Attention, printers—it’s OSHA 300 Log(s) season! Now is the time to make sure you complete the steps below! Review the 2016 OSHA 300 Log to verify it contains accurate entries for all recordable injuries and illnesses that occurred throughout the year. Make any additions or corrections necessary to ensure accuracy. Verify that each injury and illness recorded on the 300 Log is accurately recorded on a corresponding 301 Incident Report Form (or an equivalent form). Total the columns on the OSHA 300 Log (if you had no recordable cases, enter zeros for each column total) and on Form 300A. Enter the calendar year covered, the company’s name, establishment name, establishment address, annual average number of employees covered by the OSHA 300 Log, and the total hours worked by all employees covered by the OSHA 300 Log. Transpose the column total numbers from the 300 Log over to the 300A Summary Form. After verifying the accuracy of the Log(s), someone must “certify” the 300A. The person who certifies the 300A can be any of the following: Owner of the company (only if the company is a sole proprietorship or partnership) Officer of the corporation The highest ranking company official working at the establishment Once the 300A is properly “certified,” post the summary no later than February 1 and keep the posting in place until April 30. You MUST post a copy of the annual summary (Form 300A) in each establishment in a conspicuous place or places where notices to employees are customarily posted. You must also ensure that the posted annual summary is NOT altered, defaced, or covered by other material during the February 1–April 30 time frame. For any questions regarding an OSHA Log Summary Posting, contact the PIA Environmental, Health, and Safety professionals at ehs (at)...

Attention, printers—it’s OSHA 300 Log(s) season! Now is the time to make sure you complete the steps below! Review the 2016 OSHA 300 Log to verify it contains accurate entries for all recordable injuries and illnesses that occurred throughout the year. Make any additions or corrections necessary to ensure accuracy. Verify that each injury and illness recorded on the 300 Log is accurately recorded on a corresponding 301 Incident Report Form (or an equivalent form). Total the columns on the OSHA 300 Log (if you had no recordable cases, enter zeros for each column total) and on Form 300A. Enter the calendar year covered, the company’s name, establishment name, establishment address, annual average number of employees covered by the OSHA 300 Log, and the total hours worked by all employees covered by the OSHA 300 Log. Transpose the column total numbers from the 300 Log over to the 300A Summary Form. After verifying the accuracy of the Log(s), someone must “certify” the 300A. The person who certifies the 300A can be any of the following: Owner of the company (only if the company is a sole proprietorship or partnership) Officer of the corporation The highest ranking company official working at the establishment Once the 300A is properly “certified,” post the summary no later than February 1 and keep the posting in place until April 30. You MUST post a copy of the annual summary (Form 300A) in each establishment in a conspicuous place or places where notices to employees are customarily posted. You must also ensure that the posted annual summary is NOT altered, defaced, or covered by other material during the February 1–April 30 time frame. For any questions regarding an OSHA Log Summary Posting, contact the PIA Environmental, Health, and Safety professionals at ehs (at)...

PIA Study Shows Quality Focus Strongly Contributes to Improved Company Performance Authored by: John Compton, Professor Emeritus, Rochester Institute of Technology, and speaker at the 2017 Continuous Improvement Conference The 2016 Printing Industry Management Survey findings recently published by Printing Industries of America (PIA) provide compelling reasons to attend PIA’s 2017 Continuous Improvement Conference. The survey, which focused on studying effective management practices in the printing industry, was conducted jointly by PIA and the College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University.  Companies representing about 5% of the total PIA membership returned completed survey forms. Six different strategic management practices were studied, including: entrepreneurial orientation, strategic thinking, goal setting, quality focus, social capital, and analyzing financial ratios.  Each of the six practices was addressed with several different questions.  After all responses were received and tabulated, these six strategic management practices were ranked in effectiveness by examining their relationship with company performance.  Quality focus ranked a close second, only slightly behind the first place practice of analyzing financial ratios.  In the study, quality focus is seen as a company-wide initiative to create a culture focused on continual improvement of processes and products.  While several studies conducted by the American Society for Quality and the Association for Manufacturing Excellence have shown that a strong culture of process improvement and problem solving correlates with improved financial performance, those surveys have not specifically focused on printing companies.  This study provides evidence that it holds true for the printing industry as well. This is precisely the reason that PIA holds its annual Continuous Improvement Conference.  In 2017 the conference will be held April 2–5 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The conference brings together companies that are using quality focus as a strategic management practice, experts in the field of quality and continuous improvement, and companies that are just beginning to adopt improvement methods as a way of boosting performance.  Attendees include upper management, middle managers, and department supervisors from printing companies large and small. Interestingly, in the aforementioned study, the two strongest elements most closely connected to the practice of quality focus are emphasis on quality training and management by fact.  These two topics and other quality elements contained in the study will be addressed in many of the 25 conference sessions. For more information on the 2017 Continuous Improvement Conference, visit...

