Picture this: Upon returning to the office from GRAPH EXPO 14, you meet with your boss to talk about a current project. What impresses her (more than that deep-dish Chicago-style pizza you had) is that you now have solid solutions to implement that save your company time and money! Congrats to you, star employee, for discussing your challenges with the experienced, knowledgeable Printing Industries of America experts at Booth #3667. They’re here to answer your specific questions in person and help you find solutions related to EHS, integrated print, economic forecasting, and more.  We’ll show you just where you can meet them—at our booth, presenting seminars, and throughout the show. Julie Shaffer Vice President, Digital Strategies Years of experience—I’ve been in industry in one aspect or another for more than 24 years.   Main area of expertise—My expertise has evolved. In prepress, I have solid knowledge in image editing, layout and design, color management, workflow automation, proofing, and imaging. Having managed the Digital Printing Council, I understand digital printing and production and direct marketing applications. I’ve written books on PDF, social media, and web-to-print. Now I’m focusing on 3D printing and developing online training programs to help members learn all of the above and researching new and disruptive technologies that may impact the industry. Julie’s integrated print tip—“The USPS website is a great place to find case studies, templates, and tips for designing a direct mail piece. This great free resource is at www.usps.com/business/mail-it.htm.” Meet Julie—I’ll be demoing the new Integrated Learning Center at our booth, #3667. You can also find me presenting several seminars: “3D Printing: NEW Profit Pathway for Commercial Printers,” Sunday, September 28 from 2:00–3:30 p.m. in R8; then “Color Management for ‘Non-Techies’,” Monday, September 29, 4:00–5:30 p.m. in R31; finally a Computer Lab “Digital Print Design: 20 Things You MUST Know Now,” Tuesday, September 30, 2:00–5:00 p.m. Ed Gleeson Director of Economics & Market Research Years of experience—I’ve been in the industry for 8 years as an economic and market researcher. Main area of expertise—Tracking industry trends such as profitability, sales, pricing, cost, etc., and providing the industry with this information so they can make better informed decisions. Ed’s tip for profitability—“According to our Ratios database, small- and medium-size printers that are profit leaders are just as profitable as their larger counterparts. During the seminar, we’ll explore why profit leaders earn 4 to 5 times as much as the average printer.” Meet Ed—Join me forthe seminar, “Beyond Survival: NEW Success Strategies for Small & Medium Sized Printers,” on September 30, 8:30–10:00 a.m. in R36. Gary Jones Assistant Vice President, EHS Affairs Years of experience—27 years. Main area of expertise—Federal (e.g., EPA, OSHA, DOT, CSPC, USDA, FTC,...

The following is a guest blog post from Kevin Cooper, author of Lean Printing: Cultural Imperatives to Success and coauthor of Lean Printing: Pathway to Success and Setup Reduction for Printers. We live in tumultuous times. We have all been taught since our earliest years that change is a constant, things change, the only constant is change, and probably many other pithy little sayings on the topic of change. With all of the focus that has been put on change it is still remarkable how difficult it is for organizations, and people, to enact and embrace change. Part of this relates to fear. Change is stressful. It takes energy to change something. Change takes focus and effort, we must do something differently. We all know this instinctively but that does not make it easier to do. Want to lose weight? You must change your exercise or eating behavior. Want to save more for retirement? The answer lies in changing your spending or saving habits. Easy to say, tougher to do. Many printers have learned about the concept of Lean management over the past few years. Few printers have been successful to any great degree in implementing Lean principles. The lack of success in the industry is not because Lean is difficult to understand or because Lean has not been proven to be applicable. The biggest impediment to Lean success for printers lies in a desire to implement Lean principles without being willing to undertake the change necessary for sustainable success. Lean is not a set of tools to layer on top of how you already do business. Lean is a fundamentally different way of managing your business. Being Lean means doing things differently than you currently do. Being Lean means changing the way you do things and that is no easier than losing weight or altering your spending habits late in life. We all yearn for the magic pill that makes problems disappear. It does not exist. Change takes effort and hard work. Want to be Lean and improve your business? It is time to...

