BY CAROLINE MILLER In August, catalog printers were crossing their fingers. The long-awaited holiday season was just around the corner. It's a time when most catalog printers see an increase of both page counts and quantity orders. And an increase is just what printers needed after a lackluster year. Top 10 -- Catalog Printers Company SegmentSales(millions) TotalSales (millions) 1 Quebecor WorldMontreal $1,105 $6,500 2 Quad/GraphicsPewaukee, WI $900 $1,800 3 R.R. Donnelley & SonsChicago $840 $5,254 4 Banta Corp.Menasha, WI $246 $1,538 5 Arandell Corp.Menomonee Falls, WI $196 $213 6 Perry Judd's Inc.Waterloo, WI $102 $343 7 Spencer PressWells, ME $94 $104 8 Continental Web PressItasca, IL $73 $121 9 Consolidated GraphicsHouston $68 $683 10 Von Hoffmann Corp.Saint Louis $64 $425 Sales figures are based on above printers'self-reported total and market segment breakdowns.At the time, early signs were beginning to indicate that catalog production would indeed increase during the
Continental Web Press
If you know the name of a printing company that you think appears on the Printing Impressions 400 list, but you're not sure of its ranking, here's an easy way to locate that firm. Simply find the company in the alphabetical listings on this page. In addition to each company's name and headquarters location, a corresponding number appears indicating that firm's ranking on the Printing Impressions 400. ABS Graphics (Addison, IL) 400 Action Printing (Fond du Lac, WI) 353 Adams Business Forms (Topeka, KS) 96 AdPlex Inc. (Houston, TX) 102 Advance Business Graphics (Mira Loma, CA) 153 AFL Web Printing (Voorhees, NJ)
Editor's note: Company rankings for the current and previous years are based on figures reported in 2000. Therefore, companies that revised their 1999 revenues may have changed their '99 ranking as compared with the ranking that appeared in last year's Printing Impressions 500. Similarly, the percentage change in sales is calculated on the most recent information provided.2000 Ranking:Previous Year's Ranking:Company: Total Sales (millions):Previous Year's (millions):Change (%):Principal Officer:Employees:Primary Specialties:Web Offset Units:Sheetfed Offset Units:Other:Ownership:Plants:5142Publishers Printing/Publishers Press, Shepherdsville, KY$160.40$166.30-4Nicholas X. Simon1,750PUB 100%100100Private 2 2000 Ranking:Previous Year's Ranking:Company:Total Sales (millions):Previous Year's (millions):Change (%):Principal Officer:Employees:Primary Specialties:Web Offset Units:Sheetfed Offset Units:Other:Ownership:Plants:5252Phoenix Color Corp., Hagerstown, MD$160.00E$141.00+13Louis LaSorsa900BKS 100%61520Private 4 2000 Ranking:Previous Year's
BY ERIK CAGLE John Frautschi is as much a part of Webcrafters Inc. as Webcrafters is a part of John Frautschi. The pair are inextricably identified with each other. Frautschi, 70, chairman of the board at Webcrafters and a 2000 Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame inductee, also has a knack for taking care of the people around him—be they manufacturers, suppliers, his employees, Webcrafters' home city of Madison, WI, and Dane County, or anyone else who happens to step foot into his world. The commercial printing industry hasn't known a greater friend, either. Frautschi has not only helped pioneer web cover printing,
Consolidators, independents discuss merits of selling the business to a roll-up company. BY ERIK CAGLE To sell or not to sell? A difficult question with no easy, or clear-cut, answers. The last 15 years have been marked by considerable growth in the commercial printing industry. That growth has been bolstered by awe-inspiring advances in technology: computer-to-plate, offset press automation and digital prepress advances, which have all streamlined production processes and decreased turnaround time. By building a better mousetrap, printers large and small have made their industry highly competitive. While the National Association of Printers and Lithographers projects industry growth in the 4 percent range
