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The challenge facing printing company owners over whether and how to secure non-compete agreements was debated recently with a lively exchange of views on the NAQP listserv. Having encountered this issue from an M&A and business valuation perspective for many years, and being sensitive to the legal implications, given my background as a lawyer, I unequivocally weigh in that a Non-Compete Agreement is NOT the ultimate solution to protect general intangibles. Read More
City Tech ADGA faculty members Roy Nelson (left) and Steve Caputo (dark suit) with students Vanessa Kwan, Juan Moreno, Taka Nishimura, Darren Fuller, Ruben Borges, and Diana Sanchez at their new POLAR 115 X cutter.
Though it’s often taken for granted, paper cutting is a crucial step in the successful production of nearly every printed job. To teach this essential skill, schools with graphics programs need up-to-date cutting equipment—such as the POLAR 115 X cutter that New York City College of Technology (City Tech) recently purchased from Heidelberg. Read More
The recent collaborative agreement reached by environmentalists and members of the Canadian forest products industry, a public campaign targeting the packaging-sourcing practices of KFC, and other actions are focusing attention on environmental non-governmental organizations (or ENGOs). But who are they? And what are they up to? Read More
Double-dip usually means a diet-busting serving of ice cream. If ice cream is easy money, and the diet is the judicious use of credit, then it's another way to explain Europe's economic crisis. To paraphrase the old saying, “What if they gave a V-shaped recovery and nobody came,” might be what's happening to the economy. When no one's certain what's ahead, they focus on what they know. Read More
When selling out is the best exit strategy for your print company, there’s careful planning that needs to happen from the moment you make your decision. Patrick is joined by Tom Williams and Jim Russell of New Direction Partners, to review the long range preparation that will put you in the best position to make the sale. Read More
Putting together an awards program is not an easy task! And until you've done it more than once, it's hard to claim success. This year, at the dinner for the winners of the Second Annual WhatTheyThink Environmental Innovation Awards, it was clear that the program is recognizing the companies that are truly industry leaders. Read More
Pacific Printing Industries (PPI) has announced plans to launch the Responsible Direct Mail Initiative, a self-certification program for printers, catalog publishers and other direct-mail providers seeking to earn recognition for responsible direct mailing practices. Could this proactive initiative obviate the need for Do Not Mail legislation? Read More
"Smiles, everyone, smiles!" That's not something one has heard at a printing industry trade show in rather a long time, but this year’s Ipex—which opened Tuesday, May 18, at the NEC in Birmingham, UK—is one of the happier occasions I (or many) can recall in a good long time. Read More
IPEX is many things – a celebration of print, a Euro-centric gathering of major and minor vendors, a walkable show that makes it easy to enjoy the variety of offerings that compose our industry – but it’s certainly no drupa. Read More
In this analysis, Barb takes a look at the impact of social networking Websites on printed photos and photo merchandise. She also provides examples of companies that are evolving their methods and creating photo applications for social networks to maintain revenue and attract potential customers. Read More
D. Eadward Tree, Chief Arborist of the Dead Tree Edition, has weighed in on the landmark truce announced yesterday by Canadian forestry companies and green groups. It's a very interesting read, and really worth the investment of a few moments of your time. Read More
Twenty one member companies of the Forest Products Association of Canada (FPAC) and nine leading environmental organizations have jointly unveiled the Canadian Boreal Forest Agreement – a three-year conservation landmark that applies to 72 million hectares of public forests. Read More
Congratulations to the young publishing team at Toronto’s Ryerson University for winning the Helmut Kipphan Student Publication Cup in a competition sponsored by the Technical Association of the Graphic Arts (TAGA). This yearly honor salutes the best student-produced journal on research and technology for the graphic arts. Read More
News media in Chicago are reporting that all is not smooth sailing for the enactment of legislation that would overhaul rules for exhibitors at McCormick Place. The Chicago Tribune, ABC News, and CBS News now say that Illinois Governor Pat Quinn will not necessarily sign the bill, at least not in its present form. Read More
