The industry’s “Profit Leaders” represent firms in the top 25% of profitability. So what’s their secret? What are they doing that the other 75% are not? They’re using Printing Industries of America’s Ratios reports to benchmark their business, learning where they can improve efficiency and productivity. And the result is higher profits. Here’s how you can do the same with the 2013–2014 Ratios. Ask Strategic Questions The new 2013–2014 Ratios, whichshows that printing industry profits are finally increasing,collates key market data to pinpoint strategic business areas to focus on. Profit leaders use the reports as an efficient way to benchmark and get a pulse on important areas of operations, like profitability and sales factors, cost drivers, and expenses. How can your company use Ratios to find areas for improvement? Take a look at your numbers and compare them to the industry average and profit leaders. Get a better and faster understanding of where they are and where they should be! Here are some examples of the right questions the Ratios helps identify to assess your operations: What are your factory and administrative expenses and how do they compare to your competitors? Does your percentage of payroll and materials expenses match industry averages? How do your sales per employee compare to profit leaders? Is your average employee wage competitive within the industry? (Get a peek at some of the latest Ratios results here!) See the Big Picture Profit leaders understand the financial position of their business within the market. The Ratios reports provide a compilation of in-depth financial data from hundreds of our industry’s profit leaders. This data is generated from a yearly industry-wide survey of more than 500 Printing Industries of America member and non-member printing firms conducted by our Economic and Market Research department. Each of the 16 volumes focuses on a specific industry segment, spanning every major industry sector. All this data amounts to a complete look at the industry—where we are, where we’re going, market trends, and much more. It provides management both a microscopic view of the top business priorities, and then expands that view to reveal how your company’s performance fits in with the profit leaders and the rest of the industry firms. Hot Off the Press! We’ve just released the 2013–2014 Ratios. Learn more about Printing Industries of America’s Ratios program and browse all 16 volumes available at...

How can you be sure your product packaging is communicating the right message? If you’re like most companies, you may be looking at it from the wrong perspective.  Here, Jamie Capozzi, Founder and President, Theory Associates, and speaker at the 2013 LPIA Conference, December 7–9, explains how to look at your products to see them as your potential customers do. There are two ways we have found that most companies review and judge product packaging, the right way and the wrong way. The right way would mean developing it with the actual stores in mind. The wrong way is how everyone else on planet does it … in their offices. A typical packaging review is held in a board room with soft lighting while sitting in cozy chairs. They sit back and hold the package comfortably in their hand and calmly take in the entire piece. Most of the time the key decision makers are surrounded by their highly trusted team of advisers who collectively know every nook and cranny of the product from its conception all the way up to this reviewing moment. The group will hypothesize about the customer’s interpretation of the packaging, but to be honest, this group is way too close to this project to be very objective about how people shop and the factors that play into their decision-making process. This is the wrong way to do it. So, what is the right way? How can you be sure your packaging design will work in a store if the first time it’s ever seen the inside of one was the day it was placed there? By the time it reaches the store, years of R&D, expensive tooling and manufacturing cost, the expense of sales, PR, and marketing, not to mention how much it costs for fulfillment and shipping, have already been applied. Now, we realize it’s not very cost-effective to build a retail environment in most offices, and doing field studies with an entire team is hardly efficient. I like to share a method we use to overcome this obstacle and help manage the transition from your office to the retail floor: The concept is very simple. Your product packaging has to “speak” differently from a few different vantage points in the retail selling process. And by selling process, I simply mean from the moment the customer walks through the door until they walk out with your product. How does your product packaging communicate from across the showroom floor to what it communicates as part of a wall full of product and finally when it’s in the customer’s eager hand? If you think of your packaging as a communication tool that has different stages...

