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Quad/Graphics Awarded 5-Year, $30 Million Contract From Smithsonian

Press release from the issuing company

PEWAUKEE, Wis.--Nov. 14, 2002-- Quad/Graphics has entered into a five-year, $30 million agreement with Smithsonian Business Ventures (the revenue-generating arm of Smithsonian Institution) for the printing and distribution of the Smithsonian Catalogue; Smithsonian, Air & Space and Air Show World magazines; and My Smithsonian visitors' guide. Quad/Graphics will begin producing the work in January 2003. The contract strengthens Smithsonian's long-standing relationship with the printer, which started 10 years ago when Quad/Graphics began producing the Institution's mail-order Catalogue. In total, Quad/Graphics will print more than 50 million magazines and catalogues for Smithsonian each year, all from its Lomira, Wisconsin, gravure and web offset plant - the single largest print-production facility in the Western Hemisphere. "We decided to consolidate printing of our catalogues and top magazine titles at Quad/Graphics because of the overall efficiencies we could realize by having all of our titles manufactured in one plant," said Sally Kingsley, director of Manufacturing for Smithsonian Business Ventures. "Quad/Graphics has set a standard in the industry with their continual reinvestment in production and administrative technologies. Quad/Graphics will provide us with increased efficiencies on press, in the bindery and through their aggressive distribution network." Ms. Kingsley added: "The catalogue group has had a dynamic and long-standing relationship with Quad, and we are looking forward to expanding on that trust." "We have long been proud to print Smithsonian's catalogue work, and are delighted to extend our high-tech manufacturing platform to the production of its well-known magazines," said Tom Quadracci, president and CEO of Quad/Graphics. "The contract demonstrates Smithsonian's confidence in our printing and distribution services, no matter the format." Earlier this year, Smithsonian engaged Quad/Graphics' burgeoning parcel expediting service, Parcel Direct, to sort and deliver hundreds of thousands of its catalogue orders annually. "We provide full-circle services - not only printing and delivering catalogs, but delivering the items within the catalogs," Mr. Quadracci said. "We are a one-stop service provider."