Big Rewards for Small Printers in the Premier Print Awards
The Premier Print Awards are the most highly anticipated awards competition each year. The program is one of the most prestigious international print competitions in the graphic communications industry. Thousands of entries are received from all over the world from some of the best printers in the industry. All entrants are competing to be awarded the Best of Category, or “Benny” and to be honored for their excellent craftsmanship. All types of printers are encouraged to enter. With more than 100 categories, a company is certain to find one that best suits their needs—including company size and specialty printing. While winning pieces are based on the outstanding printing that was done, one group in particular that has enjoyed success in the competition has been smaller-sized companies. Companies with 50 or fewer employees have been known to win big in past years. Our awards program offers sub-categories for smaller companies. While a small-sized company can enter any category, certain categories are broken into sub-categories based on small, medium, or large-sized companies, which creates a level playing field for all printers. Such categories include Booklets, Catalogs, Fashion and Magazine inserts, Business and Annual Reports, and Print/Graphic Arts/Self-Promotion.* Some big winners from the past have been small-sized companies: Infinity Press, Inc.: A Benny winner in the 2009 competition with an employee count of 20 or less. Adams Lithographing Company: This 2010 Best of Show recipient is a small-sized company out of Tennessee. Body of Work: This 2012 Best of Show recipient from Sidney, Australia, has eight employees. In addition to their Best of Show win, they were awarded four Bennys. All Best of Category winners are invited to attend the Premier Print Awards Gala Featuring the InterTech™ Technology Awards and web2awards. This event is held in conjunction with either GRAPH EXPO or PRINT each year in Chicago, Illinois. Here, Best of Category recipients are honored with their Benny statue in front of an impressive audience of industry notables. Attendees of this event have the opportunity to network with other professionals and view all Benny-winning pieces on display—even more great benefits for a small printer! Get the recognition you deserve. Show the world that even though you may be a small printer, you can produce great pieces. For more information, visitwww.printing.org/ppa. For more information about the 2013 Premier Print Awards competition, visit www.printing.org/ppa or call Mike Packard at 412-259-1704. Enter online at www.printing.org/ppaentries. *View a complete listing of categories at...
read moreLewisburg Printing Invests with a manroland R900 XXL Press
LEWISBURG, TN—February 12, 2013—manroland Inc. is pleased to announce that the installation of the Lewisburg Printing six-color, 73˝ R900 XXL machine from manroland inc. is almost complete. The new press will complement an existing…
read moreThe Life Cycles of Digital and Offset
I come from the offset finishing world, but I now work in digital finishing. There are many differences in the “mind-set” of both, among them. In the offset world, equipment is evaluated and purchased for the “long term” i.e. five to seven years…
read morePostal Service Pushes for Five-Day Delivery
The official word came out today that the USPS is planning to move to a five-day delivery schedule beginning in August, eliminating carrier routes on Saturdays. This does not mean that the USPS will be completely dormant on Saturdays. Package delivery will continue, P.O. boxes will be filled, and Post Offices that are currently open on Saturdays will remain open. The package delivery element of the plan is noteworthy, because this part of the agency’s business has increased 14% since 2010. Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe stated that the elimination of Saturday carrier routes should save around $2 billion annually. There is some question on the authority of the USPS to make the move to five-day delivery. Congress previously has nixed the idea in appropriations bills; however, the temporary spending measure under which the federal government is currently operating may allow for the USPS to make the switch without Congressional...
