If Andy Rooney covered the publication printing world, even his massive eyebrows would be edging skyward.

On the one hand, five major magazines just announced a $90 million campaign to make advertisers, shareholders, and industry influencers reconsider the importance of print. “A lot of us sat back for way too long and listened to all this abuse and said nothing about it,” Jann Wenner told the Wall Street Journal.

On the other hand, most publication printers probably are all too familiar with this scenario:

“It’s a buyer’s market,” Jodi Rochford, director of collateral products for Canon Communications told Media Business. “[Plants] will lowball to get work in, even if they’re barely covering costs.”

RR Donnelley recently announced it will acquire Bowne & Co. in an all-cash deal valued at approximately $481 million. It’s a logical move according to industry pundit Bob Rosen (Pittstown, NJ).

“For a change in the world of deals, [this one] really does meet many strategic objectives. The financial printing business has been running a long-term going-out-of-business sale for many years,” says Rosen. “This goes back to the moment when law firms and corporate clients took control of the word processing files, thereby eliminating the magical mystery of overnight typesetting. With that, the financial printers’ pricing opportunities began evaporating. And after the loss of premium pricing came the increasing use of electronically-filed documents, further reducing demand.”

Rosen adds that financial printer consolidation not only logical, but inevitable: “The only surprise is why it’s taken so long,” he says. “The end-game is obvious. The only open question is how long it takes to play out.”

The RR Donnelley announcement came just weeks after Quad and World Color announced their plans.

In the Daily Finance Tom Taulli says the Quad/Graphics and World Color merger makes a lot of sense, given the “highly fragmented” industry is struggling to cope with challenges from new media, a faltering economy and severe overcapacity.

“But perhaps the most important part of the deal is the cost savings,” says Taulli. “Within the next two years, the forecast is for annual savings of $225 million. . .adjusted EBITDA margins are expected to reach 17%.”

Consultant Steven Fryetold Media Business: “I think the merger is brilliant because the big three printers are fighting over a market that doesn’t exist anymore, which is the real large-run offset market. There’s too much hardware out there, too much dinosaur equipment.” The real winners predicts Frye, will be Fry Communications and Brown Printing. “[These are] two solid printers that can go head-to-head against the bigger guys. The catalog market has never heard of Fry, but that will now likely change. They all can print great magazines. It’s the distribution aspect that is critical to be a good printer.”

In a separate Media Business article, William Lufkin, president of paper and print purchasing consultant Lufkin Strategic Procurement, noted that some publishing firms’ purchasing policies require them to work with more than one vendor. Therefore, RR Donnelley and Brown could benefit from Quad/World coming together.

Now, if Andy Rooney did cover the publication world, he’d really love these dueling headlines: Print Magazine Advertising to Grow in 2010 Despite Popularity of Online declared FOLIO magazine. A subhead quietly added: “For first time, however, spending on digital expected to outpace print.” Min Online, covering the same Outsell survey data put it this way: Digital Marketing Spend to Overtake Print This Year.

If anyone wants me, I’ll be braiding my eyebrows.

Quad’s recent announcement of its intent to acquire World Color generated headlines in media outlets ranging from the Wall Streeet Journal to American Lawyer. But in terms of nuts-and-bolts commentary, well, leave it to consultant Clint Bolte. If you’ve been around the printing industry you know he is a veteran observer and a champion of commonsense. Also, the only guy I know who can tie a bow tie.

As I mulled the financial implications of the deal, I wondered how Quad’s fabled culture will mesh with World Color’s. Bolte apparently read my mind. Writes Bolte: “Quad buys the latest proven technology, as do RR Donnelley and others, but then challenges a team of operators to master the beast, look to correct its inevitable weaknesses, and come up with auxiliary features that can be patented to lift the entire application above the rest of the industry. No other printer has ever been able to perpetuate this success formula like Quad/Graphics.”

Some thoughts on Quad’s World Color acquistion

By Clint Bolte

Quad/Graphics’ acquisition of World Color following Quebecor World’s January 2008 bankruptcy has tongues wagging as to the potential impact on the printing industry as well as large print buyers. Here are my thoughts on how this may unfold.



Preserving Quad’s Unique Culture

I am not aware of any substantial printing company in the world that values its own unique culture more than Quad. Thirty years ago Quad’s Bean (Atlanta) acquisition was reported to be not faring well because of this culture incompatibility issue. As a result virtually all of Quad’s dynamic growth since then has been virgin meadow start ups.

What is it about Quad’s distinctive culture that has never been replicated by any other graphics vendor? It certainly is not limited to being family owned and all employees considered part of this extended family. Other firms profess this approach as being a key to their success. Many printers claim to be leading edge technology purveyors. None can hold a candle to Quad as evidenced by their own enhancements to existing leading equipment, receiving patents on these improvements, and reselling these innovations via QuadTech.

This is not due to leveraging the wits of one or two mechanical or electronic geniuses on staff. Quad buys the latest proven technology, as do RR Donnelley and others, but then challenges a team of operators to master the beast, look to correct its inevitable weaknesses, and come up with auxiliary features that can be patented to lift the entire application above the rest of the industry. No other printer has ever been able to perpetuate this success formula like Quad/Graphics.

