Transition to Digital Printing Roils the Book Industry
Ricoh purchased a minority interest in Avanti, one of the few remaining independent providers of printing management information systems (MIS). One day later, Hewlett-Packard announced that it was closing Hiflex, the print MIS system it purchased last year. Meanwhile, Electronics for Imaging (EFI) continues to dominate the print MIS business, having acquired and then discontinued numerous competitors. Will Ricoh succeed where HP failed?
Mark Hahn is a managing director and founder of Graphic Arts Advisors, a boutique strategic financial advisory and consulting firm focused exclusively on the printing, packaging, mailing, marketing services, brand management, and related graphic communications industries. With more than 35 years of graphic communications experience in the areas of finance, operations, sales, M&A, and general management, Hahn has served as chief financial officer, chief operating officer and other senior positions with several commercial printing companies, as well as founding and eventually selling his own printing company.The firm assists company owners and management, as well as their lenders, investors and shareholders in the following areas: mergers and acquisitions, sale of business, strategic and financial advisory, capital structure and funding, financial analysis, interim and turnaround C-level management, business valuations and serving as consulting experts. Hahn is the author of The Target Report and is regularly published and quoted in printing industry trade and management journals. Mark Hahn can be reached at (973) 588-7399 or mark@graphicartsadvisors.com