The following is a guest blog post from Kevin Cooper, author of Lean Printing: Cultural Imperatives to Success and coauthor of Lean Printing: Pathway to Success and Setup Reduction for Printers. We live in tumultuous times. We have all been taught since our earliest years that change is a constant, things change, the only constant is change, and probably many other pithy little sayings on the topic of change. With all of the focus that has been put on change it is still remarkable how difficult it is for organizations, and people, to enact and embrace change. Part of this relates to fear. Change is stressful. It takes energy to change something. Change takes focus and effort, we must do something differently. We all know this instinctively but that does not make it easier to do. Want to lose weight? You must change your exercise or eating behavior. Want to save more for retirement? The answer lies in changing your spending or saving habits. Easy to say, tougher to do. Many printers have learned about the concept of Lean management over the past few years. Few printers have been successful to any great degree in implementing Lean principles. The lack of success in the industry is not because Lean is difficult to understand or because Lean has not been proven to be applicable. The biggest impediment to Lean success for printers lies in a desire to implement Lean principles without being willing to undertake the change necessary for sustainable success. Lean is not a set of tools to layer on top of how you already do business. Lean is a fundamentally different way of managing your business. Being Lean means doing things differently than you currently do. Being Lean means changing the way you do things and that is no easier than losing weight or altering your spending habits late in life. We all yearn for the magic pill that makes problems disappear. It does not exist. Change takes effort and hard work. Want to be Lean and improve your business? It is time to...

Through this series of blogs, the campaign leaders of Value of Print, Choose Print, and Print Grows Trees are revealing the effects these campaigns are having on the industry and how they’re fighting to help educate print buyers. In Part One Lisa Rawa, Vice President of Marketing for Printing Industries of America, gave insights into the successful Value of Print campaign, including reactions from industry members. Here in Part Two, we travel to Printing Industries of America’s southern California affiliate, Printing Industries Association, Inc. of Southern California (PIASC), and their solid campaign to educate consumers about print. When we look at today’s marketing, we see that it’s heavily focused on “engaging” customers. Well what’s a more engaging medium than print? Print is tactile. It’s visual. And it is an essential part of a larger, interactive multi-channel marketing campaign. The tactility of print is just one of the key messages promoted by Choose Print, the powerful multimedia campaign by PIASC. Since the campaign launched in January 2011, Choose Print has become another integral go-to resource for print professionals in California and beyond and featured at trade shows and in articles from industry publications. We spoke with Ara Izquierdo, EVP/COO of PIASC as she shared how their strategic messaging is impacting consumers. 1. One significant advantage of print is no doubt its tangibility. How are you driving the tactile benefits of print, and what effects are you seeing from this messaging? ChoosePrint is a multi-media campaign, so we have taken a multimedia approach to driving home this message. Tactile Print Pieces are really our core medium.Among the pieces we have produced, there are two specific pieces that demonstrate the message. The first piece was “Print is Rich.” The front side of this postcard was 4-color process, embossed and engraved on 80# Classic Crest Smooth Cover Solar White stock. Mounted to this was the back side, which was Xerox color digital and foil stamped on 105# Esse Digital Cover Pearlized White. The second piece, “Touch,” is an engraved and blind embossed 8½ × 11-inch piece printed on Classic Crest Cover Avalanche White 100C Eggshell Finish. Print delivers tactile information—just one of the reasons you should Choose Print. These pieces have been used as Direct Mail and Magazine Inserts. “Print is Rich” was mailed out as part of a two-year postcard campaign targeting ad agencies and print buyers. The “Touch” piece was inserted into the May/June 2014 issue of GDUSA magazine. Additionally, Trade Shows offer an opportunity to reach consumers. “Print is Rich” was distributed to designers and print buyers at the 2013 HOW Design Conference as well as numerous industry and non-industry events. “Touch” will be distributed at the 2014 HOW Design...

