The Big Time

Most people could probably use at least a day without hearing about the economy. But the fact is, while the country has begun to recover, it is slow-paced. And members of the print industry, in particular, need to know what's in store because that ugly rumor (the one that calls print a dying breed) has been circulating for some time. End-users are looking for a stable source of supply.

Jumbo rolls can provide that sense of stability. According to Gerry Toscani, CEO of Westampton, New Jersey-based Paris Business Products, jumbo rolls continue to be among the company's fastest-growing product areas. "This difficult economic period has seen many organizations struggling to survive, with two of our major competitors going out of business. However, the printing and paper industry is still essentially strong, and we have already seen signs of improvement. Among the positive signals is the growth of jumbo rolls due to their cost efficiencies over many other paper products," he said.

He continued, "Many businesses that have high-speed, high-volume printers use jumbo rolls. Printer manufacturers such as Kodak, Xerox, Océ and IBM continue to evolve and improve efficiencies for large paper users. Markets that typically use jumbo rolls are large consumers of paper such as financial, healthcare and insurance, with most applications found in data processing companies, print service providers, billing and statement producers, fulfillment houses and in-plant print facilities."

Allen Simon, president of Monaca, Pennsylvania-based Datatel Resources is also finding success in this market, having produced jumbo rolls for more than 15 years. "The economy has forced us to continually position ourselves as a low-cost provider. However, the economy also has opened up opportunities for new business. ... There is plenty of print business out there. We strongly believe that we can provide a compelling proposal when teaming with our reseller partners to pursue new business," he asserted.