World Color (the old Quebecor World), on the other hand, rode Harris M1000a and M1000b web presses for decades beyond what the rest of the industry found this equipment to be economically viable. Their finance driven executive management did not reinvest in current technology for eons. Only recently have they attempted to leap frog generations of printing technology by purchasing some new manroland webs.

This lack of firsthand innovation experience and technology awareness by World Color’s journeyman operators and entire management team will be an extremely difficult cultural chasm to breech.

This deal may be exciting from the merged balance sheet and even superficial marketing perspectives. However, Quad’s operations team has never ever had this kind of a challenge to boot strap a printer of this size before. It is interesting that Joel Quadracci put Mark Angelson, World Color’s CEO, in charge of the integration and consolidation effort. Angelson has had extensive experience formerly with RR Donnelley in this mergers and acquisition game and therefore the rationalization task. And Quadracci and his operations team have had no experience at all in this area. The danger is that Angelson has never lived nor experienced the Quad culture and would therefore not be expected to know how to preserve that mystic.

Moving select senior operations leaders from proven Quad plants to the strongest World plants (to be retained) may seem like common sense since that is exactly what Quad did for every new plant start up in their own history. However, new employees of new Quad plants often with marginal printing experience knew that they were “clay to be molded” and had the right attitude about this necessary learning curve. World Color’s journeymen operators may instead suggest, “We’ve never found that to be the best way to run this equipment.” They may resist relearning what they consider to be the basics of their jobs.

I’m not trying to suggest that World Color does not have good equipment operators or operational management teams. They simply, for much of their entire careers, have never been given leading edge tools and resources to use. They’ve always had to make do. Having the best and being the best is second nature to the Quad DNA.

Perhaps this analogy is not a total exaggeration. At DRUPA 90 I recall some family-held German printers discussing excitedly how they were going to bootstrap their East German printer relatives (many were literally family enterprises before WWII) into the modern era now that the Communist wall came down only months earlier in 1989. While the work ethic and intelligence of the East Germans were never at issue, the printing technology upgrades (40 years worth) and skill bootstrapping took more than a decade for the Eastern block firms to reach efficiency parity.

RR Donnelley’s Reaction

Some talk has suggested that RR Donnelley will be nervous at this new competitor as Quad has always been a competitive nemesis and now they are even bigger. I could not disagree more. I expect RRD to be thrilled for the following reasons:

• World Color has been reported to be the rotten apple in the barrel for years for creating pricing wars.

• Quad will never allow that to continue as they (1) know their costs, (2) have a disciplined sales and marketing approach that does not allow entrepreneurial salesman to sling loose prices around, and (3) have known and understood the value of the services they provide well before it was the latest consultant’s buzz word.

• Angelson attempted to put the skids on low prices when he took over as CEO at World Color. While he is reported to have had some success, he found the free fall to be difficult to arrest. Many contracts at little more than variable costs still had years to run.

• Quad’s management team will be so focused on eating this elephant that new product development initiatives and other competitive moves to thwart RRD would be expected to be back burner priorities.

• RRD is aware of the fact that the rest of the developed world is bouncing back from their economic recession much more quickly than the United States is. Quad’s attention will overwhelmingly be stateside for the next 24-36 months, which will allow RRD free reign on the more attractive global growth stages.



Large print buyers’ reaction

It has been suggested that large print buyers will be upset at losing a major low cost supplier. That old dog will always howl.

Multi-title publishers are naturally concerned that there are only two giant vendors, who have proven never to participate in reverse auction pricing regardless of the “promised” volumes. Smart publishers will discover stable, solid regional web printers that can lay down any dot, offer flexible customer service and schedules, and fair prices.

It will be exciting to see how this unfolds. Whether Quad realizes the Angelson-promised $225 million in synergies in the first two years will probably never be known. The North American printing industry will be stronger for the exercise. And the whole industry wishes Quad well in the process.

Clint Bolte is a skilled industrial engineer by trade and has been active in the printing and graphic communications industry his entire career. He has worked as a corporate leader and officer, market developer and manager, product designer and in-house “intrapreneur. Contact him via www.clintbolte.com.

Dayton, Ohio, evokes images of innovation. From the Wright Brother’s bike shop to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the city has a rich tradition of technical excellence. In graphic arts circles, the city is known for its paper and inkjet roots.

Kodak Versamark got its continuous inkjet start in 1972, when it was known as Mead Digital Systems. Since then, the company has come full circle: Eastman Kodak bought the company, which then was called Diconix, as a wholly owned subsidiary in 1983. Kodak then sold the technology capability to Scitex in 1993. And in 2004, Eastman Kodak acquired the assets of Scitex Digital.

Still with me? Good! John Parsons, former editorial director for The Seybold Report, recently attended a briefing on Kodak’s inkjet activities. Here’s his report.

