in the workflow: secure transfer, controlled access, audit trails, clear retention and deletion rules. In the near future, I think real security will not be a differentiator—it will be a must to get in the game.”
Eliminating Variability at Scale
At ARC Document Solutions, margin protection is viewed through the lens of operational variability—the subtle inconsistencies that quietly erode profitability over time. Dilo Wijesuriya, President and COO, says one of the most persistent margin leaks is color matching.
That is why preventing rejections caused by color discrepancies is a top priority for the San Francisco-based digital printing, visual graphics and document scanning services provider. This is especially critical in large-format and brand-sensitive environments where expectations are exacting and even slight shifts can trigger costly rework.
Wijesuriya says that even small color variances can set off a chain reaction—reprints, expedited production and uncomfortable client conversations. A tweak that seems minor at first can quickly escalate into added materials, extra labor and tighter deadlines that squeeze profitability.
Installation accuracy is another critical pressure point. “During the installation process, when the actual site and prints don’t line up, we need to improve our site survey process and get it 100% accurate. Looking at software for managing installations better.” Wijesuriya says.
When field measurements and production outputs fall out of alignment, the result is wasted labor, revised graphics and delayed project completion—all of which chip away at margin.
For Wijesuriya, protecting profitability means tightening the systems behind the scenes. That includes strengthening color control processes, refining site survey protocols and investing in software that brings greater precision and coordination to installation management.
“The profitability conversation used to be, ‘What’s the lowest unit cost at this volume?’ That’s not enough anymore, because labor is the wildcard now.“
– David McNerney, President & CEO, Think Patented
In addition, external variability can be just as disruptive. “Customers delaying their print files or making changes till the last minute—as printers, our deadlines don’t move,” Wijesuriya says. “This creates rush work and extra overtime.”
ARC’s response is rooted in evaluating production platforms that reduce complexity while expanding capability. “We are continuously looking at production devices that are fast, easy to operate and have technology to run different materials. We are testing hybrid units that will reduce the need to buy multiple units.”
As an on-demand print company, ARC is not shifting toward high-volume packaging, but it is expanding strategically. “We are not moving to high volume packaging or label printing work,” Wijesuriya says. “Short run print needs are increasing and we are expanding our customer verticals.”
Security certification has become a margin differentiator. Wijesuriya says security and managing personal data is very important as they improve as digital printers. ARC already has been certified in SOC2/3 and HIPAA. These certifications attract higher paying customers. “It is all about communication and being truthful to the customer. We offer recycled material which is more expensive than other materials. Some customers will pay a premium for these materials.”
Margins no longer live in the volume of sheets moving through a pressroom, but in the discipline of systems that remove friction, variability and waste before they reach production. For printers willing to rethink profitability as orchestration—not output—the future is not about running more, but about running smarter.
