SPECIAL REPORT -- The State of Web Printing - A Year's Worth of Mastery

By Kristen E. Monte

What a difference a year makes. When Mary Garnett was named executive director of the Web Offset Association (WOA) a little over a year ago, she had high hopes for what the organization could do for web offset printing companies. So far, she has proven herself to be an effective leader of the organization.

Garnett took over the position with WOA, a special industry group of Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF), in February 2004. She immediately got to work on some of the major concerns that confronted the industry as a whole. She says that PIA/GATF and WOA share the same concerns, which are issues Garnett tackled when she first began her stint as executive director.

Price cutting, global competition, postal rates and healthcare costs were all weighing heavily on the minds of printers and Garnett alike. She says that the WOA will continue providing educational programs to printers to assist with their understanding of costing issues. She believes that as more companies are educated in all aspects, the better they will be in terms of pricing jobs, sales orientation and financial orientation.

Another hot button issue is global competition. Theoretically, competition is important for businesses to grow. And if they are able to spread business overseas, printers will be able to build the industry and stand to see financial gains. As global competition reduces the total printing revenue, however, more printers will be negatively impacted. PIA/GATF and the WOA will look at the issues from all sides.

Garnett notes that PIA/GATF is looking at the offshore printing issue as a whole and, based upon research and printer feedback, has recently released a complete study to all WOA members about base-line assessments. Garnett says that PIA/GATF plans to continue monitoring this area of concern for printers, and will issue future reports. She says that since the entire team keeps their fingers on the pulse on important issues, the members are better served.

A third issue Garnett sees as a growing problem for printers is healthcare costs. She is looking to help WOA members with the rising costs of benefits, along with the poor economy in recent years, to reach a common ground for better coverage and reasonable rates through advocating passage of association health provisions.

Answers to Industry Issues

Some recent trends focus on everything from postal issues, which she believes will continue to press on in a more prominent fashion in the near future, to understanding the business of price competition.

"We have invested $500,000 into postal issue projects," reveals Garnett. "We have our chief lobbyist, Ben Cooper, who is working with Congress to stabilize and reform these postal concerns."

Productivity is also being looked at. Garnett says that although there is a buzz about emerging technologies like JDF and CIM, most printers still have a lot of legacy equipment on their pressroom floor, making a complete switch to digital workflows difficult and expensive.

"Product mix is an issue for web offset printers," continues Garnett. "All data shows that traditional printing is increasing slightly and bigger increases come from products offered off of value-added services."

Garnett says that she is offering programs to printers to assist with justifying which products and services to offer, based upon their customer base.

She has also started to look ahead to see what might be affecting web offset printers over the next couple of years.

"In the future, any one of these issues can be talked about as a key trend, because they will all still be around," says Garnett. "It really depends on the printer, the market segment and the customer base. Individually, they all will have to face them."

Yet, generally speaking, Garnett sees the idea of determining a product mix as being a big trend in the future.

"Printers, in general, are earning $1 for every $7 per project. They have to get into the other $6 the customer is spending and, by examining the product mix and what else they can offer the customer, they can get into that other $6," says Garnett.

The WOA, since 1952, has made it their mission to provide an exchange of management and technical information to help increase the market share and to elevate the value of membership between the WOA and PIA/GATF.

"I want to be able to keep in constant contact with printers to find out what products and services are relevant to them," she adds as a personal improvement promise. "We serve the printer, so we need to focus on providing them valuable advice and suggestions."

And, over the past year, Garnett has implemented productive changes for members to use. She, along with the WOA staff, has taken on the process of updating and redesigning WOA's The Print Awards contest, which judges the best printed pieces from web offset companies.

The submissions are now judged by members of the Specifications for Newsprint Advertising Production (SNAP) committee based on criteria such as back-to-back registration, paper tinting, folding of the product and overall craftsmanship of print. Categories cover all aspects of web offset printing, including best four-color piece produced via coldset on newsprint; best innovative piece produced by the heatset process on any stock; best bound piece, combination coldset and heatset; and a new SNAP category for printers that have been SNAP certified.

Check Out Web Printing's Best Work

Winning entries are being displayed during the 53rd annual WOA Management & Technical Conference held at the Opryland Grapevine Texas in Grapevine, TX. The conference is focusing on the future of web offset printing and features keynote speakers Ambassador L. Paul Bremer and former CIA Director George Tenet addressing issues of global concern.

"We are also redoing the directory of members and we started a monthly e-mail newsletter, called Quick Click. These are the main changes that our members are seeing," notes Garnett.

The Quick Click e-mail newsletter goes out to WOA members, showcasing five items of interest pertaining to information and opportunity to help printers with their businesses. Items include updates on the VISION Award, meeting announcements and mentions of publications focusing on the industry.

A new column, "Hey Bill! Got A Minute?," has also been introduced, featuring a technical Q&A for printers by Bill McLauchlan, a senior technical consultant at PIA/GATF and a 30-year veteran of the graphic communications industry.

"We are always trying to find products and services that are relevant to printers," says Garnett. "We always try to provide a feedback mechanism so printers can tell us what they think. Being more member-centric is always going to be a main goal for me and for the association."