Kodak Prepares to Launch the Stream-Based Prosper Inkjet Press at Ipex 2010

By John Parsons

Dayton, Ohio — The production inkjet field is getting interesting. Kodak has begun briefing analysts on its new Prosper Press line — first introduced at drupa as the Stream Concept Press. (See “Kodak Showcases Stream Inkjet Technology,” American Printer, May 27, 2008.) The company is planning a public launch at Ipex in May, and the first installations will commence in early 2010. (Consolidated Graphics officially signed the first contract for the 4-color perfecting model on December 9.) While publicity for HP’s T300 press has arguably been more daring, Kodak is upping the ante with a serious contender.

The Kodak Prosper press promises high speed digital four-color output on commercially available paper.

The Prosper line is based on Kodak’s Stream technology, developed primarily in the Dayton facility and the Kodak Research Labs, but separate from the existing Versamark VL line. It represents a new approach to inkjet imaging and a major gamble in an already distressed printing industry. If successful, it will bring inkjet digital printing — and its potential for variable data output and shorter, more cost-effective press runs — closer to the overall visual quality of offset production.

Live Long and Prosper

The Prosper line actually already began this year, with the Prosper S10 Imprinting System, which was commercialized in June. Used in-line on a conventional press, the 4.16″ units provide 600dpi black variable data imprinting on a variety of coated and uncoated stocks, at speeds up to 1,000 feet per minute. The list price is $475,000 for a two-headed system with a controller and data station, the jetting modules demonstrate Kodak’s walk-before-you-run strategy with its new Stream approach. Direct mail printers in particular have shown interest in the S10, which enables higher-quality variable imprinting without the need for a two-step process of pre-printing offset shells and off-line imprinting.

The first actual press will be installed in Q1 2010, as part of the buildup to Ipex. The 24.5″ (620 mm) print width Prosper 1000 is a 600dpi, black-only perfecting press, printing up to 3,600 A4 images per minute at the equivalent of 100-133lpi, and a duty cycle of 120 million A4 impressions per month, assuming 24/7 operations at 80% uptime. Kodak has worked out in-line finishing system integrations with Muller Martini, Hunkeler and Lasermax, with others purportedly in the works.

The Prosper 1000 is aimed at the book printing market, for shorter runs of up to 7,000 copies. The variable data angle is somewhat moot for book publishers, although the potential for teacher’s editions and versioning in the education market is attractive. Overall print quality is comparable to offset, and the ability to print on a variety of commercial papers is a plus. In the book printing workflow presented by Kodak, the process of adding separately printed color covers was a manual one, but the overall system is still attractive for short-run trade and educational book printing.

The Prosper 1000 — and indeed the entire Prosper line — is field upgradeable and highly modular, according to Kodak. The 1000 can be upgraded to color, for example, by inserting and configuring new heads and modules. When we viewed (but were not allowed to photograph) the first devices being assembled, the compact, modular press units appeared to be easily movable and compatible with a broad range of shop floor challenges.

The first full-color Prosper 5000XL perfecting press will be installed in the first half of 2010 — presumably at a Consolidated Graphics shop. Like its monochrome cousin, the 5000XL has a print width of 24.5″ (620 mm) on a 25.5″ wide web, with speeds approaching 1,000 feet per minute. The image equivalent for the color press is 133-175 lines per inch. Individual color jetting modules are followed by their own separate in-line drying units, contrasted with systems that only have a final drying unit after all four colors have printed. Kodak maintains that this reduces printing problems due to excessive moisture content, thereby improving image quality, color gamut and color fidelity. Interestingly, ink drying is highly customized, based on paper type and ink coverage. Special profiles manage the dryer temperatures throughout the run.

The Prosper press alternates jetting and drying units, avoiding excessive moisture buildup. Special “dryer profiles” are used to regulate temperatures according to paper type and ink coverage. In-line spectrophotometers analyze image quality during the press run.

To support full data variability and versioning at such high speeds, the Prosper requires an imposing digital controller system, the Kodak 700 Print Manager. Version 1.0 supports the usual array of static file formats such as PDF and PostScript, as well as variable data formats like PPML/GA, PPML/VDX, VPS and optimized output from InSite, Darwin and some third-party applications. Version 2.0 will add support for Intelligent Print Data Stream (IPDS), and 2.1 will add support for Xerox VIPP and ASP. A new version of Prinergy (dubbed “Prinergy Digital”) has added some unique analysis and logic approaches for creating more effective variable data campaigns.

The 5000XL will print stochastic color images, comparable to 175lpi output on glossy stock, according to Kodak. On coated glossy paper, the press’ color gamut is purportedly equal to or greater than that of SWOP or GRACoL, and was reported to be 34% larger than the European Fogra39 color space. The device will include on-board spectropho¬tome¬ters to help with color management and control. One reason for the large potential color gamut was the formulation of Prosper’s nano-particulate ink — which Kodak claims increases color saturation and requires less overall ink usage.

Samples we viewed had some minor but noticeable color variation from their offset counterparts — particularly in the reds and purples — but we could not tell if this variation was related to software, hardware or consumables. Despite these undoubtedly solvable issues, the Prosper’s color quality will impress many customers accustomed to offset work.

