Print
Grows Trees License Plates Welcomed
The success of the Print Grows Trees campaign continues
to blossom with a warm welcome from members for license plates featuring
the logo. So far, PGAMA has recorded 50+ Maryland members who would like
to promote the fact that Print DOES Grow Trees on their personal cars and
company vehicles; and plans to submit a formal request to the Maryland MVA
for plate design approval this week. The MVA has advised that the
initial approval process takes about three weeks, and once approved, individual
application forms will be mailed to those individuals who expressed an interest
in the plates to date. It is up to each individual person/or company
to obtain their plates. All numbers will be issued in sequence and vanity
numbers are not allowed. Once the organizational plate is established
with MVA, PGAMA will maintain a supply of applications to send to anyone
in the future who is interested. (Note: PGAMA will need current tag numbers
for vehicles wishing to exchange plates, and the Maryland MVA will charge
a $25 fee for plate changes.)
Attention Virginia, Pennsylvania,
and D.C. members: If
you are interested in having a Print Grows Trees license plate for your jurisdiction,
send an email to Carol@pgama.com. If there is enough interest (25 minimum),
the Association will take steps to get plate approval for those states, too.
Health
Care Tax Credit Info
The
IRS recently released information about the tax credit available to small
businesses and tax-exempt organizations that provide health insurance coverage
to their employees. The credit was created as part of the Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act to encourage small employers to offer or maintain
employee health insurance coverage. Generally, the credit is available to
firms with fewer than 25 full-time employees with wages averaging less than
$50,000. Firms that use part-timers and have more than 25 employees could
still qualify because of the full-time equivalent definition. The maximum
credit goes to smaller employers--those with 10 or fewer full time employees--paying
annual average wages of $25,000 or less. The credit can be claimed beginning
with the 2010 income tax return filed in 2011. The IRS will be mailing postcards
(yeah!!!) to reach out to the millions of small businesses that may qualify
for the credit.
New
Business Management Books Available
The latest books from Printing Industries Press
are now available to PGAMA members at a significant discount. Add these
new titles to your collection to glean wisdom from the experts. Call
the PGAMA office to order your copies, 410-319-0900/877-319-0906.
Printing Production Management,
2nd Edition
Because production activities require the most capital investment and personnel,
you must manage these activities effectively to ensure efficiency and profitability.
Author Gary G. Field offers a
systematic approach to the problem-solving aspects of production management.
Look into areas such as plant capacity planning, equipment investment analysis,
digital press scheduling, layout planning, production scheduling, inventory
optimization, and quality process analysis. Use this guide to find long-term
strategies and day-to-day solutions with the help of examples and practice
problems. Non-members pay $99; Member cost is $75.
2009-2010 Management and Administrative Compensation and Benefits Report
More than 600 graphic arts companies across the country were surveyed to
report on 6,500 management and administrative wages. The results provide
basic guidelines for developing salary and benefit packages for employees.
Make use of projected salary increases over the next 12 months as well as
pages organized by certain demographic classifications, location, company
size, union status, market segment, and printing process. *New
to this edition is the inclusion of an Excel file where you can input your
wages and compare them to the industry average. Simply enter all your employee
wages and an average wage per position is calculated and compared to the
industry average. Non-members pay $250; Member cost is $125.
Showcase
Your Work to An International Audience
Printing Industries of America
Premier Print Awards is an international
competition that helps printers gain essential exposure
with perspective clients. Premier Print Award Winners receive
a "Benny' (Ben Franklin statuette) and
stand to benefit from the following promotional opportunities:
- Benny winning pieces will be featured
in a full-color publication mailed to more than 10,000
individuals who purchase print.
- Inclusion of Benny-winning
companies in Graphic Design USA. 90% of this audience
purchase print and 30,000 individuals receive the publication
- Winning
companies are listed with a link to their website on
www.printing.org
- Press
releases announcing all winners sent to the media and
trade publications
- The Premier Print Awards self-promotion kit
- Recognition
of Benny winners in front of more than 400 industry executives
at the Premier Print Awards gala held in conjunction
with GRAPH EXPO®/PRINT®
Every printer—large or small, digital,
flexo, or offset—can take advantage of receiving a
Premier Print Award. Don't miss out on this potential to
advertise your company. PGAMA members pay $99 per
entry or $87 per entry if received by April 21, 2010. Deadline
for entries is May 14, 2010. More info and online application
at http://www.printing.org/ppa.
Spring
Cleaning Tip:
Which Documents Can You Toss?