PIA Study Shows Quality Focus Strongly Contributes to Improved Company Performance Authored by: John Compton, Professor Emeritus, Rochester Institute of Technology, and speaker at the 2017 Continuous Improvement Conference The 2016 Printing Industry Management Survey findings recently published by Printing Industries of America (PIA) provide compelling reasons to attend PIA’s 2017 Continuous Improvement Conference. The survey, which focused on studying effective management practices in the printing industry, was conducted jointly by PIA and the College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University.  Companies representing about 5% of the total PIA membership returned completed survey forms. Six different strategic management practices were studied, including: entrepreneurial orientation, strategic thinking, goal setting, quality focus, social capital, and analyzing financial ratios.  Each of the six practices was addressed with several different questions.  After all responses were received and tabulated, these six strategic management practices were ranked in effectiveness by examining their relationship with company performance.  Quality focus ranked a close second, only slightly behind the first place practice of analyzing financial ratios.  In the study, quality focus is seen as a company-wide initiative to create a culture focused on continual improvement of processes and products.  While several studies conducted by the American Society for Quality and the Association for Manufacturing Excellence have shown that a strong culture of process improvement and problem solving correlates with improved financial performance, those surveys have not specifically focused on printing companies.  This study provides evidence that it holds true for the printing industry as well. This is precisely the reason that PIA holds its annual Continuous Improvement Conference.  In 2017 the conference will be held April 2–5 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The conference brings together companies that are using quality focus as a strategic management practice, experts in the field of quality and continuous improvement, and companies that are just beginning to adopt improvement methods as a way of boosting performance.  Attendees include upper management, middle managers, and department supervisors from printing companies large and small. Interestingly, in the aforementioned study, the two strongest elements most closely connected to the practice of quality focus are emphasis on quality training and management by fact.  These two topics and other quality elements contained in the study will be addressed in many of the 25 conference sessions. For more information on the 2017 Continuous Improvement Conference, visit...

This blog post was submitted by Color 2016 sponsor CrossXColor. In many situations measurement data is not perfect for ICC profiling and produces low quality profiles. Erroneous measurements can result in problems in production, often wasting time that could have been saved by making corrections beforehand, including editing primaries, adjusting white point of paper, and compensating for visual effects of optical brighteners in proofing. Ultimately, the quality of ICC or DeviceLink profiles is only as good as the input data. In the course of setting up color management it is unavoidable that one or more of your color targets will contain redundant, non-matching, or just inaccurate data on the same test chart. Most color charts contain over 1000 test patches and inaccurate or erroneous information will likely be read. Measurement data from multiple charts may even need to be combined or averaged to provide a better result. A tool like ColorLogic’s ColorAnt can complement any profiling software in the market. ColorAnt is an easy-to use tool that corrects and optimizes measurement data. The features include the ability to edit primary colors, substrate color, and recalculate measurement data with the use of full-sized test charts.   Please explore our full range of high-end color management software solutions online at...

This blog post was submitted by Color 2016 sponsor CrossXColor. In many situations measurement data is not perfect for ICC profiling and produces low quality profiles. Erroneous measurements can result in problems in production, often wasting time that could have been saved by making corrections beforehand, including editing primaries, adjusting white point of paper, and compensating for visual effects of optical brighteners in proofing. Ultimately, the quality of ICC or DeviceLink profiles is only as good as the input data. In the course of setting up color management it is unavoidable that one or more of your color targets will contain redundant, non-matching, or just inaccurate data on the same test chart. Most color charts contain over 1000 test patches and inaccurate or erroneous information will likely be read. Measurement data from multiple charts may even need to be combined or averaged to provide a better result. A tool like ColorLogic’s ColorAnt can complement any profiling software in the market. ColorAnt is an easy-to use tool that corrects and optimizes measurement data. The features include the ability to edit primary colors, substrate color, and recalculate measurement data with the use of full-sized test charts.   Please explore our full range of high-end color management software solutions online at...