Quad/Graphics

The two largest American printing companies recently presented similar lists of the major challenges they face—and similar strategies for growing in the face of declining demand.

“The highly competitive market conditions and unused industry capacity will continue to put price pressure on both transactional work and contract renewals across all segments,” R.R. Donnelley stated in its 2013 annual report. Translation: Underused presses + shrinking demand=lower print prices.

It was basically same blues, different tune from Number 2 printer Quad/Graphics in the annual report it also released last week...

Quad/Graphics Inc. is opening a new commingling center in Westampton, NJ. The new center—a five-minute drive from the existing direct mail production facility—will start up in April 2014 and is expected to be fully operational in the third quarter. Quad's East Coast commingling center is complemented by a Midwest commingling center in New Berlin, WI, just west of Milwaukee.

Quad/Graphics has acquired UniGraphic Inc. The acquisition fortifies Quad/Graphics' commercial and specialty printing, in-store marketing, and digital and fulfillment solutions for businesses on the East Coast. It also strengthens its ability to service national retailers' large-format and in-store marketing needs, adding an East Coast presence to its existing Midwest and West Coast locations.

According to Jim Workman, assistant vice president at Printing Industries of America (PIA), there are several patent owners and law firms trying to flex their muscles seeking licenses and/or payouts, but the two most active litigators are CTP Innovations (represented by Nashville, TN-based Baker Donelson) and SkipPrint (represented by Maschoff Bernann in Park City, UT).

Quad/Graphics doesn't fall into luck; you don't become a $4 billion-a-year performer by being in the right place at the right time. So while customers did, in fact, begin to clamor for their print provider to add video production technology to its arsenal, the 2010 development of Quad's media solutions studio in Bloomington, MN, is hardly a plug-and-play tale. One thing is certain: This is an offering that charted with a bullet.

Commercial printer company and personnel news from Printing Impressions’ March 2014 edition, featuring, featuring Westamerica Graphics, Mossberg & Co., Think Patented, The Standard Group, Southeastern

Commercial Printing Industry News Briefs from Printing Impressions’ March 2014 edition, including Quad/Graphics, Transcontinental, Konica and MGI, Calabrese Printing, Abbott's Printing

An unusually large postage rate increase, which triggered a price jolt for producers of magazines and catalogs, is expected to depress business for Quad/Graphics Inc.

The postal shock only adds to the pressures facing Wisconsin's massive industry of contract printers such as Quad, the biggest printer of magazines in North America, as well as the continent's largest printer of catalogs and retail inserts.

"It will more than likely reduce demand in the near term, further exacerbating the Postal Service's financial challenges," Quad Chief Executive Joel Quadracci told the conference call. "The Postal Service's action shows a fundamental disconnect with mailers and the

Quad/Graphics employees have had the opportunity to visit an on-site doctor for almost 22 years now. This, via QuadMedical or QuadMed—an on-site, fully-staffed medical facility.

Joel Quadracci is Quad/Graphics chairman and CEO. While many Americans entered a New Year wondering where their medical coverage would be coming from, his employees did not.

Quad/Graphic’s model of providing on-site extensive healthcare is one being looked at more and more as the Affordable Care Act eases into reality—and Quadracci will preach its success to any of his counterparts who will listen.

SUSSEX, WI—Joel Quadracci, chairman, president and CEO of Quad/Graphics, sent out the following message to Quad customers highlighting some of the executive changes and promotions at the company.