Pricing, Maintenance and Target Markets

The capital investment for a Prosper press ranges from $1.4 million to $4.0 million, depending on color capability and including the Digital Front End (DFE) — but not third party in-line finishing. A range of commercially available papers can be used (see sidebar) and the ink must be purchased from Kodak. A supply of replacement jetting modules is included.

The company claims that the average cost of producing an A4-size CMYK page (35% coverage) will be $0.008, while the average cost of producing an A4-size monochrome page (5% coverage) will be $0.0015. Before embracing these estimates, however, potential buyers should discover the impact of maintenance/service charges, energy usage and other factors that may be different from those of offset operations.

Kodak stressed the relatively low number of jetting modules per color (6) and the ease with which the modules can be replaced. Prosper customers will be supplied with additional jetting modules for replacement — which takes about one minute, plus an additional five minutes to bring the press fully back online.

Prosper is intended for several markets, including short-run books (50-7,000 copies), variable direct mail (16,500-26,000 signatures/hour) and catalogs and inserts (50-3,000 versioned copies at 19,500-23,000 signatures/hour). Kodak’s “Market Pioneer” customers in these markets include education and trade book printer Webcrafters in Madison WI, and Consolidated.

The 2010 Picture

As Kodak rolls out the Prosper line, comparisons with HP’s press will become more intense. The T300 boasts a wider 30″ web and resolution of 1200 x 600 dpi) but its maximum speed — 400 feet per minute — is less than that of Prosper. Evaluations of the two devices’ color quality and consistency, especially compared to offset, will have to wait until there has been some impartial testing.

Kodak will make considerable noise about printability on commercially available coated stock, although we expect HP to counter with its undercoating process, plus the argument that the Prosper does in fact require coated paper to be specially treated — either at the mill or by an in-line module.

The real question for the print community is whether to compare the T300 with Prosper or with existing inkjet presses, such as the Versamark VL and other piezoelectric DOD devices. The T300 is in fact based on DOD technology, which Kodak insists is a limiting factor while HP clearly believes otherwise.

Quality, productivity and pricing issues are only the tip of the iceberg for inkjet presses. The ideal medium of such presses is variable data printing, versioning and extremely short runs — preferably strung together, and with minimal makeready. To handle such work profitably on a fast web press, the automated workflow must be capable of keeping the pipeline full, and handling a multitude of small details with extreme accuracy — both before and after the actual printing happens. Above all, each printer’s sales force must learn how to design and sell complex, automatable projects — as opposed to individual print jobs — if they hope to become manufacturing supply chain players. Hardware, no matter how attractive, is only one aspect of a far larger challenge.

Don’t Cross the Stream

According to Kodak, Stream (the underlying technology for the Prosper press) is a wholly new approach to non-impact digital printing. It is not a Drop-On-Demand (DOD) approach, nor is it a conventional Continuous Inkjet (CIJ) process. DOD produces a pattern of ink droplets via a vibrating crystal or other electronic “gating” element for each inkjet nozzle. Although Kodak uses DOD in its existing Versamark line, the company holds that DOD has inherent speed and usability limitations for “offset-comparable” inkjet production.

Stream uses a miniscule thermal pulse to change the surface tension of the ink, causing it to break up into large and small droplets — the latter being blown into a recycling path by an air current.

Prosper is in fact a CIJ approach — but with significant differences. The ink droplets are not electrically charged, or separated magnetically. (This conventional approach, Kodak maintains, is naturally subject to electrical shorting and other limitations.) Instead, each stream of ink is subjected to miniscule heat pulses (measured in nanojoules — billionths of a joule), which changes the fluid’s surface tension and divides the stream into large or small droplets. A steady air current pushes the smaller, lighter droplets aside — into a recycling path — so only the larger, heavier droplets reach the paper. (See diagram.) There are few moving parts, potentially more nozzles per array and, Kodak maintains, lower inkjet head failure rates. There are also fewer inkjet heads to deal with: only 48 in the 24.5″ 4-color perfecting press.

The Paper Chase

Another major difference between Stream and DOD is the former’s ability to print on commercially available coated stocks. Because DOD inks contain more wetting agents — to prevent clogging in the print heads — it is extremely difficult to apply them to non-porous stock, such as matte-, gloss-coated or supercalendared paper. Stream ink contains only trace amounts of wetting agents, as well as finer pigment particles. In combination with Interstation dryers, Stream inks purportedly offer improved drying with better adhesion characteristics to coated papers. Non-porous papers still must be roll-coated at the mill, although Kodak maintains that the treatment does not visually alter the paper and is affordable. The company has negotiated with major paper companies to provide ample supplies of roughly 24 common stocks for Prosper use in 2010. In 2011, Kodak will introduce an in-line roll-coating station for treating a wider range of papers not treated at the mill.