WhatTheyThink Going Green recently passed the 2-year mark for publication - a milestone! I've thoroughly enjoyed putting together the site, seeing readership grow, and developing relationships with the many "green printers" in our industry. After more than 375 posts, endless recording of upcoming events, listing of 44 "must read" books, two Environmental Awards programs, and many tens of thousands of page views, I'm moving on to new challenges. Read More
The Department of Commerce revised almost 10 years of printing industry shipments data last week. The WhatTheyThink economic data elves dug into the data and explain what those revisions mean, what years were revised up, and which ones were revised down. Read More
The best news that the Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC) has heard in a long time is that cost-saving reforms finally are coming to McCormick Place, the Chicago home of the Graph Expo and Print events. And while these much-needed changes can't guarantee a successful show by themselves, they should go a long way toward easing exhibitors' concerns about the high costs and logistical headaches of taking part in what continue to be the industry's leading trade expositions. Read More
Sometimes it can be difficult to put yourself into the “creative zone”. We’ve assembled a collection of ideas and links that should help you open your mind and expand your thinking. Read More
The USDA's Animal Plant Health Inspection Service has green-lighted the planting of more than one quarter million genetically engineered eucalyptus trees across seven states in the U.S. South by a joint venture of IP and MeadWestvaco. Not everyone is happy, however. Read More
Five printing firms are among the 100 fastest-growing inner-city companies in the U.S. as recognized by Bloomberg BusinessWeek and the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC). They include, above, Hotcards, led by founder and CEO Columbus Woodruff (center); and, below, Panther Graphics, owned by Tony Jackson, CEO. Read More
For the past several years, printing company managers have been urged to practice a value-based approach to selling and pricing. Value-based selling and pricing are particularly important for companies that provide more complex offerings such as personalized direct marketing campaigns and online collateral management systems or other web-to-print solutions. Read More
Photo merchandise items such as photo greeting cards, photo books, and photo calendars have caught the attention of consumers and retailers alike. Consumers like photo gifts because they are thoughtful, emotional, and can take the place of more expensive merchandise. Retailers like photo gifts because they command a higher price than traditional photo prints and represent a growth market. This article discusses how Fullerton Photographics, a photo lab and studio in California, is using photo merchandise to increase its profits. Read More
Regularity, Substance, and Relevance. These are the three keys to effective communication with stakeholders - the people who make your business *their* business. Read More
Pitney Bowes Government Solutions has released a new white paper focusing on the three key areas in which government agencies can improve their sustainability performance: energy consumption, waste and productivity. The white paper also recommends some immediate steps that government agencies can take to begin the process of “greening” their activities. Read More
At the end of March, Francis McMahon, director of marketing for HP's US Graphic Arts Business, Imaging and Printing Group, departed HP after being there for eight years. Effective April 12th, he joined Océ North America as the Vice President of Marketing reporting to Mal Baboyian, President of Océ Production Printing Systems Division based in Boca Raton, Florida. Here is what McMahon has to say about his new company and the Canon acquisition. Read More
Legislation overhauling the management, work rules, and cost structures at Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center promises a new deal for Graph Expo 2010 and other trade shows whose owners lobbied for changes there. Read More
Reed Business Information is retaining ownership of Graphics Arts Monthly, Graphic Arts Blue Book, and Converting. RBI plans to use the subscription list from these titles to generate leads through the company's business-to-business marketing unit Mardev-DM2. Read More
Demonstrating transparency is central to building a printing company’s credibility, and one way to do so is to engage in frequent dialog with stakeholders. But, just who are your stakeholders and what do they hold dear? Read More
For printers, the most iconic exemplar of ink on paper is the $100 bill, the piece of folding money that bears the portrait of their patron saint. The scientist in Benjamin Franklin surely would have appreciated all of the technology that’s been embedded in the latest version of the C-note, unveiled by the U.S. Treasury Department last month. Read More
The unemployment report was released Friday, and though it was almost 10%, there was good news. Will it last? Print and GDP continue their decade-plus estrangement. Disposable income is not the money you throw away, but the money you can spend as you wish. Well, maybe it is the money you throw away. Unless something changes, some of that money will go to filling out forms. Nothing like bureaucracy as a growth business. Read More
