No matter what segment of the postpress industry you’re in, there are always a few special products that really make you proud. Whether it was a unique binding or a project that everyone said couldn’t be done, you made it happen to the best of your abilities and then some. It’s these types of projects that deserve recognition on an industry-wide level. And now, you have the opportunity to enter these into one of the biggest industry award competitions—the Premier Print Awards. Starting in 2016, those companies who previously entered the Product of Excellence Awards now have the opportunity to showcase their work within the Premier Print Awards Competition. The Premier Print Awards recognize the highest quality printed pieces in various categories from around the world. Each year, only the most worthy pieces receive Awards of Recognition, Certificates of Merit, and the highest honor—the Benny statue. For more than sixty years, winners of the largest, most prestigious print competition in the world have leveraged this honor to gain a competitive advantage. What Categories Can I Enter? To ensure your postpress piece is submitted in the appropriate category, the Premier Print Awards have updated five of their categories: O-2 Diecuts and Pop-ups O-4 Folding, Unique Folds, and Involvement Devices O-5 Binding O-6 Other Special Finishing Techniques T-1 Cartons, Containers, Boxes, and Totes Of course, you are more than welcome to submit your pieces into other Premier Print Awards categories including “They Said It Couldn’t Be Done,” “Special Innovation Awards,” and other segments. You can view all of this year’s categories by visiting www.printing.org/ppacategories. Benefits of the Premier Print Awards Recipients of the Premier Print Awards have been known to use their win as leverage in the industry. Receiving an award in the competition will show your customers that you are among the elite in the industry. And your employees can feel proud knowing they work for a highly regarded company. Each recipient will receive an invitation to the Premier Print Awards Gala featuring the InterTech Technology Awards (Benny winners receive a complimentary ticket), inclusion in the Premier Print Awards Supplement, exposure to the media with a press release from Printing Industries of America, a Benny statue, a certificate or plaque to proudly display, industry recognition, a self-promotion kit to help endorse the win, and Premier Print Award imagery to display on your promotional pieces. We encourage you to participate in this exciting event. To submit your entries into the Premier Print Awards, visit awards.printing.org, create your company profile, and enter your pieces. For questions regarding the Premier Print Awards and how to enter this year’s competition, visit www.printing.org/ppa or contact Mike Packard by clicking here or by calling...

No matter what segment of the postpress industry you’re in, there are always a few special products that really make you proud. Whether it was a unique binding or a project that everyone said couldn’t be done, you made it happen to the best of your abilities and then some. It’s these types of projects that deserve recognition on an industry-wide level. And now, you have the opportunity to enter these into one of the biggest industry award competitions—the Premier Print Awards. Starting in 2016, those companies who previously entered the Product of Excellence Awards now have the opportunity to showcase their work within the Premier Print Awards Competition. The Premier Print Awards recognize the highest quality printed pieces in various categories from around the world. Each year, only the most worthy pieces receive Awards of Recognition, Certificates of Merit, and the highest honor—the Benny statue. For more than sixty years, winners of the largest, most prestigious print competition in the world have leveraged this honor to gain a competitive advantage. What Categories Can I Enter? To ensure your postpress piece is submitted in the appropriate category, the Premier Print Awards have updated five of their categories: O-2 Diecuts and Pop-ups O-4 Folding, Unique Folds, and Involvement Devices O-5 Binding O-6 Other Special Finishing Techniques T-1 Cartons, Containers, Boxes, and Totes Of course, you are more than welcome to submit your pieces into other Premier Print Awards categories including “They Said It Couldn’t Be Done,” “Special Innovation Awards,” and other segments. You can view all of this year’s categories by visiting www.printing.org/ppacategories. Benefits of the Premier Print Awards Recipients of the Premier Print Awards have been known to use their win as leverage in the industry. Receiving an award in the competition will show your customers that you are among the elite in the industry. And your employees can feel proud knowing they work for a highly regarded company. Each recipient will receive an invitation to the Premier Print Awards Gala featuring the InterTech Technology Awards (Benny winners receive a complimentary ticket), inclusion in the Premier Print Awards Supplement, exposure to the media with a press release from Printing Industries of America, a Benny statue, a certificate or plaque to proudly display, industry recognition, a self-promotion kit to help endorse the win, and Premier Print Award imagery to display on your promotional pieces. We encourage you to participate in this exciting event. To submit your entries into the Premier Print Awards, visit awards.printing.org, create your company profile, and enter your pieces. For questions regarding the Premier Print Awards and how to enter this year’s competition, visit www.printing.org/ppa or contact Mike Packard by clicking here or by calling...

