PARAMUS, N.J. – September 11, 2008 – NAPL, the not-for-profit management association for business excellence in the printing and graphic communications industry, has launched Performance Indicators, a new Web-based financial analysis application. The basic service is free to qualified companies in the industry. It helps printers regularly measure their vital business signs and identify and anticipate business trends in time to aggressively build on strengths and correct weaknesses. NAPL tested a beta version of the program in a non-online environment among 39 participant companies over the last three and a half years. With the Web-based program, companies can now enter data and see results immediately, any day at any time.
 
“Competition has never been more intense,” said Andrew D. Paparozzi, vice president and chief economist, NAPL. “Unlike benchmarking tools, which provide one-time snapshots of where you stand on a metric, NAPL’s Performance Indicators provides trends analysis with both real-time information on what’s happening now and a look at rolling averages over time so that trends become more readily apparent. In addition, the application lets businesses compare their results against others in the database. Ultimately, Performance Indicators differentiates the industry’s leaders by giving them the information they need to anticipate trends in time to make the necessary decisions to improve future profitability.”
 
The NAPL Performance Indicators are based on 13 key metrics universal to printers large and small, web or sheetfed, diversified or ink-on-paper. These are quantifiable measures of progress, identified by a task force of commercial printing industry leaders as the most important in determining business success. All 13 are shown on NAPL’s secure Web site, https://www.naplperformanceindicators.org.
 
Printing companies of any type, size and scope may participate. Companies submit raw data monthly, within five weeks of the close of the month, and the program automatically calculates the vital metrics, instantly providing reports and charts. The system is password protected and all data is secure and confidential. Data must be submitted according to the program definitions so that it is consistent for all participants. New participants are asked to submit two years worth of data so that trend analysis can begin immediately.
 
In return, printers receive comparisons of their monthly results and a trend analysis of each of the indicators against the group at large. “Having this information used to be a luxury,” said Paparozzi. “There are no longer one-size-fits-all answers, and printers need to understand changes in their own vital signs for their own specific resources and goals in real time.”
 
There is no cost to participate at the basic level for qualified companies in the printing industry. Current participants report that submitting one month of data takes less than three minutes. The NAPL Performance Indicators application runs on both PCs and Macs. NAPL staff consultants are available to help with any stage, from data collection to trends analysis, diagnostics and solutions.
 
Visit www.napl.org to link to a five-minute video overview of Performance Indicators by Andy Paparozzi. For more information, or to register for the NAPL Performance Indicators Service, call 800-642-6275, ext. 6307, or visit the secure Web site:https://www.naplperformanceindicators.org.
 
Performance Indicators may also be previewed October 26-29 at NAPL’s booth at Grand 1 by the registration area at Graph Expo.