Let's Talk
P+P: What keeps you up at night?
GM: If I can't sleep at night, it's not due to worry, but rather my excitement for the future of Proforma and our member owners. There is a big problem facing our industry and it's the slow demise of some printing which is challenging the very survival of many printers in North America. But this bad news for them is good news for Proforma and our distributor model. I believe that Proforma and our member owners will see big wins at the customer level as end-users increasingly understand the power of dealing with a distributor over a limited printing company. Most industries eventually shift from a manufacturer-selling-direct model to a distributor model. Ford invented cars, but they do not sell them. Dealers sell all cars and trucks. Coke doesn't sell coke. Distributors sell most all soda, beer and liquor. And the same is true for food, tires, office supplies and just about all mature industries. As the printing industry continues to mature, we will see a giant shift toward printing being sold through distributors representing best-in-class printers.