Archives
Shine on, print survivors
Apr 01, 2011CIP4 is calling for entries in the 2011 CIPPI Awards program. The award categories highlight the benefits of process automation. This program is a great way for printers to let the world know about some of the most efficient, most productive production environments anywhere, says CIP4 executive director James Harvey. Any printer, prepress service or publisher may apply for the CIPPI awards. Each application
A career as a bookbinder
Apr 01, 2011Excerpt: At the HBI/LBI Fall Conference, we learned that there are only 19 certified library binding establishments left. One owner is abandoning library binding altogether for more profitable endeavors like on-demand and photo book printing and binding. It looks like the expansion of our trade association to include other, similar segments of our industry was timed just right. We live in a world
Analog printing to dominate decade
Apr 01, 2011PRIMIR's (www.primir.org) Megatrends in Digital Printing Applications study, conducted by IT Strategies, investigated which major production printing applications will migrate from analog to digital, when and why. It forecasts few applications to toward digital by 2014, some by 2020 and most in decades, if at all. While the study notes digital printing has made inroads in book printing and applications
Print vehicles extend their brands
Apr 01, 2011Thumb Media Group (TMG) is a division of Fry Communications and National Publisher Services. TMG's mobile publishing platform provides a rich media presentation on almost any smart phone. NYLON magazine's mobile edition incorporates Mozine 4.0 and features integrated advertising campaigns from Fortune 500 brands. TMG partnered with mobile ad agency iVdopia
Don't let negative reviews ruin your reputation
Apr 01, 2011The Internet has changed the game. Everyone has free rein to post a complaint and destroy your reputation. Protecting yourself involves posting positive content to drive down negativity. Try searching your company, and see what you come up with. Many potential customers, investors and employees will do an online background check before working with you. While its best to monitor performance
Picture perfect
Apr 01, 2011Photo book categories include general albums, wedding albums and specialty books. All-purpose albums are big business for Blurb, Lulu, MyPublisher.com, Kodak Gallery (orginally Ofoto), Shutterfly and Snapfish. Wedding albums command a premium price, thanks to leather cases, gold foil, special papers and other extras. Specialty books are another high-end market, with museums and real estate companies
Exchanging ideas with future generations
Apr 01, 2011When Durango, Mexico, native Patty Linden was a high school senior, she lived with us as an exchange student. Youth Exchange is a wonderful program whereby teens from around the world spend a year in another country, living in the homes of native families, attending local schools and speaking the native language. Youth Exchange is a life-changing program for both the students and their host families.
Dscoop rallies the digital print troops
Apr 01, 2011Founded in 2005, Dscoop (the Digital Solutions Cooperative) is an independent global community of graphic arts business owners and technical professionals who use HP Indigo and Scitex equipment and related solutions. The group held its sixth annual conference in Orlando this February. The numbers were impressive: 2,000+ total attendees, 95 exhibitors and 120 educational sessions. Last year's event
This column explained
Mar 01, 2011There's a difference between a magazine column and an article. This is a column. It incorporates opinion and experience. An article, on the other hand, is intended to be impartial, helpful and informational. Of course, writers interpret various content differently. There's the debate surrounding the possibility or impossibility of achieving impartiality in an article, try as one might. Some writers
E-mails, we get e-mails
Mar 01, 2011Ray Prince should change the spelling of his surname to Because there is no in Prince. Donate your personal collection of graphic arts and printing related books to Cal Poly's Graphic Communication Special Collection, he suggests. The Graphic Communication program is alive and well. They are in need of a great printing library. Dick Popp, Roger Ynostroza and Prince already have made arrangements to
Step by step
Mar 01, 2011A typical complaint I hear from print managers across the industry is, People do not do things consistently, citing reasons such as: The problem is with the people. They just do what is comfortable. They are lazy. They feel they know more than everyone else. They don't care. People don't come to work trying to cause problems. They want to do a good job. People apply their own best practices when: there
The awesome power of social media
Mar 01, 2011Joe the printer puts in way too much time at the shop. As owner of a commercial printing facility, he always seems to have too much work but never quite enough business. His family doesn't think he takes enough vacation, and his wife Fanny long ago cultivated other interests to keep herself busy. Joe has a cell phone and a Facebook account, although he doesn't use them much. His kids are more up on
Digital enhancements
Mar 01, 2011No matter how sophisticated your equipment, quality printing begins with the right paper.