The New Year is quickly approaching – the traditional time to reflect on the past year and think about the future. What were our greatest successes in 2015? What could we have done better? What do we want to accomplish in 2016? We all try to make New Year’s resolutions and stick with them, but they often fall by the wayside. Here are five practical, achievable resolutions to consider for 2016 (and beyond).   1.   Practice what you preach. In the New Year, make a plan to really be the leader that people want to follow. If you say one thing and do another, it diminishes your credibility and makes your followers nervous about trusting your judgement. Whatever kind of leader you decide to embody, stay consistent in what you say and do.   2.   Invest in your staff’s careers. As a younger crowd enters the workforce, they look for a position that will better themselves as an individual and further their aspirations. Take advantage of this quality and foster their need for growth. Whether it is through career development programs or a mentoring program from senior staff members, look for ways to unleash their potential. By providing this opportunity to your staff, it shows you have a personal interest in the employee they’re trying to become.   3.   Open up to new ideas. As the old adage goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither were most great companies. Understand that each idea (no matter how small or unrealistic) expressed by your staff shows that they consider themselves part of your team and want the business to grow too. Try to be open to suggestions and if it isn’t the direction you’re headed, explain your position and build from there.   4.   Loosen the reins. This one goes hand-in-hand with resolution #3. Sometimes the best way to come up with new ideas of your own is to let go of the daily operational reins and let your trusted staff drive for a while. You may find that some people really come alive when granted increased responsibility and become ever more vested in the company and its success. Leaving you time to look around at the company with a little bit of distance and a fresh perspective. .   5.   Learn something new. While it can seem like there’s not enough time in a day to get everything done, learning something entirely new can have a tremendous positive impact. For example, recent MRI studies show that learning a new language can actually increase the size of your brain (if you’re going to DRUPA in 2016, consider learning some German!) Other studies show that learning...

The New Year is quickly approaching – the traditional time to reflect on the past year and think about the future. What were our greatest successes in 2015? What could we have done better? What do we want to accomplish in 2016? We all try to make New Year’s resolutions and stick with them, but they often fall by the wayside. Here are five practical, achievable resolutions to consider for 2016 (and beyond).   1.   Practice what you preach. In the New Year, make a plan to really be the leader that people want to follow. If you say one thing and do another, it diminishes your credibility and makes your followers nervous about trusting your judgement. Whatever kind of leader you decide to embody, stay consistent in what you say and do.   2.   Invest in your staff’s careers. As a younger crowd enters the workforce, they look for a position that will better themselves as an individual and further their aspirations. Take advantage of this quality and foster their need for growth. Whether it is through career development programs or a mentoring program from senior staff members, look for ways to unleash their potential. By providing this opportunity to your staff, it shows you have a personal interest in the employee they’re trying to become.   3.   Open up to new ideas. As the old adage goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither were most great companies. Understand that each idea (no matter how small or unrealistic) expressed by your staff shows that they consider themselves part of your team and want the business to grow too. Try to be open to suggestions and if it isn’t the direction you’re headed, explain your position and build from there.   4.   Loosen the reins. This one goes hand-in-hand with resolution #3. Sometimes the best way to come up with new ideas of your own is to let go of the daily operational reins and let your trusted staff drive for a while. You may find that some people really come alive when granted increased responsibility and become ever more vested in the company and its success. Leaving you time to look around at the company with a little bit of distance and a fresh perspective. .   5.   Learn something new. While it can seem like there’s not enough time in a day to get everything done, learning something entirely new can have a tremendous positive impact. For example, recent MRI studies show that learning a new language can actually increase the size of your brain (if you’re going to DRUPA in 2016, consider learning some German!) Other studies show that learning...

