Apex Color

1 Ennis Headquarters: Midlothian, Texas Annual Sales $(000): 584,713 Principal Officer(s): Keith Walters, Chairman, President, CEO Employees: 6,200 Locations: 44 2 Champion Industries Headquarters: Huntington, W. Va. Annual Sales $(000): 145,188 Principal Officer(s): Marshall T. Reynolds, CEO Employees: 740 Locations: 22 3 Western States Envelope & Label Headquarters: Butler, Wis. Annual Sales $(000): 117,900 Principal Officer(s): Mark S. Lemberger, President Employees: 731 Locations: 5 4 Printegra Headquarters: Peachtree City, Ga. Annual

1 Ennis Headquarters: Midlothian, Texas Commercial Printing Sales $(000): 58,471 Total Sales $(000): 584,713 2 Champion Industries Headquarters: Huntington, W. Va. Commercial Printing Sales $(000): 43,556 Total Sales $(000): 145,188 3 B&D Litho Headquarters: Phoenix Commercial Printing Sales $(000): 14,333 Total Sales $(000): 43,433 4 Team Concept Printing & Thermography Headquarters: Carol Stream, Ill. Commercial Printing Sales $(000): 6,051 Total Sales $(000): 9,605 5 Lewis Color Headquarters: Statesboro, Ga. Commercial Printing Sales $(000): 5,625 Total

Rank: 1 Company: Ennis, Midlothian, Texas Sales $(000): 559,397 Principal Officer(s): Keith Walters, Chairman, CEO, President Employees: 6,200 Locations: 42 (*Does not include sales figures for Block Graphics, acquired 08/09/06.) Rank: 2 Company: Champion Industries, Huntington, W. Va. Sales $(000): 135,000 Principal Officer(s): Marshall T. Reynolds, CEO Employees: 768 Locations: 22 Rank: 3 Company: Western States Envelope & Label, Butler, Wis. Sales $(000): 111,000 Principal Officer(s): Mark S. Lemberger, President, CEO Employees: 733 Locations: 5 Rank: 4 Company: Printegra, Peachtree City, Ga. Sales $(000): 87,706 Principal Officer(s): Casey Campbell, President, CEO Employees: 822 Locations: 14 Rank: 5 Company: PrintXcel, Montrose,

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

DMIA’s annual Print Solutions conference and exposition will be held Oct. 3-5 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill. The conference will provide three days of educational sessions, including a presentation by this year’s keynote speaker, Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House and co-author of “Contract with America.” Join Gingrich as he analyzes the current political climate in Washington, DC, and educates attendees on effective leadership. This year’s conference will feature equipment demonstrations, offering distributors better insight into how various applications are produced. In addition, exchange centers will be located on the show floor with more than 34 hours of

Phoenix-based UnigraphicsUSA, a strategic alliance of regional trade-only printers, announced the addition of Bradley Graphics Solutions, Bensalem, Pa., as a new member. Steven Gaynor, President of UnigraphicsUSA, invited Bradley to join the group to enhance the group’s service offering and expand its national footprint on the East Coast. Bob Bradley, president of Bradley Graphics Solutions said “We are pleased to be associated with the most well respected trade business document manufacturers in the country. Our company specializes in direct mail and business forms printing, and recently introduced a new line of integrated and affixed products which will enhance UnigraphicsUSA’s overall product offering.”

Distributors of forms and labels can profit by taking on a colorful challenge. Just what is commercial printing, and how hard is it for distributors of printed business products interested in increasing profits to offer this service to their customers? At Apex Color, Jacksonville, Fla., any printed product that is not a traditional business form is considered commercial printing. "This includes all of our four-color process and spot-color work that runs on our sheet-fed presses," explained Richard Ghelerter, president. "The projects consist of booklets, brochures, postcards, presentation folders, posters, rack cards, manuals, flyers, door hangers, table tents, menus, direct mail pieces, newsletters and

Well thought-out marketing strategies can boost commercial print sales. With all of the ongoing challenges in the print world, manufacturers of commercial print products have found themselves at the helm of aggressive marketing efforts in order to stay on top. "Establishing credibility with distributors is our top marketing strategy," said Richard Ghelerter, president of Jacksonville, Florida-based Apex Color. "One way that we have done this is by participating in the Printing Association of Florida's annual awards, and we have received the association's Best of Category award in commercial printing for four consecutive years." Ghelerter added that receiving such awards looks great on a

From prospecting to production, commercial printing takes a lot of hard work—but the results are beautifully profitable. At Apex Color, Jacksonville, Fla., commercial printing accounted for 30 percent of the work and $3.5 million in revenue last year. President Richard Ghelerter expects these figures to increase and has invested heavily in new equipment, including a five-color 20x26 press, as well as major upgrades in the pre-press department to facilitate that growth. Similarly, Andrea Pesci-Jones, executive vice president for Canton, Michigan-based Stylecraft, reported that in 2003, 25 percent of the company's orders were for commercial printing, generating $3 million in sales. Stylecraft expects that the

Ingenuity plus attention to detail helps distributors land lucrative accounts. When it comes to selling catalogs, brochures and booklets, the question isn't who buys them, the question is who doesn't buy them. Serving as vehicles that market and promote business and list or display information that is pertinent to a company's sales, these items are basic necessities among end-users in any market. As such, distributors can expect them to be fairly easy to sell. The difficulty, however, lies in the way distributors present solutions to end-users that require these products. "Distributors are well suited to go after business in this arena," said Mike