As a business owner, there
are certain documents that you just have to have; but how
do you know what to get rid of? As a general rule, keep all
financial records long enough to resolve any issues that
could come up--the IRS recommends three to seven years. The
lower end of that range is if everything is absolutely perfect
when it comes to your taxes, while the higher end is if there
are issues like losses for bad debt deductions. Five to seven
years is generally a practical time frame for keeping financial
records. Employment records are another must-keep. You need
to keep all employment tax records for a minimum of four
years according to the IRS; and some employment records may
be necessary to maintain from the time you hire a new employee.
You may even need to keep them after the employee no longer
works for you. It's important to look into local requirements,
taking into account the possibility of a past employee claiming
unemployment insurance and other factors.
So what can go? Client files probably make
up the bulk of your records, but clients come and go. Someone
you worked with last year may not be active this
year. So while it's useful to have the invoices and other
paperwork that support your financial records for the past
three to five years, beyond that, there's little reason
to maintain records, at least on paper. It's important to
have a process in place for handling the disposal of old
records though, because they may contain sensitive
information. Shredding or incinerating
old records are the best options for protecting such information.
There are companies who can handle disposing of sensitive
documents or you can handle the process in house.
Of course, electronic files are another matter. The storage
costs of disk drives or even cloud based storage are so low
that it may be worthwhile to scan paper copies and archive
old documents "just in case." If using an electronic
method to manage paperwork, make sure than any regulatory agencies
that may be looking over your paperwork will allow for electronic
copies, and also determine whether or not your clients will
be comfortable with such an approach.
Article excerpted from "The Paper Records You Need and Those
You Can Do Without" first published on http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub.
Not
Too Late for Continuous Improvement Conference
The Continuous Improvement Conference is
April 18-21 in Tampa, FL. This is the industry's ONLY conference
on Lean Manufacturing, process improvement, employee development,
and corporate culture. Throughout its 20-year history, attendees
have reported a direct link between attending this conference
and reduced costs, less waste, and increased profit margins
in their plants. If you are a president,
plant manager, vice president of operations, or quality
manager you have a lot to gain from participating in this
event, and the good news is YOU CAN
STILL ATTEND! Last minute airfare deals abound, such
as:
From $225 round trip on AirTran and Southwest
From $233 round
trip on US Airways
From $236 round
trip on American
And from $236 round
trip on Continental
Contact the hotel for reservations
at 1-800-644-2685 or on-line at www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/tpaim-renaissance-tampa-hotel-international-plaza.
Get more info and register for seminars at http://www.printing.org/event-calendar/5719.
Member
News & Activities
Printing Specialist
and DirectMail.com are two of
the Excellence in Print award recipients enjoying free
publicity by capitalizing
on their victories in PGAMA's Excellence in Print Awards
competition. PGAMA sends announcements to local and national
media contacts about the top award recipients and Best
of Category winners; and the firms have also undertaken
additional promotion with personalized releases that
share their success stories with online and print publications.
All award winners also have use of the Excellence in Print
Award logo for their websites and company stationery. Check
out some of the pickup the companies have garnered
here:
Click
here to see Printing Specialist pickup
Click
here to see Directmail.com pickup
Don't
forget to broadcast news of your winning entry! In
addition to getting your company name in the spotlight,
news of a win builds credibility with clients, too. All
award recipients were e-mailed electronic versions of the
Award-Winner logo and a ready-to-customize press release.
Call the PGAMA office if you did not receive a copy, 410-319-0900/877-319-0906.
HBP,
Inc. joined forces with The Print Council to co-sponsor
a customer education seminar entitled "Print Delivers
DC." The
seminar is part of an ongoing series presented around the
country by The Print Council and included industry experts
from the U.S. Postal Service, Kodak, Appleton Paper and
Heidelberg USA.
Members Rob and Jo Ann Emenecker
of Hairy
Dog Digital had their 15 minutes of fame as part
of the "A Cause for Celebration" feature in the April 9-15
issue of The Baltimore Business Journal. The company owners
were photographed attending the Opportunity Builders fundraising
event, which was held February 20th.
Mount
Vernon Printing Company was recently recognized
for its role as a Corporate Ambassador for Doorways, an
organization established to end domestic violence
and family homelessness in Northern Virginia. Mount Vernon
adopted two Doorways families through the Holiday Adopt-A-Family
program, and made winter wishes come true for nine Doorways
clients, seven of whom were youth.
Upcoming
Events
| April 20 |
Webinar:
Responding to Health Care Reform-Plan Design
and Taxes, 2:00-3:00pm.