The following post was submitted by Color 2015 sponsor, X-Rite Pantone.Author:  Ray Cheydleur, Printing and Imaging Product Portfolio Manager, X-Rite Pantone  Many industries rely on standards and technical specifications to bring an independent perspective to their production processes. In the world of print, some people think only manufacturers and software vendors need to understand color standards. This, of course, isn’t the case. Embracing standards and specifications can help printers set clear expectations, solve practical problems, and improve productivity by bringing a systematic perspective to their entire print workflow. What’s the difference between the Standards and Specifications? Industry Standards are maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and provide rules, guidelines, and characteristics for common and repeated activities to help printers achieve the best possible output. Specifications contain technical guidelines, often incorporating standards and provide detailed descriptions of the required criteria for a piece of work, such as print targets, aims, and ICC profiles. With the advent of hybrid printing—that is, printing components of the same job or for the same client with multiple printing technologies—it has become increasingly necessary to print to standards. Producing materials on a variety of offset, flexo, or digital devices; running prints using two different technologies or processes; or printing locally to save transportation costs—these can all result in an ambiguous exchange of print-related data which can result in inconsistent quality. Standards help bridge the gap so everyone is speaking the same language. I recently spoke at Color 15 about a few important standards that can help printers overcome the challenges of hybrid printing.  Controlled Lighting for OBAs ISO 13655 and ISO 3664 aren’t new, but they have had a significant impact on standards work this year. They help printers deal with the impact that optical brightening agents (OBAs) have on color. These are chemicals that are added to paper to make it look brighter and whiter. ISO 13655 specifies the kind of light to measure with, and ISO 3664 the color of light to view with, so they interact with OBAs in the same way—establishing agreement between visual checks and measured evaluations. Adopting these standards can require new measurement equipment, lamps, or viewing booths, plus the specifications and workflows that enable it, so it has taken some time for everyone to get behind them. However, if you print to specifications, have brightened stocks, or do something other than on-press proofing, following these standards is the only way to address the realities of today’s market and consistently deliver the color consistency your customers expect. To learn more about the impact of OBAs on the print and packaging industry, check out a whitepaper I co-wrote with Kevin O’Connor. Printing digitally across multiple technologies ISO/PAS 15339...

The following post was submitted by Color 2015 sponsor, X-Rite Pantone.Author:  Ray Cheydleur, Printing and Imaging Product Portfolio Manager, X-Rite Pantone  Many industries rely on standards and technical specifications to bring an independent perspective to their production processes. In the world of print, some people think only manufacturers and software vendors need to understand color standards. This, of course, isn’t the case. Embracing standards and specifications can help printers set clear expectations, solve practical problems, and improve productivity by bringing a systematic perspective to their entire print workflow. What’s the difference between the Standards and Specifications? Industry Standards are maintained by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and provide rules, guidelines, and characteristics for common and repeated activities to help printers achieve the best possible output. Specifications contain technical guidelines, often incorporating standards and provide detailed descriptions of the required criteria for a piece of work, such as print targets, aims, and ICC profiles. With the advent of hybrid printing—that is, printing components of the same job or for the same client with multiple printing technologies—it has become increasingly necessary to print to standards. Producing materials on a variety of offset, flexo, or digital devices; running prints using two different technologies or processes; or printing locally to save transportation costs—these can all result in an ambiguous exchange of print-related data which can result in inconsistent quality. Standards help bridge the gap so everyone is speaking the same language. I recently spoke at Color 15 about a few important standards that can help printers overcome the challenges of hybrid printing.  Controlled Lighting for OBAs ISO 13655 and ISO 3664 aren’t new, but they have had a significant impact on standards work this year. They help printers deal with the impact that optical brightening agents (OBAs) have on color. These are chemicals that are added to paper to make it look brighter and whiter. ISO 13655 specifies the kind of light to measure with, and ISO 3664 the color of light to view with, so they interact with OBAs in the same way—establishing agreement between visual checks and measured evaluations. Adopting these standards can require new measurement equipment, lamps, or viewing booths, plus the specifications and workflows that enable it, so it has taken some time for everyone to get behind them. However, if you print to specifications, have brightened stocks, or do something other than on-press proofing, following these standards is the only way to address the realities of today’s market and consistently deliver the color consistency your customers expect. To learn more about the impact of OBAs on the print and packaging industry, check out a whitepaper I co-wrote with Kevin O’Connor. Printing digitally across multiple technologies ISO/PAS 15339...