Ricoh Americas Corporation has introduced @Remote Green Reports, which allows businesses to monitor, assess and report imaging fleet performance and employee printing trends in support of internal sustainability and/or cost reduction goals. Read More
PURE Labels and other products from Distant Village Packaging are environmentally low-impact, but there's more to the story than being green. Read More
None of us know what the future holds. Frank Romano teaches a class in print media trends, and he asked his students to look into their crystal balls. Here's what they thought the future might hold. Read More
Cary Sherburne talks with EFI CEO Guy Gecht about their recent earnings release and acquisition of Radius Solutions. Read More
Intuit, the maker of QuickBooks, sold more than $3 billion worth of financial management and accounting software, do-it-yourself web sites, and other products and services to small firms in its 2009 fiscal year. That broad customer base is a natural source of data about trends at the small-business end of the economic spectrum—an opportunity that Intuit has seized with the launch of its Small Business Employment Index. Read More
Production digital printing technology was introduced to the market 20 years ago. The Xerox DocuTech was introduced on October 2, 1990 and its major competitor was the Kodak Lionheart. Since then, a plethora of new products have made digital printing more affordable and colorful. This document discusses six compelling reasons for investing in digital color printing. Read More
The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP) has announced the opening of a 45-day public comment period for its Binding, Finishing and Loose Leaf (BFLL) Certification Criteria document. Read More
Sappi Fine Paper North America has launched its “eQ Tool” – an interactive section of its website that presents the environmental attributes of its papers in an interesting graphical format. It's more sales tool than green tool, but it's worth a look. Read More
Printers have been struggling and over the last few months a number have been closed or sold. It’s a hard process when your business is on the edge. Here is a letter from Warren Werbitt, CEO of Pazazz describing how he felt through his company's reorganization process, and what he did to turn things around. Read More
If one reads many of the projections being made about the future of printing there is a belief that offset printing is in serious decline and the new high-speed inkjet printing will kill the offset business. Various claims have been made that we could see offset being replaced in almost all areas by inkjet printing by 2020 or earlier. What do I think about that? I think it is a total load of rubbish. Read More
Enjoy this conversation between Patty Calkins, Xerox, and Andrew Winston, co-author of Green to Gold. They discuss sustainability initiatives as part of an organizations core business strategy. Read More
Two wood-fiber suppliers to Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) violated Indonesian law by conducting harvest operations in deep peat forests and conducting natural-forest harvest operations during a provincial-government-imposed moratorium, according to a report just released by the NGO coalition, Eyes On The Forest. Read More
The first quarter GDP showed that the economy is growing, but that was compared to the fourth quarter. How is GDP changing on a year-to-year comparison? The GDP data are about the whole economy, but how is small business doing? Dr. Joe explains how a rarely reported part of the quarterly GDP data helps us judge the health of small businesses. Read More
The planned acquisition of Radius Solutions is complementary to EFI’s other MIS software solutions for the printing industry. Read More
High prices for recycled paper are threatening to shut down what may be North America’s premier recycled-newsprint mill, Catalyst Paper. Read More
There are many important relationships in business. Certainly, the customer relationship is critical. The employer - employee relationship is a key one as well. But one that is sometimes overlooked is the vendor relationship. At one time vendor relationships were seen as adversarial. Less was more when revealing information to your vendor about your operation. Then, when it came time to negotiate price, each side's goal was to get as much as possible. Read More
This article provides a brief overview of the CMO Council’s 2010 Marketing Outlook to assess the trends in strategic marketing progress and performance, the marketing plans of influential organizations, and the priorities and intentions of industry leaders. It outlines the key goals and strategies for marketers while also discussing the implications for print service providers. Read More