All in all, Stream technology appears to be a major break from traditional inkjet thinking. With fewer moving parts and a simpler architecture, it is arguably more scalable and practical for high-speed output than DOD or conventional CIJ. In theory, it could eventually erode a significant portion of offset’s market share — beginning with short-to-medium-run work. What it means for other digital print approaches, including NexPress and other toner devices, will depend on whether Kodak can deliver on Stream’s quality and speed claims.

I love print. Possibly the only thing I love more than print is reading. My dream job would be working in a library. I wouldn’t work at the reference desk or assist patrons. Instead, I would hide in the little room in the back where the librarians go to drink their tea and I would just read one book after another.

As I editor of AMERICAN PRINTER, I try to support print as much as I can. Now, in my case, this is like asking a fat lady to support a candy store or a dedicated tippler to endorse The Beer of the Month Club. It’s not exactly a huge sacrifice.

So it may surprise many people to know that I own a Kindle. I hasten to explain that I didn’t buy it—like greatness it was thrust upon me. My siblings were nice enough to give me one for present. I would never have purchased one on my own—owing more to my inherent cheapness than my considerable loyalty to print.

I have used the Kindle for about three months with mixed results. I don’t like reading newspapers on the Kindle—I miss the color photos and comics. More importantly, I miss MY way of reading the paper, which is to take a quick look at everything and then go back and read what really interests me.

Reading Kindle books also requires some adjustment. It’s easy to navigate from one page to the next or to access the table of contents. But I miss hefting a book in my hands and yes, dog earing pages. (You can insert an electronic book mark, but it’s just not the same.)

When I read more technical material, I often have to flip back several pages to puzzle out successive concepts. The Kindle doesn’t cut it for me in that respect.

If a book doesn’t hold my interest, I will skip around, flipping to random pages or perhaps jumping ahead to the last page. This can certainly be done on the Kindle, but it’s not the same. If I put a book down, I will often come back to it days or weeks later to resume reading. On the Kindle, it’s out of sight, out of mind.

The Kindle battery has a long life, but I have sometimes forgotten to charge it and that’s annoying.

The Kindle Store, with its free sample chapters, is an endless source of temptation. So many books, blogs, magazines and newspapers and so little time. Quite a few older books aren’t available, but I imagine this will change, especially as Barnes & Noble, Apple and others jump into the e-reader fray.

I wish I could report that I hated everything about the Kindle and that it will be the Edsel (or Newton) of the e-reader revolution. But I can see its potential. I’ll be eager to see how magazine and textbook publishers will embrace it and other e-readers.

PRINT 09 drew a total 28,678 attendees, which included exhibitors and attendees, and 18,999 actual verified attendee/buyers. The numbers are sobering, both as a reflection of the industry as well as the future of trade shows in general.

Scott Bieda, our publisher, also heads the Penton Media Research Department. Bieda’s researchers conduct more than over 100 studies per year across 30 different markets for clients such as TD Ameritrade, AARP, American Express, DuPont, Federal Express, General Mills, John Hancock, IBM and Merrill Lynch.

So when the boss told me he had commissioned and completed a study that would include data on our audience’s 2008 Graph Expo and PRINT 09 attendance plans as well as evolving printer attitudes toward sources used and preferred for purchasing related information (including trade shows and alternative promotional vehicles), I was intrigued. The results, from 650 respondents, may surprise some industry observers—I look forward to sharing them some time in the future.

Key trends at the show included more inkjet presses than you could shake a stick at (and attendant postpress solutions); more Web to print integration solutions and some new vendors. “There was a strong and well organized presence from Chinese suppliers,” notes pundit Gordon Pritchard . “They’re coming on much stronger than in previous years.”

Earlier this year, Steve Metcalf, president and CEO of Air Motion Systems (AMS), offered an overview on LED and related UV developments that promise longer lamp life with dramatically lower power consumption. “LED is already starting to take off in lower line speed applications such as grand-format inkjet machines,” said Metcalf.

“To control ink and coating chemistry there has to be a handshake between the ink formulators and light source [suppliers],” says Metcalf, citing Ryobi’s partnership with Toyo Ink.

We don’t anticipate that LED UV make conventional lamps obsolete any time soon. But there are many interesting developments under way and this is certainly an area to watch in 2010.

For more offset and digital press highlights, click here.

Consultant and AMERICAN PRINTER columnist Dick Gorelick sent me his take on the recent USPS appearance before a Senate subcommitte. I see our junior senator from Illionois did distinguish himself. Here’s Gorelick’s report:

Without some relief from Congress, the Postal Service claims it will have difficulty meeting payroll and paying suppliers on or about October 1, 2009.

