ONE-STOP VS. NICHE PRINTERS — SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT

And what of the future generations of print buyers who have been weaned on the Internet? How will they shop for a print vendor; will long-term buyer/vendor relationships mean anything to them?

“We’re in an era of specialization,” contends Dennis Mason, president of Mason Consulting in Western Springs, IL. “The economics of certain kinds of printing make for specialization. Like a Quad plant that’s set up to knock out Newsweek and Time. Clearly, that’s a specialization, and when that kind of plant is in place, nobody can touch it from an economics standpoint.