Commercial Printing

Competition is tough all around. Even quick printing chains, which seemingly pummel their competitors, face off against a host of small commercial printers, whether they be chains, franchises or independent businesses. But, profit and growth remain viable for both quick printers and small commercial printers. According to Quick Printing magazine’s 2007 Annual Franchise Review, the industry’s total 2006 sales were up 21.6 percent over 2005. And, as larger commercial printers expand their services, quick printers and smaller commercial printers are finding similar avenues to retain a competitive edge. To get an overview of today’s quick printing market, BFL&S spoke with John Giles, an industry

Looking back on some of the research Weymouth, Massachusetts-based Infotrends has produced, the company’s work has, on occasion, concisely predicted the future. Take a 2003 consumer report on digital cameras, which predicted the devices would eclipse nondisposable film cameras by 2008. Fourteen years ago, the company’s foresight was just as sharp, even in the relatively new digital print market. Partnering with Questex, the company which eventually acquired Infotrends in 2006, the group conceived of a show for a niche segment still hashing out its place in the market. When Charles A. Pesko, president of Infotrends, initially embarked on the project, he was reminded that

Depending on who you talk to, commercial printing can include everything from business cards and large-format, point-of-purchase displays to simple black text on white stock and four-color process images on handcrafted specialty papers. It’s almost impossible for manufacturers and distributors to anticipate the specific challenges they’ll encounter during any given project. But, with a solution-oriented “can do” attitude and the right manufacturer for the particular type of piece requested, industry professionals can be reasonably assured of customer satisfaction. The following two case studies illustrate some types of issues that can crop up when handling commercial printing, and how to resolve them. Divide and

Commercial printing morphs annually in the 21st century. The following printing firsts, however, irrevocably changed the global printing industry. • China, 11th century: Pi Sheng creates the first movable type process by molding letters out of clay. • Korea, 13th century: First movable metal type process is developed. • Mainz, Germany, 1455: Johannes Gutenburg introduces movable type in Europe, and reproduces the Bible. • Philadelphia, 1728: Benjamin Franklin launches “The Pennsylvania Gazette.” • Bohemia, 1796: Alois Senefelder invents the lithographic process. • London, 1814: “The Times” becomes the first newspaper to utilize Friedrich Koenig and Andreas Bauer’s steam-powered press, which

Commercial printing morphs annually in the 21st century. The following printing firsts, however, irrevocably changed the global printing industry. • China, 11th century: Pi Sheng creates the first movable type process by molding letters out of clay. • Korea, 13th century: First movable metal type process is developed. • Mainz, Germany, 1455: Johannes Gutenburg introduces […]

Clarity is an important quality of an excellent print job. The kind of eye-popping projects that draw people from across a room are the result of the concerted effort of all involved. Just as the ink must be properly aligned on the substrate to ensure clarity in a given piece, the wants and needs of the manufacturer, distributor and client must also be properly aligned to ensure clarity in the focus and content of a commercial print job. What can distributors do to ensure they act as the best possible conduit for information and help their clients to produce the products exactly as desired? To help

Rank: 1 Company: Ennis, Midlothian, Texas Commercial Print Sales $(000): 57,338 Total Sales $(000): 559,397 Rank: 2 Company: Champion Industries, Huntington, W. Va. Commercial Print Sales $(000): 54,000 Total Sales $(000): 135,000 Rank: 3 Company: Nieman Printing, Dallas Commercial Print Sales $(000): 16,417 Total Sales $(000): 22,185 Rank: 4 Company: RiteMade Paper Converters, Kansas City, Mo. Commercial Print Sales $(000): 12,000 Total Sales $(000): 40,000 Rank: 5 Company: Acculink, Greenville, N.C. Commercial Print Sales $(000): 10,068 Total Sales $(000): 10,598 Rank: 6 Company: The F.P. Horak Co., Bay City, Mich. Commercial Print Sales $(000): 7,000 Total Sales $(000): 20,000

Upon first examining this year’s Top 100 Suppliers’ sales numbers, the BFL&S staff discovered a $241 million decrease in overall sales compared with last year. This sent the team scrambling for answers. However, deeper analysis revealed a simple explanation. As our readership may have noticed, in 2004 and 2005, Quality Park, Englewood, Colo., ranked number one and two respectively on the Top 100 Suppliers list with sales peaking at $430 million. This year, the Quality Park brand no longer appears on the list at all. In years past, Quality Park consisted of six companies: DealerLabel, Discount Labels, Lancer Label, PrintXcel, Wisco and Quality Park Products.

Approximately eight months ago, Lancaster, New York-based RMF Printing Technologies (www.rmfprinting.com) began informing the distributor community that it had entered the commercial printing market. Fortunately, the company had space within its manufacturing environment to add up to 12 employees and the necessary equipment. A separate estimating software system was installed and some estimators with commercial printing backgrounds were hired due to the greater degree of involvement in knowing how the jobs were going to be set up and run. The work is rolling in steadily now. “Although our forms sales are still fairly strong, we saw an opportunity to expand our printing

For decades now, we’ve been hearing talk of the death of print. Cliché phrases such as, “No one reads,” “Books are on the way out,” and “Paper printing is a dead technology,” are heard again and again by those modeling the latest, most fashionable gadgets and the so-called experts. Hype comes in many forms. The computer is more than half a century old now; the personal computer has been ubiquitous for two decades – the laptop for 10 years; PDAs and palm-enabled phones are quickly usurping the laptop. With each newer, smaller machine the volume swells on the old chant: “Books are doomed! The