This report is precipitated by a hearing of the Senate subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Postal Service. Those testifying:

- Postmaster General John Potter

- Judy Goldway, member of the Postal Regulatory Commission

- David Williams, Postal Service Inspector General

- Phillip Herr, Government Accountability Office

Not testifying, but in attendance, were some union leaders, who visibly derided much of Potter’s testimony. Several senators asked the hard questions about the future of the agency, agreeing that even deferring payment of retirees’ health benefits is likely to simply delay its financial crisis. Those senators: Tom Carper of Delaware, John McCain of Arizona, Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Susan Collins of Maine, and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma. Other committee members were less visionary: Sen. Burris of Illinois was concerned that a postal station near his home might be closed and Sen. Akaka of Hawaii argued that the financial condition of the Postal Service shouldn’t be considered by those arbitrating contracts with unions. The good news emanating from the hearing: the agency’s operations and challenges are now on Congress’ radar screen. The less-than-good news: while there is agreement that without major changes in mission and organization, the agency will become a ward of either the taxpayers or the mailers, no one has come forward with a workable alternative proposal.

Some of the most interesting testimony:

- The number of career employees at the Postal Service is now 630,000. It was

803,000 in 2000.

- Labor costs remain eighty percent of all U.S.P.S. expenses, the same as in

1971.

- If Saturday delivery is eliminated, mail may be picked up by addresses at post

offices.

- The Postal Regulatory Commission claims that it no longer receives

projections from the Postal Service.

- The P.R.C. and U.S.P.S can’t even agree on the definition of “post office.”

- Capacity for processing mailing operates at a level of about fifty percent.

- 162,000 employees are eligible for retirement within the next twelve months.

- It appears that H.R.22 and S.R.1507, bills that would defer payments of retirees’ health care benefits and provide temporary fiscal relief, will be enacted by Congress.

- Reading between the lines, it appears that some sentiment is building for requiring that postal employees be subject to equivalent federal government employees’ compensation and benefits.

- All members of the Senate panel agreed that the postal reform act passed in December 2006 failed to address some issues (i.e. labor) and anticipate others (i.e. the impact of electronic communication).



The bottom line: for the first time in several years, it can be stated that influential members of Congress are interested in, and understand, postal issues and their impact on the business community. The Postmaster General was openly criticized for predicting that much of the volume lost by U.S.P.S. will return when the economy improves.

About the author

Dick Gorelick is president of Gorelick & Associates and the Graphic Arts Sales Foundation. He can be reached at dickgorelick@gorelickandassociates.com.

You can read Dick’s past columns here.

I recently spoke with Bill Gilmer, president of Wordsprint Printing (Wytheville, VA). Wordsprint won this year’s Management Plus Hall of Fame Award. Named for William K. Marrinan, an industry veteran who helped create the Management Plus program, the Hall of Fame Award is given to companies that have demonstrated consistent excellence. Wordsprint had previously won 15 Management Plus honors, including five gold awards.

Wordsprint is a $3 million provider of design, print and mail services for colleges and non-profits. It occupies a combined 25,000 sq. ft. spread across two facilities in Wytheville and Christiansburg. Equipment highlights include a Xerox iGen3, DocuColor 242 and Nuvera 100, several small-format Heidelberg presses and a variety of Standard Horizon finishing equipment.

Gregg Davies, president of Action Printing, and 2007 recipient of the Management Plus Hall of Fame, presented the 2008 award to Gilmer this past spring at NAPL’s annual Top Management conference.

“Bill worked as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, was a national sales manager, and taught English and coached wrestling at a high school in Virginia—all before starting Wordsprint in 1986,” Davies told attendees at the NAPL Management Plus award ceremony. “He has also run with the bulls in Pamplona, gone scuba diving off the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and explored a mile underground in the gold mines of South Africa.”

The scuba diving came about when one of Gilmer’s college buddies, now an attorney, accepted a speaking engagement in Sydney and invited several friends to join him. The journey to the depths of a gold mine in Welkom, South Africa, was part of a Rotary Club trip. “In 1999, I led a Rotary group study exchange to South Africa,” Gilmer recalls. “I was gone for six weeks. It was a big decision [to be gone that long], but it was a good thing for me and the company.”

Gilmer ran with the bulls shortly after graduating from high school. “I was an exchange student in Germany during high school,” recalls Gilmer. “The summer after high school, I traveled with Uwe Jorger, my host family’s son. We were hitchhiking through Europe. We’d read ‘The Sun Also Rises’ so we went to Pamplona. I remember Uwe telling me ‘Of course we can outrun a bull.’”

Gilmer’s German friend was a schoolboy track star specializing in the 400-meter event. “I jogged some, but I wasn’t a runner,” says Gilmer. “To this day, I can’t believe he convinced me that human beings can run faster than bulls. Let me tell you something—Uwe was full of it. Those bulls can haul butt. I literally got lifted off my feet by the crowd that was trying to get out of the way of the stampeding bulls, slammed up against a wall and then the bulls raced by and it was all over.”

I asked Gilmer, who majored in English, if running with bulls served as an apt metaphor for running a printing business. He started laughing. “It’s very close!” he said. “That’s a good point.”

You can read the whole Wordsprint story in our August issue. If you’d like to know more about the Management Plus program, see NAPL’s website

A few weeks ago, I attended Media Days, two days of presentations promoting PRINT 09, the industry’s largest trade show. At dinner one night I sat next to Betty LaBaugh who works for Presstek (Hudson, NH). When I first met Betty, she was working for Polaroid. We got talking about past jobs and job interviews.

