No Rest for the Weary

With the passing of another year, less-than-optimistic predictions continue to plague the forms sector. How often do we hear industry experts refer to printed forms as “a dying breed?” Yes, Print Professional’s annual Top 100 Manufacturers issue last October revealed a slight decline in forms sales with reported figures of $931 million compared to $1.08 billion in 2006. Nevertheless, paper-based forms had—and still have—the strongest presence in the entire printed-products market. In 2007, forms comprised 34.5 percent of the total $2.97 billion annual sales listed for the printing industry as a whole. Labels and tags were the closest competitors, making up only 18.8 percent of the total figures, proving forms have a lot of fight left.

Print suppliers are currently excited about their working ideas, and are already increasing profits through their creative efforts. Datatel Resources, Monaca, Pa., has a rich history of producing long-run custom forms, but over the last several years, the company has developed a strong expertise in the production of 50" jumbo rolls pre-printed for data processing and direct marketing applications, noted Allen Simon, president. To maximize the quality of its jumbo rolls, Datatel Resources offers several features and services, including computerized video-web monitoring, inter-stage UV and customized roll packaging. One-hundred percent clean, splice-free rolls are also available upon request.

Furthermore, the company recently made changes to its production workflow. “Datatel has expanded our traditional printed jumbo roll capabilities so that we can produce 18x11" documents, 2"-wide, across a 361⁄2" press. This allows us to produce a full truckload of printed product in less than 24 hours,” said Simon.

He mentioned Datatel Resources recently secured the most up-to-date, in-house digital workflow technologies to process copy and provide electronic and digital proofing. For instance, the new system boasts increased speed and control, and enables PDF proofs to be processed the same day printable files are received.