Built from scratch
Mar 01, 2011Sorrento Mesa Printing is a six-employee, $1 million shop. From its industrial park address to its pragmatic approach to equipment acquisitions, there's nothing fancy about this 24-year-old operation. Scott Cappel, Sorrento Mesa's owner and founder, was the NAPL/NAQP 2010 Printer of the Year. Success is a combination of hard work and lucky breaks, he says. Sometimes you make your own luck and sometimes
Forward march
Mar 01, 2011On Demand Expo, colocated with AIIM Intl.'s info360 conference and expo, will take place March 22-24, 2011, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. A new Publishing Xchange conference program is designed to bring together the combined shows' digital print, publishing, multichannel marketing and enterprise information management professionals.
Do the right thing
Mar 01, 2011A few years ago, Bruce Boyarsky was waiting to disembark from a cruise ship. I can't wait to get back to work, Boyarsky told his family. A fellow passenger overheard this remark and demanded to know Boyarsky's occupation. I told him that I owned a bindery and that I loved what I did, Boyarsky recalled. He didn't understand how someone could love a job. But I love this business.
Celebrating the California connection
Mar 01, 2011Good thing they didn't give him a gold watch When Mike Stinnett retired from Royal Oak High in Michigan, his fellow graphic arts teachers presented him with the perfect gift: a section from a California Job Case. The case contents reflect Stinnett's eight years of service to the school. Charlie Chard, a fellow retiree, helped Stinnett convert the job case into an end table. The red oak table, complete
Quick printers adapt & overcome
Mar 01, 2011Carl Gerhardt, president and CEO of Allegra Network and Mike Stevens are well known to quick and small commercial printers. Both are former shop owners: Carl and his wife, Judy, opened an American Sir Speedy center in Colorado Springs in 1985. Stevens launched Express Press in Fargo, ND, in 1983.
Faster, more accurate digital print billing
Mar 01, 2011Printing Industries of America and the CIP4 organization have announced the availability of JDF Product Certification for Integrated Digital Printing. It applies to color, highlight color and duplex monochrome digital printing systems, including those with inline finishing capabilities. Certified integrated digital printers have the ability to count every event performed by an integrated digital printer
People
Mar 01, 2011The Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP) announces the appointment of Shannon Palmer as executive director. Finch Paper has appointed Dr. Peter J. Veverka to senior product development engineer. A published scholar and author of several patent applications, Dr. Veverka comes to Finch after a 15-year tenure with International Paper.
Time to review your Standard Operating Procedures
Mar 01, 2011Print buyers are becoming more numerous, many with little print experience. Here are six problems I have heard about recently: Fronting postage for a customer standard operating procedure (SOP) not followed. I have heard of three instances in which the printers found themselves bearing the cost due to nonpayment. With electronic transfer of funds, there is no reason to ever front postage money. Keep
Movers & shakers
Mar 01, 2011RR Donnelley lands major international contract RR Donnelley & Sons Co. has secured a multimillion-dollar, multiyear contract with Shop Direct Group (SDG), the United Kingdom's largest online and home shopping retailer. Under the terms of the contract anticipated to start in March, RR Donnelley will provide a broad range of services, including premedia, print management, transactional print, fulfillment
Other people's mail
Mar 01, 2011On January 13, 2011, the United States Postal Service (USPS) notified the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) of its intent to change prices for Mailing Services products, which includes First-Class Mail (FCM), Standard Mail, Periodicals, Package Services and Extra Services. Upon PRC approval, the new prices will take effect on April 17, 2011. New pricing for Shipping Services, including Priority Mail
Self service on the move
Mar 01, 2011FedEx Office (formerly FedEx Kinko's) has introduced FedEx Office Print & Go, which enables customers to print documents directly from BlackBerry smartphones and USB flash drives on its digital copy machines. It is enabled by the HP ePrint mobile printing application and can be found on some Canon devices in the self-service area of the company's retail locations. Diamond Packaging's (www.diamondpackaging.com)
Continuous communication
Feb 22, 2011Educate your customers when you miss their deadline. Often it is not your fault, but the customer is always right.