read moreHigh-Quality—The Future of Print
Andrew Davis, Chief Strategy Officer & Co-Founder of Tippingpoint Labs, and author of Brandscaping, will deliver the keynote presentation at the 2013 Integrated Print Forum. Davis, whose research has resulted in the creation of innovative online metrics, will inspire attendants to re-think the print, digital, and mobile strategies that they and their customers employ—and consider aligning them as a content continuum instead of disparate and unrelated initiatives. We caught up with Davis recently, and he was kind enough to share his thoughts about print’s role in the content continuum. How can print help content generators (marketers, publishers, etc.) differentiate themselves? Over the last five years marketers and publishers have invested boatloads of resources in creating digital assets, and in the process they’ve shifted their spending away from the more traditional print products they leveraged in the past. Paradoxically, this has led to an opportunity to leverage high-quality (and that’s the key—HIGH-QUALITY) print products as a significant point of differentiation in the marketplace. Digital content and platforms are commoditized, they all look the same and the experience is fleeting—that’s not the case with a well-crafted print product. There’s longer engagement, deeper relationships, and even higher pass-along rates that come with the perceived value of print. Here’s the catch—you don’t have long to leverage this opportunity to shift marketers’ and publishers’ perspectives. You need to challenge them today to print something different, something unique and valuable. What can printers do to convince content generators that print should remain an integral part of their communication strategies? You’ll never convince people that print will remain an integral part of their communication strategy, but you can show them. There’s a content continuum that begins online—where they can rapidly create, test, and generate content to see what resonates with their audience. The best content—the stuff that generates the highest return on investment—can then be elevated, enhanced, and delivered as a highly valuable print product. This way your digital assets, which have a very short lifespan, build a long term and sustainable ROI. It’s not easy, but it works. Start consuming every piece of content your clients create in the digital world. Find the best stuff and pitch a high-quality print product. I’m willing to bet they’ll be impressed and intrigued enough to buy! What will attendees to your session learn? In my session attendees will learn how to rethink the role of print in a digital world. You don’t have to start competing with the rest of the agencies in the marketing space and expanding your services in places it doesn’t make sense. You’ll learn to leverage your past experiences, expertise, and insight to drive higher-value print deals fueled by digital information overload. What do you hope take away from the Integrated Print Forum? I hope to meet optimistic, creative, and smart printers who are willing to re-think their role in a digital-first world, without throwing away their primary business models. Now that the serious questions are out of the way, how cool was it to work for The Jim Henson Company, and who is your favorite Muppet? Ha! Working for the Jim Henson Company was a blast. It was hard work, with smart people. Working with the people behind such an iconic brand left me with life lessons I still rely on today. My...
read moreTroubleshoot, Control, Optimize
Troubleshoot, Control, and Optimize. Those three words are vital to running a successful printing operation. Without an educated workforce, your press crew may be practicing wasteful activities and not optimizing time and material use. With the upcoming workshop, Extreme Offset: Troubleshoot, Control, Optimize, those wasteful activities—and how to solve them—will be brought to light. Presenters—Lloyd DeJidas, Director, Graphic Services and Facility Manager, and Greg Workman, Pressroom and Bindery Supervisor—will provide the steps to turn any pressroom into one that will increase job throughput while printing higher quality, more consistent color with less downtime, waste, and spoilage through the process of Troubleshooting, Controlling, and Optimizing. TroubleshootAttendees will learn the skills to identify root causes of printing problems and how to quickly address and fix these issues. ControlAcquire the skills to control print color and quality by utilizing proper tools and techniques. OptimizeGet an understanding of how to find and eliminate waste in the pressroom to enable your press’s performance, as well as confirming that it is printing at an ideal, consistent state. Extreme Offset: Troubleshoot, Control, Optimize, will be held three times throughout the year— March 19–21; July 23–25; and November 5–7—at Printing Industries of America state-of-the-art facility outside of Pittsburgh, PA. This workshop has quickly become an industry favorite and is known to be a frequent sellout. Now is the time to make your reservations for the March event. Click on the image below to go straight to the registration...
read moreLive Life in Color—and Share Your Knowledge too!
What is possible with G7 mythology? Instructor, Dave Dezzutti, explains. Dave Dezzutti is all about managing color. He starts his day with a coffee and a copy of the latest digital printing magazine before beginning his work in prepress preflighting, proofing, and operating several different digital workflow systems for Printing Industries of America’s in-house production facility. He has spent 30 years in the industry and is now a Technology and Research Analyst and G7® Expert for Printing Industries of America. So what does Dave think about leading the hands-on G7 Digital Press Operator Training Program this April? He couldn’t feel more at home. Why do you think color management is so important to companies today? Customers demand that their print provider be G7 certified. Companies can have an edge on the competition by having their employees training and certified. Plus they can save money and cut waste. Before you were a G7 Certified Expert, what type of work did you perform? I was a manager of prepress production for Printing Industries of America, responsible for preflighting, ensuring a smooth workflow between prepress and press, and analyzing any workflow problems. I was also responsible for the calibration of several CTP and digital proofing devices. You are also a consultant for Printing Industries of America. What have you done for printing companies to improve their operations? I consult and evaluate which system will work the best in an organization. By analyzing a company’s prepress/printing capabilities, I make appropriate recommendations to streamline workflow and achieve color management standards. What do you feel is your most important role in your work for the Center for Technology and Research? Ensuring accurate color is very important, and I feel being able to help others achieve this as well really fits into the larger picture of helping to move our industry forward. When I can train others in G7 specifications or evaluate their operations, I know that printing companies value that knowledge and they value the opportunity to be more competitive. I also speak at events like the Color Management Conference where I can address a large audience and talk with printers. What types of equipment do you work with in daily operations? Agfa’s Apogee, Kodak’s Prinergy, and Heidelberg’s Prinect PDF prepress workflow system are some of the equipment that I work with each day. I also operate the Kodak Spectrum, and PressTek Dimension CTP systems along with several digital proofing devices. What makes training so valuable in our industry? It is all about knowledge, whether it be new or continued education. I believe one of the most powerful resources you can have is a well-trained staff—and to have that knowledge yourself. G7 training, in particular, is highly effective and also highly demanded from customers. To be able to get that training in a hands-on, experiential way is valuable because you can learn the process here in two intense days and then take that education back to your company and start applying it. It’s like “instant gratification!” Dave Dezzutti, Technology and Research Analyst and G7 Expert, will lead the G7 Digital Press Operator Training, April 23–24, 2013, at Printing Industries of America headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA. Participants will earn a G7 Digital Press Operator’s certificate of completion. Find all of our 2013 training events, including...
