Paramus, N.J., March 13, 2008 – NAPL, the not-for-profit management association for business excellence in the printing and graphic communications industry (www.napl.org), announces the release of the 2008 Budgeted Hourly Cost Study for Bindery, Finishing & Mailing Operations. NAPL Cost Studies are among the industry's most trusted and powerful financial management tools. For decades, printing professionals have relied upon NAPL's Cost Studies to understand the true costs of producing and charging for their work. Both versions of the research, the traditional hard copy and the interactive CS InterACT-BD Software, are free to all members of NAPL.

The Studies are used by many to recalculate costs after building new plants or consolidating operations, or simply reevaluating profitability factors in specific operational cost centers. Others, recognizing the value of the material but unable to devote time to the analysis, contract with NAPL consultants to provide customized budgeted hourly rates for their specific operations. The data is considered a core financial tool for making detailed management decisions regarding not only job pricing but additional equipment purchases and equipment ROI determinations on a company's current configuration.

"The Cost Studies help management gather the information it needs to control production costs, prepare profitable estimates and calculate the cost impact of capital acquisitions," states Timothy Fischer, NAPL executive vice president, chief operating officer and head of NAPL's Consulting Group. "Whether used separately to evaluate and benchmark current rates, or in conjunction with NAPL's Consulting Group to create production costs and pricing scenarios unique to one's own business, the Cost Studies can help a business maximize profits by helping it to understand true costs and how to leverage pricing in our highly competitive industry." An on-site rate analysis by an NAPL consultant generally takes 2-5 days.

"It's a mistake to look at a Cost Study merely as a pricing tool," Fischer elaborates. "Our industry is always under pricing pressure. Cost rate analysis certainly provides a jumping-off point for pricing discussions, but more importantly, it can help companies determine which work is unprofitable or has real profit potential for business growth."

Bindery Study Is Largest Ever
The new Bindery Cost Study provides budgeted hourly cost rates, specs, descriptions and prices for 644 different machines, covering 28 equipment categories from all-new surveys of 74 manufacturers and distributors. At 678 pages, it is the largest bindery edition ever produced. CS InterACT-BD 4.1, the software version of the study, and the book both provide hourly cost studies for each machine; show how the hourly rates are constructed; and detail how they differ for various equipment configurations, one-to-three shift operations, and three different productivity levels.

The software allows users to create customized reports in minutes for their specific companies or situations. "Navigation is as easy as the click of a button and easy-to-follow on-screen instructions help professionals input their own exact cost factors, such as equipment price, employee wages and manned hours, to construct rates for their own operation," says NAPL Special Projects Editor Joe Andrukitas. If software users have a question while editing a study, they simply click on the specific text for an instant pop-up explanation. Users can change more than 50 data fields, and the calculations update instantly. The CD includes both Windows and Mac OS X versions of the software. For a five-minute software preview, visit www.napl.org/bluebookdemo.

NAPL publishes five editions of Cost Studies covering all operations in a printing plant, including Digital & Conventional Prepress Operations; Sheetfed Press Operations; Web Press Operations; Bindery, Finishing & Mailing Operations; and Print Operations up to 20 Employees. Together these Studies contain hourly costing data provided by the manufacturers or exclusive equipment distributors for more than 1,400 individual pieces of equipment. Each Study is updated every two years to provide current working data on each machine.

NAPL members can receive one free copy of each Cost Study upon its release or a full set of the latest releases when joining the Association. All members can also download both the software and book at no charge from the members-only portions of NAPL's Web site. Budgeted hourly cost rate consulting is also available to premier and partner-level members as part of their tiered membership benefits.

Nonmembers may purchase the book version (Product Code NB-110) for $199.95 and the CS InterACT version (ND-110) for $249.00. To order a Cost Study or inquire about budgeted hourly cost rate consulting services, call NAPL at 800-642-6275 or visit www.napl.org.