Here’s our first video in a series of Color Management Q&As. We’ve collected a number of questions from the community and we’re excited to put our staff at work to answer them. We have more on the way, but if there’s a question you’d like answered add it in the comments below.  If you want to learn more about color managemenet, be sure to check out the Color Management Conference coming up this December 3-6 in Phoenix,...

The latest featured book of the month, Setup Reduction for Printers: A Practical Guide for Reducing Makeready Time in Print Manufacturing, is geared towards helping you ready to learn how to increase value to your customers. This title provides you with a method to help you do just that by reducing setup times. Malcolm Keif and Kevin Cooper outline a ten-step process that can reduce setup times by 50% or more by focusing on reducing internal makeready tasks and moving those to external tasks.   Get a Discount When Ordering a “Lean Bundle” Authors Malcolm G. Keif and Kevin Cooper were also the authors of the best-selling titles Lean Printing: Pathway to Success and Lean Printing: Cultural Imperatives for Success. Purchase this new book of the month on its own—or get it along with these two popular titles as a set by December 31 to take advantage of discounted bundle pricing! Book of the Month Special “Lean Bundle” Set Setup Reduction for Printers: A Practical Guide for Reducing Makeready Time in Print Manufacturing Lean Printing: Pathway to Success Lean Printing: Cultural Imperatives for Success Interested in the book of the month? Have a question about the book? Let us know in the comments below.   ...

We’ve been working hard with the Print and Graphic Scholarship Foundation (PGSF) to make the scholarship application process as streamlined as possible. We know prospective college students are busy people so the easier the better, right? With that in mind, you’ll be pleased to know that the PGSF application is completely online and a breeze to fill out! The new application process is pretty slick.  Once you log into printing.org, you’ll be able to save a draft of your application as you complete the steps. Need to take a break to walk the dogs? Need to check a few facts before moving on with your essay? No problem whatsoever. You can start or stop the application whenever you’d like. Obtaining a referral from a professor or mentor has also been improved. Once the  primary application is finished, you’ll receive a URL to send to your referral. All they’ll need to do is click the link and they’ll be taken to a page asking them for the applicant’s name, email address, and the usual referral questions. Once they’ve finished filling out the referral form, an email will be sent to us with the information as well as the applicant to let them know that their referral came through. One thing that hasn’t changed is that transcripts must still be mailed in. With privacy concerns there’s no great way to transfer that data digitally. We’re excited to offer a streamlined process and we hope prospective students in the graphic communication field take advantage of this new feature. If you have any questions about the application, you can leave a comment on this blog post or email Bernie Eckert, PGSF Administrator at beckert@printing.org. The application can be found here and applicants have until April 1, 2012 to apply for a...

The following report was compiled and written by MargolisBecker and Printing Industries of America’s Ratios Study Program. The Great Recession of 2007–2009 was a dramatic departure from the relatively mild recessions of the past two decades. The sluggish economy and slowing print markets picked up steam and reversed their trends in 2010. As reported, the industry incurred an average profit for 2010 of 1.4% for all printers participating the in the 2011–12 Ratios Survey. This is an increase of 2.8% from last year’s average loss of 1.4% and ends the three prior years of consecutive decreases. Looking back over the last 90 year history of the Ratio Studies, an astute business person could predict the reversal of the industries recessionary trends, as it has always happened. But with the ever changing environment, even the veteran industry leaders have expressed concern over the recovery. The Ratios report should start to alleviate some of their concerns. At this rate, the industry showed approximately $2.1 billion in total profits over the course of the year, quite the opposite from 2009’s approximate $1.9 billion in total losses. In 2010 38% of printers participating in the Ratio Study posted a financial loss for the year, down from the 55% who reported losses in 2009. The industry’s profit leaders, printers in the top 25% of profitability, saw their profits also rise significantly over the year, increasing to 9.5% from 7.0% the previous year. Considering the conditions of the economy and the overall industry results, these top performers should consider themselves fortunate. For more information on the Ratios and to order the volume that best matches your company’s business go to www.printing.org/page/6529. For further information or questions please contact Ed Gleeson at egleeson@printing.org or leave a comment on this...

Training your employees and having them leave your company is a pretty scary thought… But, not training your employees and having them stay with your company is much, much scarier!!! Don’t make 2012 a spooky year for your company; be sure your staff is well-trained. Check out all of the workshops Printing Industries of America has lined up for the upcoming year at...

If you’ve been browsing printing.org lately, you may have seen a button asking to “Become an Ambassador for Printing Industries of America.”  By signing up to become an ambassador, you’ll receive email notifications when there’s a new blog post or important news. Then, from that email you can choose to share our information on your social channels.  It’s a neat innovation in the social media realm and makes sharing content as simple as clicking a button! We’re just testing out this application, so if you have any questions or comments don’t hesitate to add a comment on this post. We deal with a lot of interesting topics in the printing industry and this is just another tool to spread our message and keep printers...