read moreThe Digital Finishing Challenge
By Don Piontek I'm lucky in that I get to work on a fair number of new digital print and finishing applications in my work. I also get to speak with a number of commercial printers, so, in a way, I have a front-row seat in the digital transition…
read moreWhat Makes an Exceptional Leader?
“There are three kinds of leaders. Those that tell you what to do. Those that allow you to do what you want. And Lean leaders that come down to the work and help you figure it out.” – John Shook What do you think classifies a person as an exceptional leader? One measure is that a person provides the motivation, knowledge, and tools that result in a company’s operation constantly improving. These are the individuals we want to honor with the 2013 Managing for Improvement Award. This award recognizes managers who make quality and efficiency a top priority—they are the ones making sure their employees are productive and safe and that their customers are satisfied. They inspire people and ensure that these standards are sustained. Why should you nominate an outstanding manager for the Managing for Improvement Award? The winner is recognized at the 2013 Continuous Improvement Conference*—the conference that focuses on exploring the latest innovations in Lean manufacturing and continuous improvement In the ceremony the recipient receives an engraved award to display and complimentary attendance to the CI Conference as well as one night’s hotel stay A news release detailing the recipient and award will be sent to industry media, media in the recipient’s community, and to industry peers Recognition ad in Printing Industries of America: The Magazine A truly outstanding manager helps a company strive for operational excellence. You can give a deserving leader, and their company, the recognition they deserve. Read this article from David Harding’s blog, How to ID a True Leader, for more on what qualities comprise a leader. Harding is presenting “Sustaining an Empowering Culture in the Face of Personnel Changes and Acquisitions” at the 2013 Continuous Improvement Conference. Do you have someone in mind? If so, send us their information by February 15, 2013. Click on the image to view the details on how to enter your nomination. If you have any questions, please contact Jim Workman at jworkman@printing.org or visit www.printing.org/ciconference. You can attend the 2013 Continuous Improvement Conference, April 7–10, 2013, in Indianapolis, Indiana, and learn more about the skills needed to benefit from successful Lean manufacturing and continuous improvement strategies....
read morePrinting Industries of America’s Julie Shaffer To Deliver Keynote at IMI’s 22nd Annual Ink Jet Printing Conference
Julie Shaffer, Printing Industries of America’s Vice President of Digital Strategies is giving the opening keynote presentation, “Printing’s Role in a Multi-Media World,” at the 22nd Annual Ink Jet Printing Conference being held by the Information Management Institute (IMI) at the Scottsdale Cottonwoods Resort & Suites in Scottsdale, Arizona on January 30-February 1, 2013. IMI’s annual Ink Jet Printing Conference is the only U.S. ink jet printing industry event devoted entirely to ink jet printing technologies, markets, and applications. Given the printing industry’s current interest in ink jet printing and the ongoing rapid expansion of ink jet technology into new and exciting applications, IMI has offered all Printing Industries of America members a $300 discount on their 22nd Annual Ink Jet Printing Conference registration fee (making it $795) as well as a $200 discount on the registration fee (making it $495) for the other programs earlier in the week: Ink Jet Deposition Course (Jan 28-29), Ink Jet Printhead & Selection Course (Jan 28-29), 3D Printing Symposium (Jan 28-29) and AWA Inkjet & Digital Label/Packaging Print Seminar (Jan 29-30). For additional details about the conference, view the IMI website at www.imiconf.com. If you are a Printing Industries of America member and would like to take advantage of IMI’s special offer, contact Sam Shea at sshea@printing.org for more...
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