Shortly after I graduated from college, my brother Patrick offered me some interview tips. “Put some Vaseline on your gums,” he said. “You’ll be so nervous you mouth will go dry. The Vaseline will keep the inside of your mouth from sticking to your gums.”

Patrick also suggested a surefire response to a popular interview question. “When you’re asked about your greatest weakness, say that those are for losers. What you have are weaknesses that will soon be converted into strengths.”

This was excellent advice. Unfortunately, I wasn’t meeting with companies that were seeking an inexperienced yet arrogant candidate with really shiny gums.

Betty mentioned she spent a brief and unhappy span with Arthur Andersen. This reminded me of my own near conscription in Arthur’s Army. It was about 15 years ago. I really hated corporate communications job and was eager to make a change. I interviewed with Paul, a guy about my age who managed Andersen’s technical writing department. He then took me to meet his boss, an older woman named Shelley.

As Shelley and I made small talk, I glanced around her office. It was neat as a pin, but absolutely devoid of clues as to what Shelley did outside of work. There were no family photos, kids’ drawings or anything like that. But there was no shortage of what specialty printers call “trinkets and trash”: t-shirts, stress balls, water bottles, coffee mugs and so on. All of it celebrated some Arthur Andersen team building effort or social outing. Shelley saw me looking at photograph of rows of Arthur Andersen staffers standing on the steps of what looked like a college building. “That the St. Charles campus where we do all our training,” she said. “We implant a little chip behind your ear and teach you the Arthur Andersen way.” She chuckled at her own wit.

Shelley went on to describe what the job would entail. Hours were unpredictable. “Some days you’ll come in and you’ll notice your co-workers are wearing the same outfit they had on the day before,” she said. “That’s because they’ve stayed here all night to get a project done.”

Faint alarm bells clanged in my ears. Aside from the unappealing prospect of pulling all nighters with Arthur and his friends, I wondered why they wouldn’t have thought to bring a change of clothes for just such an emergency. Shelley droned on and I noticed an elaborate gold ring on her finger. One of my second grade teachers, Sister Albert Therese, often rapped her ring on a desk to get the class to come to order. Sister Albert Therese explained that the plain gold band she wore signified that she was married to God. I wondered if Shelly was a Bride of Andersen.

“. . . and sometimes it will be a bit slow, but we encourage our associates to keep busy,” Shelley was saying. She noted with approval that Missy, the other technical writer, had spent a stretch of recent downtime re-organizing the department’s filing cabinets.

After meeting with Shelley, I had to take a writing test. It proved to be a one-question essay test: “How would you teach someone to drive a car?” I don’t drive. I know how to drive, I even got my license. But I just never felt comfortable driving. So while I knew the rudiments of driving, I had very little practical experience and what little I did have was from about six years prior.

But, luck was with me. I’m not a loyal New Yorker reader, but I do occasionally flip through it. Martin Amis, novelist and son of even more famous novelist Kingsley Amis, had written an essay that began “Poets don’t drive. They intuit they have no talent for it.” So I started with that. The combined Kingsley and Martin name dropping coupled with the casual New Yorker reference was like hitting for the cycle in the World Series of Literary Pretentiousness. Having achieved this triple-word score right out of the gate, there was no stopping me.

I wrote effortlessly and concisely and far above my usual abilities. I wrote about how my father didn’t drive either and the various O’Brien family theories surrounding this mystery. Did he have a Jeep accident while driving down Mt. Fuji during his WW II service? Was it true that back then Japanese people drove on the wrong side of the road and my father could not make the transition upon his return to the U.S. ? I wish I had a copy of what it wrote, I could have gotten it reprinted in the “Norton Anthology of Job Essays” and been set for life.

I had my doubts about the job, but I figured why not see where it went? I knew my essay would earn me a second interview–it was as if E.B. White submitted “Once More to the Lake” with his resume or George Orwell stapled “Politics and the English Language” to a job application.

The second interview was to be held over a group lunch. We all met at the Arthur Andersen office. I could tell Paul really liked me and was lobbying for me. Missy was neutral. Shelley seemed to be on the fence. It was raining so we took a cab over to the restaurant, a fancy Italian place.

I admired my new suit during the ride over. It was a bold red color with many decorative buttons on the sleeves and front. I never had a red suit before–I’m not sure why I chose it. I don’t have much fashion sense. I’ve often bought a blouse, unsure of my attraction to the color or pattern and then later realized I used to have a similar tablecloth or couch of a similar design and I probably bought it because it seemed familiar. In this case, maybe I was thinking of Nancy Reagan’s Adolpho suits or Michael Jackson’s military tunics.

We got to the restaurant, which must have been part of a swanky hotel because a uniformed doorman with an umbrella raced over. He was wearing EXACTLY the same jacket as me. Had I been in the market for some pants to match my suit, I am sure he could have hooked me up. It was not a good omen.