When an announcement for something new like copy paper made from 100% sugar cane and bamboo fibers comes across my desk, I have to learn more about it. So, where does this "miracle" paper come from? Read More
The harsh glare of negative publicity apparently isn’t going to keep Goldman Sachs from going through with a $500 million plan to aid America’s small businesses. Announced last November, Goldman’s “10,000 Small Business Initiative” will invest $200 million in education and $300 million in developmental funding for qualifying firms. On Monday, according to a reporter for Aol Small Business, an unnamed Goldman executive confirmed that the plan was still in progress and that first steps were under way. The New York Daily News reported last week that La Guardia Community College in Long Island City would be the first community college to spearhead the educational portion of the program. Read More
The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership and ACE Public Relations LLC have announced a partnership to promote environmental stewardship through SGP certification. Read More
Printers are realizing business and environmental benefits of increased reliance on green power. And the purchase of Renewable Energy Credits - RECs - is proving to be a smart choice for printers on the path toward greater sustainability. Read More
Why motivate employees to join and stay with your organization? First of all, because it’s good business. Companies that strive to attract and retain skilled personnel show consistently higher bottom-line profitability, increased value to customers, and stronger sustainability, especially in challenging times. Read More
The United States lost a greater percentage of its forest cover during the 2000-2005 period than did Brazil and Indonesia, according to a new study appearing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). Read More
Moderator: Welcome to Obsolete Anonymous! I've gathered you all here to welcome our latest member, the Print Industry. Print Industry: Hello, everyone. But there's been a mistake. I don't belong here. (chuckles all around) Print Industry: I'm serious. I'm not obsolete. I'm relevant. Print books have been around for hundreds of years. They're never going to be replaced. Read More
A rising tide makes everyone a genius, even the bad managers. The improving economy is a less powerful trend than the upheavals that digital media are creating. Capital investment by printers is being affected by consolidation, the upside-down condition of interest rates, investments in new media, and a shift in industry print processes. For those waiting for the old economic and investment cycles to repeat themselves, this will be disappointing. Read More
During a Senate subcommittee hearing yesterday, there was no clear consensus on whether the Postal Service should address its financial difficulties by reducing its delivery schedule. The title of the hearing was “The Future of the United States Postal Service" and it was held by a Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee. Read More
PUMA has designed the ultimate “flat box!” The bag/box is made of a single folded sheet of cardboard in a reusable, recyclable PET bag, designed to protect shoes from the time they leave the factory until the customer gets them home. Read More
Leading a printing company can be a challenging task in the best of times. Not only do you have to keep up with all the technology, maintain connections with and a deep understanding of your customers’ business needs, but you also have to build the right team and inspire them to carry your message to customers and prospects. A recent keynote by Joan Davidson at EFI Connect sheds some light on how a successful leader is accomplishing these objectives. Read More
Coupon distribution across all channels continued to increase in the first quarter of 2010 as coupons become an ever more important part of the consumer shopping habit, driving up redemption rates as well, according to NCH Marketing Services Inc., a division of media and marketing services company Valassis. Read More
FERN, a UK-based environmental NGO, released a report condemning the EU Ecolabel as lax and inadequate in assuring the environmental credentials of paper products bearing the seal. FERN’s report investigates the award of the EU Ecolabel to two photocopy brands, Golden Plus and Lucky Boss, which are manufactured by Pindo Deli, part of the Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) supply chain. Read More
Part of the WhatTheyThink Going Green Earth Day celebration is our recognition of five companies who have been selected as winners of the WhatTheyThink Environmental Innovation Awards. These are companies who are making real and concrete contributions to innovation, implementation, and communication of environmental solutions. Read More
Instead of dividing up existing (and often shrinking) demand and benchmarking competitors, the blue ocean strategy is about growing demand and breaking away from competitors. This article discusses how Reynolds DeWalt, a cross-media communications company, is striving to do just that. Read More