Tune in to this Printing Industries of America
broadcast to learn:
- Health Insurance Plan Design--What
needs to implemented this year and in years
to come
- Tax Provisions for Individuals--Premium
Assistance Credit; Excise Tax on Uninsured
Individuals and Additional Taxes
- Provisions
for Businesses--Small business tax credit;
Employer responsibility - Tax Penalty
Presented by Thomas M. Christina, Esq., from
the lawfirm of Ogletree Deakins and Stuart
W. Margolis, CPA, MT, from MargolisBecker.
Cost is $99 for PGAMA members/$199 for non-members.
For more information and to register go to http://www.printing.org/node/6097 |
| April 20-22 |
ONDEMAND
Conference & Expo, Pennsylvania
Convention Center,
Philadelphia, PA.
Attend ON DEMAND to See Printing Technology in Action & Learn
What You Need to Succeed! Join more than 10,000
Print-for-Profit, Corporate In-Plant and Publishing
Professionals who attend each year to learn how to
establish, manage, market and grow their printing business
with the latest digital printing technology and automated
finishing solutions. All PGAMA members are pre-registered
for a Free
Expo Hall Pass!
*****PGAMA
has arranged for bus transportation to the
Conference on April 21st. Cost is
$50 for members/$75 for non-members. Bus will pick
up at College Park, Catonsville,
& White Marsh Park 'n Ride stops. LIMITED
SPACE AVAILABLE-CALL PGAMA BY NOON ON 4/19 TO SAVE
YOUR SEAT, 410-319-0900. |
| April 29 |
Webinar:
Avoiding Combustible Dust Citations, 2:00-3:00pm.
A new National Emphasis Program (NEP) by OSHA
focuses specifically on combustible dust hazards
for general industry, including printers, and
has been triggering numerous OSHA inspections
and citations on printers under a variety of
standards including general housekeeping, hazard
communication, and hazardous locations. OSHA
citations have been issued for operations with
dust accumulation exceeding just 1/32 of an inch!
This program is designed to help printers understand
the scope of the new program and how to avoid
falling victim to citation and penalties. Presented
by Rick Hartwig, Environmental, Health, and Safety
Affairs Manager for Printing Industries of America.
Cost is $99 for members/$199 for non-members.
More details and register at http://www.printing.org/node/6034. |
May 16-19
Baltimore Show! |
2010
PIFE Spring Conference, Baltimore
Hilton, Baltimore, Maryland. Come meet and
network with other finance professionals, plus
find out about the latest technologies and
keys to profitability to help successfully
manage your company’s
finance and administration functions. PIFE
meetings provide continuing education credits.
Learn more at http://www.printing.org/event-calendar/5642. |
May 17-19
Baltimore Show! |
2010
Offset & Beyond,
Baltimore
Hilton, Baltimore, Maryland. Attend
to get the resources, tools, and connections
you need to succeed. Offset & Beyond
offers topics that cover business opportunities
and trends, comprehensive technology, production,
digital, sales, marketing, and financial sessions
via leadership, operations, and production
tracks. Learn more at http://www.printing.org/offsetandbeyond |
May 17-19
Baltimore Show! |
2010
BIA Mid Management Conference, Baltimore
Hilton, Baltimore, Maryland. The BIA Mid-Management
Conference brings together mid-managers from
trade binderies, graphic finishing, information
packaging, custom loose-leaf manufacturing,
and the suppliers to those industries. Be prepared
for a blitz of information, new products and
ideas, as well as unparalleled networking with
your peers from around the world. Plant tours
featuring PGAMA members, too! Learn more at http://www.printing.org/event-calendar/5946. |
May 24-26
Baltimore Show! |
PSDA
Print Solutions Conference & Expo, Baltimore
Convention Center, Baltimore, Maryland. The
Print Solutions Conference & Expo is the
only national trade show focused on supporting
printing professionals who buy print and print
services for resale or distribution to an end-user
customer. In the mix of large trade shows held
throughout the year, this is the only show
targeting this specific niche of printing professionals.
The Print Solutions Conference & Expo
is for anyone directly responsible for buying
or influencing the buying of print. Learn more
and register to attend at http://www.printsolutionsshow.com/ |
June 14
|
PGAMA's
5th Annual Golf Outing, at Crofton
Country Club in Crofton,
Maryland. PGAMA’s annual golf outing
is the perfect place to make contacts with
fellow members and other professionals. There’s
also excellent food, awards, and cash prizes*
so recruit a foursome, polish your swing, and
prepare for a challenging game on this Arnold
Palmer course. *Prizes are given for Longest
Drive, Closest to Pin, Hole in One, and Putting.
Register by May 7 and pay $135 per
person for golf, breakfast & lunch. After
5/7 pay $150 per person. (Lunch/awards only
is $45 per person.) To Register: Call the office,
410-319-0900/877-319-0906. Sponsors
Welcome! Call PGAMA for more info, 410-319-0900. |
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