Commercial Printing

In the span of less than 30 years, printers have been fundamentally transformed from creative craftsmen into digital communicators. While increasingly sophisticated and expensive presses are still a printer's backbone, high-tech prepress and database services are now the printer's nervous system.

Tommy Gillis, senior partner and co-owner of Grand Prairie, Texas-based CFC Print Solutions, LLC, began his printing career as a plate maker at a computer services company in Georgia. He recalled, "I spent most of my time eating Snickers bars, drinking Mello Yello and studying in the plate room for my night classes at Georgia Southern University. I had no idea what a printing press was much less what an aluminum plate did!"

4236 B.C. Following the 365-day cycle of the star Sirius, ancient Egyptians record the very first year. An auspicious day for humanity to be sure, but even more so for those in the calendar business. After all, without the star-gazing and detail-obsessed people hanging out by the Nile all those years ago, they'd be without a job.

Pittsburgh-based Printing Industries of America (PIA) released a statement denouncing HP's latest offering of managed print services.

Norcross, Georgia-based Unisource Worldwide, Inc., has partnered with the Lakeshore Foundation—an official U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Site located in Birmingham, Ala.—to showcase paralympic athletes.

Newark, New Jersey-based Prisco announced an exclusive national distribution agreement with HP. The agreement will enable PriscoDigital, the digital division of the Prisco Group of Companies, to exclusively market and sell the complete line of HP Scitex super-wide industrial inkjet printing systems to the U.S. commercial print and industrial graphics marketplaces.

Between March 11 and 17, the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) awarded 132 one-time print jobs to 56 print supplier clients of the Chambersburg, Penn.-based Government Print Management. The total value in new business for the clients was more than $1.55 million.

These print suppliers won new business as a result of collaboration with Government Print Management in not only obtaining GPO solicitations that fit their production and schedule requirements, but in gaining an appropriate quality level rating.

Menus for a ritzy, French bistro. Brochures for a getaway to a ski resort. A business card reminding you to remember Joe the Salesman the next time you want to buy. It’s all commercial printing. But what’s a commercial printer to do when the restaurant shuts its doors, the hotel falters under a heap of debt and Joe gets the axe.  

Red Tape, bureaucracy, strict deadlines and even stricter specifications—securing a government print contract is no easy feat. And it’s even more intimidating considering what’s at stake. The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO)—the federal government’s primary centralized resource for gathering, cataloging, producing, authenticating and preserving published information—awarded $440 million in contracts in fiscal year 2008. The office is budgeting a 5 percent increase (approximately $22 million more) in print procurement for fiscal year 2009.

When addressing attendees at the Sustainability in Printing conference held at the Doubletree Hotel in Philadelphia last June, Gary Jones, director of environmental, health and safety affairs for The Printing Industries of America, Sewickley, Pa., stressed there would be a culture change going forward. Instead of a policy, he cautioned, businesses of all sizes will need a formal management system, along with continuous improvement measures, put into place.