How can you be sure your product packaging is communicating the right message? If you’re like most companies, you may be looking at it from the wrong perspective.  Here, Jamie Capozzi, Founder and President, Theory Associates, and speaker at the 2013 LPIA Conference, December 7–9, explains how to look at your products to see them as your potential customers do. There are two ways we have found that most companies review and judge product packaging, the right way and the wrong way. The right way would mean developing it with the actual stores in mind. The wrong way is how everyone else on planet does it … in their offices. A typical packaging review is held in a board room with soft lighting while sitting in cozy chairs. They sit back and hold the package comfortably in their hand and calmly take in the entire piece. Most of the time the key decision makers are surrounded by their highly trusted team of advisers who collectively know every nook and cranny of the product from its conception all the way up to this reviewing moment. The group will hypothesize about the customer’s interpretation of the packaging, but to be honest, this group is way too close to this project to be very objective about how people shop and the factors that play into their decision-making process. This is the wrong way to do it. So, what is the right way? How can you be sure your packaging design will work in a store if the first time it’s ever seen the inside of one was the day it was placed there? By the time it reaches the store, years of R&D, expensive tooling and manufacturing cost, the expense of sales, PR, and marketing, not to mention how much it costs for fulfillment and shipping, have already been applied. Now, we realize it’s not very cost-effective to build a retail environment in most offices, and doing field studies with an entire team is hardly efficient. I like to share a method we use to overcome this obstacle and help manage the transition from your office to the retail floor: The concept is very simple. Your product packaging has to “speak” differently from a few different vantage points in the retail selling process. And by selling process, I simply mean from the moment the customer walks through the door until they walk out with your product. How does your product packaging communicate from across the showroom floor to what it communicates as part of a wall full of product and finally when it’s in the customer’s eager hand? If you think of your packaging as a communication tool that has different stages...

Is your company in compliance with EPA and OSHA regulations, including employee Hazard Communication training required by December 1, 2013? Are you meeting your customers’ demands for sustainable printing and following the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Green Guides for marketing claims? There are many printing operations unaware of their basic environmental and safety requirements, which can lead to thousands of dollars in fines! Making general environmental claims has become much more difficult, and the FTC has taken enforcement actions against companies that are not following their new guides.   Your best bet is to learn and understand your risk and be proactive. The Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) department at Printing Industries of America is committed to helping our industry members stay in compliance and improve their operations. This renowned EHS team of experts provides training and consulting for many printing operations, assisting them with understanding and meeting compliance requirements, as well as uncovering opportunities to save money. Plus, since they work with federal and state agencies on the actual rules representing the interests of the printing industry, they know the regulations and can provide concrete advice on how to avoid high fines and other devastating blows to your business. Focusing on Your Top Issues To avoid risking expensive resources and business, you need to ensure your company maintains regulatory compliance, and the EHS staff is here to help. To give you an idea of what kind of issues they resolve, here are some common EHS dilemmas they can assist you with:* 1. What type of air permit do you need to run sheetfed or digital presses? Regardless of the type of press being operated, air pollutants are emitted as a result of the inks, coatings, fountain solutions, and cleaning solutions. All printing presses and printing operations can emit air pollutants which may require air pollution control permits. Every state/local permitting authority has a permit threshold, and they can be based on emissions, material use, or press size. For assistance in determining air emissions from your operation, contact the EHS department today! 2. Why does OSHA require older equipment to be guarded to current standards? Older equipment has never been “grandfathered” by OSHA. Under the OSHA guarding regulations, all equipment, regardless of when it was built, must have all hazard areas properly guarded. It is not the responsibility of the equipment manufacturer to ensure that equipment meets OSHA’s machine guarding standards. For more information on machine guarding requirements, review our OSHA Primer (free to members) and What you Need to Know for Safe Equipment Operation Guide. 3. What are the requirements for making “green and sustainability” claims? Being “green and sustainable” is more than a single action or only promoting and...

