NPES Sets Course to Align Value Chain and Drive Global Print Industry Growth

Reston, VA - NPES The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies has embarked in a bold new direction, with a new 2017–2020 Strategic Business Plan for the industry. Centered around two priority focus areas, the over-arching goals of the three-year roadmap are to: "Convene, Lead, and Drive the Global Printing & Imaging Value Chain toward Operational Excellence," and "Position and Engage the Global Printing & Imaging Industry for Growth throughout the Value Chain."

NPES's ambitious new direction is based on data gathered from the Association's outreach to more than 13,000 industry stakeholders—OEMs, printers and others—who shared their "what keeps me up at night" issues; industry leader telephone interviews; and, professionally facilitated strategic planning sessions with NPES Board members and staff. The NPES 2017-2020 Strategic Plan was finalized by year-end 2016 and launched in January 2017.

"This is a defining moment not just for NPES, but for the entire industry," states NPES President Thayer Long. "Through the data obtained in the planning process, NPES learned that to effectively engage, advance and grow our industry, the value chain must be aligned and working together in lockstep. NPES's new strategic vision, developed by and for our industry, offers a guiding blueprint for all industry stakeholders to achieve success through alignment, which is critical for sustained industry growth," he continued.

To advance the plan, Advisory Groups comprised of industry stakeholders from across the value chain are currently developing initiatives within the six key "pillars" of the plan, titled:

1. Research: to provide actionable data for immediate implementation for the Industry's value chain
2. Facilitate: as "master collaborator," convene the value chain in interactive industry events to conduct Education, Business Networking, and Commerce
3. Advocate: engage the value chain to leverage advocacy and drive favorable business outcomes for The Industry
4. Brand: the Association as the heart of "The Industry" for all members of the value chain
5. Expand: new opportunities for Industry Research, Global Trade, Business Development and position and promote the Industry into markets of opportunity through global channel development, and
6. Train: by serving as the Industry's education distribution channel and workforce development agent.

Looking ahead, "Our measurement of success will not be by how many members we obtain, or how large our events are, but instead, we will begin to measure the industry value chain alignment," said NPES Chairman Mal Baboyian, Executive VP LFS/PPS, Canon Solutions America, Inc.

From the strategic planning process, NPES additionally gleaned new perspective on optimizing industry organization partnerships to expand the benefits for the entire value chain. Subsequently, and working cooperatively with Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC) co-owners Idealliance and Printing Industries of America, NPES has assumed full ownership of the PRINT and GRAPH EXPO tradeshows. This modification will enable the industry to reimagine these events within the context of a new strategic vision to best support and drive print industry growth.

For more information about the NPES 2017–2020 Strategic Business Plan, contact NPES President Thayer Long at phone: 703/264-7200, or e-mail: [email protected].