Never agree to an interview involving a meal. You’re always on edge about spilling something and, since you are doing most of the talking, it’s not like you’re going to savor the food. I avoided pasta–too hard to manage and too much sauce spillage potential. I decided to get the risotto because it was the easiest thing to eat. It was rabbit risotto, which sounded nasty, but I figured I could just eat around the bits of meat.

The conversation was not going well. I had an uncomfortable out of body sensation, as though I was not really in this group, but floating above it, watching myself respond to questions. My trance snapped as my teeth crunched something that should not have been in the risotto. Rabbit bone! It was jagged and it seemed like a huge fragment. There was no way I could swallow it.

Shelley was talking about her management style. It didn’t sound very democratic. “So you’re saying “It’s my way or the highway?’” I clarified. I then gracefully expectorated the rabbit’s foot or whatever the hell it was into my napkin.

A frosty mist enveloped the table. Shelley looked at me and didn’t say anything. Paul regarded me sorrowfully, perhaps realizing we would never see each other again. Missy, a born gap filler, finally broke the silence. She chattered about the food and her own attempts at cooking.

I saw Shelley studying her big gold ring and I got the message: Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. I never heard from them again, but I did think of Arthur Andersen every time I wore that red suit.

The other day I thought “It’s almost PRINT 09 time.” For hours, this phrase spooled endlessly between my ears to the tune of “It’s Peanut Butter Jelly Time.”

I’m pretty sure PRINT 09 won’t have a Dancing Banana, but possibly Bill Lamparter could be persuaded to don this costume when announcing the winners of the popular “Must See ‘em” competition.

PRINT 09 will take place in Chicago from Sept. 11-16. The event is being promoted with the tagline “My PRINT 09″ to emphasize that attendees–which will include commercial, quick, wide format and specialty printers, designers, print buyers and many others–can expect a personalized experience.

For me, PRINT 09 is almost like a family reunion. Virtually all of the print and online journalists know each other. In addition to my friends from the U.S., Canada and Mexico, I’ll connect with my Latin American, Asian and European counterparts.

On the vendor side, I’ll catch up with the top executives, sales, marketing and technical crew. Since much of my job is done over the phone and via e-mails, I really value this face-to-face time.

I particularly appreciate the dazzling array of equipment and software. The Graphic Arts Show Co. (GASC) is offering special discounts to encourage exhibitors to bring more machinery. Early reports indicate we will see a healthy representation of press iron, digital output devices, wide format printers, bindery equipment and more.

All of the experts will be at PRINT 09. From technical questions to management advice, you literally could throw a rock and hit the best minds in the business. (Although you literally could do this, as practical matter you would probably have to bring your own rock.)

I’m looking forward to seeing NAPL consultant Ray Prince at the show. I alway enjoy chatting with Ray, but I’m also inspired by his dedication to the industry. Education is his passion–I have joined him at the Education Summit as well as at special events for graphic arts educators.

Ditto for Frank Romano. Everyone knows Frank and I do mean everyone. During one cab ride from the convention center, I learned my driver, a student in the graphics art program at a local college, had taken one of Frank’s online classes. During my booth visits, I have met many RIT graduates–Frank’s former students–now working in the industry.

I would love to spend the show following Castle Press’ Susan Kinney at Castle Press and Suttle-Straus‘ John Berthelsen around the show floor. From environmentalism to education to just plain management advice, they have always been an excellent sounding board. They support the industry in so many ways–they are two of my print heroes.



PRINT 09 is also a chance to see our own columnist, Copresco’s Steve Johnson. Steve always has a quick quip and the latest scoop on our local print market.

I’ve attended Margie Dana’s Print Buyers Conference in Boston and will look forward to catching PRINT 09 program in Chicago.

Some of my friends won’t be at this reunion. This has been a tough year, the toughest I have known in a dozen or so years of covering the printing industry. But I’ll be there and I hope a lot of our AMERICAN PRINTER readers will join me.

I’ve told you about my PRINT 09. I’d love to hear about yours!



(See www.print09.com.)

10. Roll up a poster, pretend it is a lightsaber and demonstrate the Three Styles of the New Jedi Order up and down the main aisle.

09. Enter a booth, point to the largest piece of equipment and say “I’ll take six of these. How soon can I get them?”

08. As you enter the show floor, compliment the security guards on their excellent badge scanning techniques.

07. During the Q&A following the General Session, introduce yourself as an Amway independent business owner and ask the group if you can interest them in some high performance home cleaning and laundry care products.

06. Rappel down Sears Tower using rope braided from lanyards collected throughout the PRINT 09show floor.

05. Collect 3,562 pins, badges and ribbons to challenge Larry Warter’s all-time record.

04. Instigate at catfight between Dr. Joe Webb and Frank Romano.

03. Say “I’ve changed my mind” as you return a stress ball to the vendor you got it from at GRAPH EXPO 2008.

02. Ask if you can use the UV lamps on the presses and wide-format digital printers to work on your tan.

01. See the equipment! See the equipment! See the equipment! See the equipment! See the equipment!

PRINT 09 is THE show for the graphic arts industry. I’ll be there and I hope you will, too! See www.PRINT09.com.