Business Management - Industry Trends

FOR DECADES, the printing industry’s “Terms and Conditions for Sale” was a keystone in helping printing companies and their customers work together. Created by the major printer associations, the “Terms and Conditions for Sale” document sought to establish acceptable standards of doing business between printers and their customers. This document was created to establish “rules” to minimize the number of conflicts between printers and their customers, and diminish a printer’s financial liability when a job went awry. These standards were set up by parties that represent printers so, understandably, those terms and conditions were fashioned to primarily protect printers. Over the past several

The so-called “Employee Free Choice Act” passed in the House of Representatives via a 241-185 vote. Three Republican-offered amendments were considered on the floor, but all three failed. As mentioned last month, the legislation would take away workers’ rights to a federally supervised secret ballot election, when deciding whether or not to join a union. The fear is this would leave workers open to strong-arm tactics during union organizing drives. The PIA issued a “key industry vote card” to every U.S. Representative in advance of the vote, sending the message that the industry would be watching the vote tally of what is considered to be the

Sustained economic growth and smart adoption of technologies to create new value-added services have helped put the U.S. printing industry in its strongest position in many years, speakers concurred at the first NPES Industry Summit, held recently in Chicago. The Summit brought together for the first time the long-standing economic forecasting conference PRINT OUTLOOK®, plus the NPES Spring Board of Directors Meeting and a meeting of PRIMIR, the Print Industries Marketing Information and Research Organization. “These three gatherings gained an impact and value from being held together that greatly exceeded their separate importance, even though each event already enjoyed a high reputation for serving

Tens of thousands of Americans took part in the California Gold Rush of 1849. At that time, everyone in our fledgling country could envision the seemingly limitless opportunities available in the great, untamed West. Fewer were actually willing to venture out into that wild territory to mine those hills, and fewer still were prepared with the knowledge, mindset and tools to overcome the challenges of doing so. While there was no doubt gold was in those hills — it was only the well-prepared and well-informed who ultimately struck it rich! For NPES members, today’s global business opportunities are not unlike the 1849 California

Based on PRIMIR’s recently completed study, “Small Commercial and Quick Printer Study 2006-2011,” in which more than 300 small or quick printers were interviewed – a world of opportunity awaits. Revealing their overall optimism, 84% of the surveyed respondents projected their revenues would be higher in 2011, and 72% expected higher profits as well. According to John Zarwan of J. Zarwan Partners and Cary Sherburne of Sherburne & Associates, who conducted this PRIMIR research, the survey reveals good news for a market segment that has seen steep declines in the number of establishments and experienced flat to declining shipments over the last several years.

Mail Moves America Mail Moves America is a recently formed coalition of trade associations and corporations with the mission of educating state and federal government decision-makers on the vital role advertising mail plays in the commerce and economy of the United States. A major component of this mission is monitoring and, when necessary, intervening to block so-called “Do-not-mail” legislation at both the state and federal level. These initiatives are the next extension of efforts spawned by public sentiments that lead to similar efforts to ban or limit unauthorized telephone, fax and e-mail solicitations. NPES is an active participant in the coalition, which currently numbers 48

The main emphasis of RFID use and supply has radically changed course. That was the message of the large IDTechEx RFID Smart Labels USA event in Boston in February. The business is booming in just about every sector other than the supply of pallet and case tagging to retailer and military mandates, where there are two problems. A severely uneconomic price level has been established by suppliers for the tags, readers and chips and they still do not work reliably on obscured cases in a pallet load, where wet, metallic and glass items are involved ie most of what is sold in a supermarket.

Nowadays, the term printed electronics is taken to include truly printed electronics but also thin film electronics that is potentially printable. Anything less and you miss the big picture. We include low cost electrical and electronic circuits with layers below 30 microns thick, even if currently deposited by vacuum techniques, spin coating, etc. Silicon chips and thin film silicon are not included because they are not potentially printable. However, the main emphasis is on circuits, interconnects and components already made with printing equipment, at least in part. Smart Media Products Most of the potential for printed electronics lies in what Toppan Forms calls

New legislation introduced in Congress would strip away workers’ rights to a federally supervised secret ballot election when deciding whether or not to join a union, leaving workers far more vulnerable to coercion and intimidation during union organizing drives. The “Employee Free Choice Act,” introduced by Rep. George Miller (D-CA), would replace secret ballot elections with a process called “card check” where a union is recognized in a workplace if a majority of workers sign a card in the presence of union organizers. Under the card check process, the identity of workers who signed (or refused to sign) organizing cards would be made public to

AS PRINT providers look to transform their businesses from primarily print-based to a broader range of marketing services, the Internet is becoming an increasingly important part of their business model. For some, that means adding Web design as part of their creative and design offerings. For others, it means adding Web-to-print, whether for ordering static documents or for allowing customers to customize—even personalize—documents based on templates. But while Web-to-print, as an umbrella category, has been getting a lot of attention, another Internet-driven application is rapidly gaining momentum—the ability to use cross-media technology to create personalized URLs (or PURLs), which send recipients of print