Picture this: Upon returning to the office from GRAPH EXPO 14, you meet with your boss to talk about a current project. What impresses her (more than that deep-dish Chicago-style pizza you had) is that you now have solid solutions to implement that save your company time and money!
Congrats to you, star employee, for discussing your challenges with the experienced, knowledgeable Printing Industries of America experts at Booth #3667. They’re here to answer your specific questions in person and help you find solutions related to EHS, integrated print, economic forecasting, and more.
We’ll show you just where you can meet them—at our booth, presenting seminars, and throughout the show.
Julie Shaffer
Vice President, Digital Strategies
Years of experience—I’ve been in industry in one aspect or another for more than 24 years.
Main area of expertise—My expertise has evolved. In prepress, I have solid knowledge in image editing, layout and design, color management, workflow automation, proofing, and imaging. Having managed the Digital Printing Council, I understand digital printing and production and direct marketing applications. I’ve written books on PDF, social media, and web-to-print. Now I’m focusing on 3D printing and developing online training programs to help members learn all of the above and researching new and disruptive technologies that may impact the industry.
Julie’s integrated print tip—“The USPS website is a great place to find case studies, templates, and tips for designing a direct mail piece. This great free resource is at www.usps.com/business/mail-it.htm.”
Meet Julie—I’ll be demoing the new Integrated Learning Center at our booth, #3667. You can also find me presenting several seminars: “3D Printing: NEW Profit Pathway for Commercial Printers,” Sunday, September 28 from 2:00–3:30 p.m. in R8; then “Color Management for ‘Non-Techies’,” Monday, September 29, 4:00–5:30 p.m. in R31; finally a Computer Lab “Digital Print Design: 20 Things You MUST Know Now,” Tuesday, September 30, 2:00–5:00 p.m.
Ed Gleeson
Director of Economics & Market Research
Years of experience—I’ve been in the industry for 8 years as an economic and market researcher.
Main area of expertise—Tracking industry trends such as profitability, sales, pricing, cost, etc., and providing the industry with this information so they can make better informed decisions.
Ed’s tip for profitability—“According to our Ratios database, small- and medium-size printers that are profit leaders are just as profitable as their larger counterparts. During the seminar, we’ll explore why profit leaders earn 4 to 5 times as much as the average printer.”
Meet Ed—Join me forthe seminar, “Beyond Survival: NEW Success Strategies for Small & Medium Sized Printers,” on September 30, 8:30–10:00 a.m. in R36.
Gary Jones
Assistant Vice President, EHS Affairs
Years of experience—27 years.
Main area of expertise—Federal (e.g., EPA, OSHA, DOT, CSPC, USDA, FTC, etc.), state, and local regulatory compliance, as well as assisting companies with their sustainability program development and implementation.
Gary’s tip for compliance—“Printing operations need to incorporate EHS compliance into their everyday business management activities. Appropriate resources and support must be provided to understand, achieve, and maintain compliance, which provides the baseline for sustainability programs. Managing compliance and becoming a sustainable manufacturing operation reduces operating costs and increases profitability.”
Meet Gary—I look forward to meeting you at Booth #3667 and on the show floor, Sunday, September 28. I invite you to see my presentation at the International Newspaper Group (ING) Annual Conference at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, Saturday, September 27 from 11:15 a.m.–2:15 p.m. on “Environmental Sustainability 2014 and Beyond.”
Dr. Mark Bohan
Vice President, Technology and Research
Years of experience—I have 25 years’ experience in the industry, and I’m continually looking to develop the printing process and increase productivity, quality, and profitability. For the past 8–10 years, I have been active in production inkjet. Additionally, I’ve been active in short-run printing for most of my career in various aspects and seen the evolution.
Main area of expertise—Researching the latest trends and assessing new technologies and how printers can implement them. Several of these projects have been published in the press and also in Printing Industries Press publications. I enjoy traveling, sometimes around the world, to meet other researchers in the industry and speak on different topics like systems integration and CIM technologies and how operations can implement them. I am also on the CIP4 Advisory Board that represents users of technologies.
Mark’s technology tips—I have two actually. First, as jobs get shorter, the effective use of automation and productivity tools are essential in ensuring a profitable business. It is not the way in which you produce the product but rather why the customer needs your product. Another word of advice is if you don’t effectively control the environment in which you are printing, the press productivity and quality will suffer.
Meet Mark—I hope to see you at “Trend Alert: The Evolving Role of Production Inkjet” that I am presenting along with my colleague, Jim Workman [Assistant Vice President, Center for Technology and Research] in R39 on Tuesday, September 30, 10:30 a.m. to noon. I will also discuss “The “Skinny” on Profit Opportunities in the Short Run Market” in R11 4:00–5:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 28.
Jim Workman
Assistant Vice President, Center for Technology and Research
Years of experience—33 years in the graphic arts industry, 31 years serving the industry through Graphic Arts Technical Foundation and Printing Industries of America.
Main area of expertise—While I’m a generalist in many respects, I have developed a strong base of knowledge in Lean manufacturing and continuous improvement and in mailing issues. I have managed our successful Continuous Improvement Conferences for the last 15 years and also monitor mailing issues for the association. This year I’m serving as the co-chair of the Greater Pittsburgh Postal Customer Council. I also stay on top of technology developments by overseeing our InterTechTM Technology Awards program that recognizes technology innovations poised to have a significant impact on the industry. One area I’m particularly interested in is high-speed inkjet printing.
Jim’s improvement tip—Odds are that your employees have improvement ideas that aren’t being shared with management. Rapid improvement is not possible without mining these ideas and implementing a high percentage of them. By comparison, world-class companies receive dozens of improvement ideas per employee per year. It’s through continuously implementing small, incremental improvements that companies leave the competition behind. Figure out an effective way to capitalize on your employees’ ideas. Read more about capturing employees’ ideas.
Meet Jim—I’ll be at our booth, #3667, assisting companies and demonstrating our press simulation software. You can also find me presenting “Trend Alert: The Evolving Role of Production Inkjet” [along with Dr. Bohan] Tuesday, September 30, 10:30 a.m.–12:00 noon.
We look forward to meeting you at Printing Industries of America Booth #3667! To stay up to date, follow @PrintInd and #GRAPHEXPO. For more information, visit www.printing.org/graphexpo.