Not all Value-Added is Created Equal

Most printers are familiar with the concept of value-added. Simply stated, value-added is the revenue generated from the activity of the company’s internal operations and is calculated as gross sales less paper, ink, toner and outside services expense.

The value-added theory implies that the higher the value-added as a percent of sales, the more profitable the company will be. Therefore, following this logic, it would seem that in order to increase value-added, printing companies must maintain all services in house—i.e., bindery, mailing, fulfillment, data management, etc.