Is your company in compliance with EPA and OSHA regulations, including employee Hazard Communication training required by December 1, 2013? Are you meeting your customers’ demands for sustainable printing and following the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Green Guides for marketing claims? There are many printing operations unaware of their basic environmental and safety requirements, which can lead to thousands of dollars in fines! Making general environmental claims has become much more difficult, and the FTC has taken enforcement actions against companies that are not following their new guides.   Your best bet is to learn and understand your risk and be proactive. The Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) department at Printing Industries of America is committed to helping our industry members stay in compliance and improve their operations. This renowned EHS team of experts provides training and consulting for many printing operations, assisting them with understanding and meeting compliance requirements, as well as uncovering opportunities to save money. Plus, since they work with federal and state agencies on the actual rules representing the interests of the printing industry, they know the regulations and can provide concrete advice on how to avoid high fines and other devastating blows to your business. Focusing on Your Top Issues To avoid risking expensive resources and business, you need to ensure your company maintains regulatory compliance, and the EHS staff is here to help. To give you an idea of what kind of issues they resolve, here are some common EHS dilemmas they can assist you with:* 1. What type of air permit do you need to run sheetfed or digital presses? Regardless of the type of press being operated, air pollutants are emitted as a result of the inks, coatings, fountain solutions, and cleaning solutions. All printing presses and printing operations can emit air pollutants which may require air pollution control permits. Every state/local permitting authority has a permit threshold, and they can be based on emissions, material use, or press size. For assistance in determining air emissions from your operation, contact the EHS department today! 2. Why does OSHA require older equipment to be guarded to current standards? Older equipment has never been “grandfathered” by OSHA. Under the OSHA guarding regulations, all equipment, regardless of when it was built, must have all hazard areas properly guarded. It is not the responsibility of the equipment manufacturer to ensure that equipment meets OSHA’s machine guarding standards. For more information on machine guarding requirements, review our OSHA Primer (free to members) and What you Need to Know for Safe Equipment Operation Guide. 3. What are the requirements for making “green and sustainability” claims? Being “green and sustainable” is more than a single action or only promoting and...

It’s a positive sight to see all of the 2013-14 Print and Graphic Scholarship (PGSF) recipients, and we wish them the best of luck in their education and future careers! Did you know that since 1956 recipients like them have been making significant impacts as industry professionals? And PGSF is still pushing forward to give more print and graphic arts students an education upon which they can build thriving careers. We caught up with Joseph Schember of Mohawk Paper, a former PGSF Scholarship recipient who’s just joined the new PGSF Board of Directors. Here he talks about his experience as a student recipient and now as an accomplished industry professional. Joe was excited to share his story and eager to leverage his new role as a board member to give back to PGSF, which he credits as the platform for his success. From where he sits in his big office at Mohawk today, he still expresses his gratitude to PGSF and its drive to help students go from the classroom to the pressroom, boardroom, or wherever opportunity lies. Q: Tell us about your current work in the graphic arts industry and what you’ve accomplished since graduation. Joseph Schember: I have been with Mohawk Paper for the last 2½ years as Specialty Digital Product Manager. I assess our clients’ needs and how we can help them optimize their equipment. I enjoy my work here at Mohawk and respect how the company has expanded over the last 80 years and expanded their brand around digital printers. Before Mohawk, I was with Canon USA in Digital Equipment Product Marketing after graduating from Rochester Institute of Technology. Working with two different suppliers allowed me to see the market as a whole—while with Canon, I would help printers by selling them needed equipment; now with Mohawk, I’m talking to those same printers, but this time I’m showing them ways to use their equipment more efficiently. It’s given me a round perspective of their operations and how they work together—finding out where the opportunities are for them to make money. Q: How did PGSF support your career? JS: PGSF supplies financial benefits, of course, but there are many other ways they’ve helped me get to where I am. I got involved in the industry immediately through networking. We (PGSF Scholarship recipients) are encouraged to write a letter to a different donor or sponsor for each year we are in the scholarship program updating them on what we’re learning. These contacts are from all across the industry, so I became more aware of different companies and jobs, and they encouraged me to look at all the opportunities. Although I studied Graphic Media Publishing at RIT, I...