WESTERVILLE, Ohio — Ohio and northern Kentucky printers would like to forget about 2002 but are looking ahead to 2003 with hopes of a better year. A recent survey conducted by the Printing Industry Association serving Northern Kentucky and Ohio (PIANKO) found that 67 percent of the printers who responded had sales revenue in 2002 that fell short of their expectations while only 14 percent met their sales expectations, but 19 percent said 2002 exceeded their projections. “Ohio and northern Kentucky printers faced an uphill battle in 2002, but they are optimistic about 2003,” said PIANKO President Anita Herington. “PIANKO’s board has challenged us to make our membership more profitable in 2003 and that’s just what we’ve set out to do.” With 52 responding companies from Ohio and northern Kentucky, the PIANKO survey provides an interesting insight into the current state of the printing industry, the third largest manufacturing segment of the U.S. economy. Expectations were high for 2003 with 77 percent saying they thought 2003 would be a better year than 2002 and 16 percent thought it would be the same as last year. Seven percent said 2003 would be worse. Of those surveyed, 53 percent said they’d like to forget about 2002, while 18 percent had an outstanding year and 29 percent thought it was a repeat of 2001. When asked what they would have done differently in 2002, 43 percent said they would have done more aggressive marketing while 33 percent said they’d cut expenses and 19 percent said they would have done nothing. Four percent said they wouldn’t have invested in capital. “This is a clear mandate from our members that they should have done more of what their customers should have done in 2002… more marketing,” Herington said. “PIANKO will be there in 2003 for its members with a beefed up education program to help our members better market themselves.” Printing Industries Association, Inc. serving northern Kentucky and Ohio (PIANKO) serves about 600 commercial printing companies and suppliers to the industry in its service area. With headquarters in Westerville, Ohio, the association also operates offices in Broadview Heights and Cincinnati. PIANKO is an affiliate of the national Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation, the largest graphic arts association in the world. To learn more about PIANKO, visit www.pianko.org. A major initiative of PIANKO is Print: The Original Information Technology (or Print IT) which illustrates the importance of print as a communication medium. In the face of technology, print is still the primary source of communication for most of the world.