Through this series of blogs, the campaign leaders of Value of Print, Choose Print, and Print Grows Trees are revealing the effects these campaigns are having on the industry and how they’re fighting to help educate print buyers. In Part One Lisa Rawa, Vice President of Marketing for Printing Industries of America, gave insights into the successful Value of Print campaign, including reactions from industry members. Here in Part Two, we travel to Printing Industries of America’s southern California affiliate, Printing Industries Association, Inc. of Southern California (PIASC), and their solid campaign to educate consumers about print. When we look at today’s marketing, we see that it’s heavily focused on “engaging” customers. Well what’s a more engaging medium than print? Print is tactile. It’s visual. And it is an essential part of a larger, interactive multi-channel marketing campaign. The tactility of print is just one of the key messages promoted by Choose Print, the powerful multimedia campaign by PIASC. Since the campaign launched in January 2011, Choose Print has become another integral go-to resource for print professionals in California and beyond and featured at trade shows and in articles from industry publications. We spoke with Ara Izquierdo, EVP/COO of PIASC as she shared how their strategic messaging is impacting consumers. 1. One significant advantage of print is no doubt its tangibility. How are you driving the tactile benefits of print, and what effects are you seeing from this messaging? ChoosePrint is a multi-media campaign, so we have taken a multimedia approach to driving home this message. Tactile Print Pieces are really our core medium.Among the pieces we have produced, there are two specific pieces that demonstrate the message. The first piece was “Print is Rich.” The front side of this postcard was 4-color process, embossed and engraved on 80# Classic Crest Smooth Cover Solar White stock. Mounted to this was the back side, which was Xerox color digital and foil stamped on 105# Esse Digital Cover Pearlized White. The second piece, “Touch,” is an engraved and blind embossed 8½ × 11-inch piece printed on Classic Crest Cover Avalanche White 100C Eggshell Finish. Print delivers tactile information—just one of the reasons you should Choose Print. These pieces have been used as Direct Mail and Magazine Inserts. “Print is Rich” was mailed out as part of a two-year postcard campaign targeting ad agencies and print buyers. The “Touch” piece was inserted into the May/June 2014 issue of GDUSA magazine. Additionally, Trade Shows offer an opportunity to reach consumers. “Print is Rich” was distributed to designers and print buyers at the 2013 HOW Design Conference as well as numerous industry and non-industry events. “Touch” will be distributed at the 2014 HOW Design...

What do you want to gain at GRAPH EXPO 14? If it’s strategies you can apply to your business, consider attending one or more GRAPH EXPO seminars presented by several Printing Industries of America experts while you’re there! To get the most out of your experience at the biggest trade show in our industry, come pencils in hand and ready with your most vital questions—What are the smartest new technologies to invest in, and how can we apply them to our business? How can we survive in a changing market? What best practices can we use to produce the optimum output for our customers? For eager professionals like you, there are plenty of opportunities to learn at GRAPH EXPO 14. Unfortunately, there’s just not enough time to experience it all. To help you decide which seminars are right for you, take this four-question quiz. We’ll give you your recommended GRAPH EXPO seminar, and you can learn which sessions will be the best investment of your valuable time at the show!   1. What do I most want to learn at GRAPH EXPO 14 and take back to my company? A. How to stay at the forefront of new growth industries as a commercial printer. B. How to keep up to date with evolving markets. C. How the changing economy will impact my business. D. How to get better quality digital files in prepress.   2. If I could get insight into one aspect about my competitors’ business and strategies, it would be: A. What do they know about some of the most out-there technologies that we don’t? B. How are they creating new business opportunities in areas like packaging and short-run markets? C. What strategies are different size companies using to survive in the current economy? D. How do they consistently create color-managed, output-ready files and deliver to their customers on time?   3. My ideal learning environment includes A. Learning the ins and outs of new technologies. B. Hearing actual industry case studies based on other companies’ experiences. C. Focusing on the big picture data then honing down to the micro-details. D. Hands on instruction!   4. At my facility my primarily responsibilities include A. Finding and assessing the newest technologies and business avenues for potential investments for sales and marketing opportunities. B. Keeping up with industry trends so that my company doesn’t miss a profitable opportunity, whether it be for operations or sales. C. Continuously assessing the economy and how it’s affecting our industry, our firm, and our competitors. D. Learning the latest prepress techniques to keep my company competitive and profitable.   Your Results Mostly As Your GRAPH EXPO Seminar—3D Printing: NEW Profit Pathway for Commercial...