Legislative Update: Pension Reform
In an effort to help stabilize multi-employer pension plans, earlier this month the House of Representatives passed its jobs bill (H.R. 4213) that addresses needed pension reform. Among other provisions, the bill allows for optional use of 30-year amortization periods and longer recovery periods for multi-employer plans in endangered status. Both will go a long way to allow industry plans to meet requirements placed upon them by the major Pension Protection Act of 2006. The Senate is expected to pass its version soon. On the downside, the Gillibrand Amendment to the Senate-passed financial regulatory reform bill, that would have barred credit card companies from charging excessive fees to customers choosing to receive paper statements, did not make it to the Senate floor. However, our industry will continue to seek other avenues to address the growing problems of companies' penalizing consumers for choosing paper-based communications.
Recession Impacts Equipment Service
The "Great Recession" has been tough on printers, but horrible for equipment manufacturers. One of the results has been a widespread cutback in service and parts support for installed equipment. Stories about the difficulty of obtaining support and the resulting downtime are becoming more common. Although recovery of lost job opportunities may be possible through insurance if the printer has breakage coverage, to help prevent disruptions in your production PGAMA recommends members inventory needed parts and line up alternative sources of support to minimize the impact of downtime on running and delivering time-sensitive work. It's also useful to identify in advance, other firms with similar equipment so you can farm work out if the need arises.
New Conference Coming Next March
Printing Industries of America together with NAPL and NPES will present the first national joint leadership conference at the Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert, CA March 13-16, 2011. This event, called VISION 3, will be an extraordinary opportunity to learn about the possibilities of the future from people who are walking the walk, not just talking the talk. Stay tuned for more details on speakers and activities!
Vacant Property Insurance
With downsizing being a common occurrence these days, you may have space that was formerly used in operations but is now vacant. When you still own or lease this space, be aware that most property insurance policies have language voiding the coverage if the space is vacant for more than 30 days. Check the language in your policy and be sure to obtain proper coverage for the vacant space if necessary.
The Art of Successful Rebranding
Before your company invests money, time, and emotional effort in researching names and logos to reflect your "new" business, consider these tips from Margaret Heffernan who says, "...If the positioning is right, you can call yourself anything. And if the positioning is wrong, you can also call yourself anything — because no name or logo could save you." To illustrate her point, Heffernan names "brands" like Dyson, McDonalds, Mattel, and Poison (the perfume), and argues that these names have no inherent meaning. Instead, the products gave the meaning to the name. In a similar fashion, companies who want to rebrand themselves need to ask themselves these questions:
- What do you stand for? What are the qualities of your products or services? On what do you stake your business’s reputation?
- Do you ensure that your employees know what your company stands for and that they repeat it?
- Who are your customers?
- How does your offering make a difference in your customers' lives?
- Are you ruthless in throwing out ideas — and customers — that don’t fit the bill?
Agonizing over names and logos is what companies do when they can’t or won’t answer these questions. If every single person at your business can answer these questions, you have all the branding you need.
Excerpted from "Why Changing Your Name and Logo Is a Waste of Time" by Margaret Heffernan, first published June 3, 2010 on bnet.com.
Tech Tip of the Week: Mail Guidelines for Booklets
Jim Workman, Printing Industries of America Assistant Vice President of Technology and Research, says that in order to qualify for automation rates, letter-size booklets (often referred to as "slim-jims") must meet specific design requirements from the USPS. On April 5th, the USPS expanded the design options available to print customers, which now include nine new simple spine designs: cover-to-cover, internal flap and external flap, and external flap designs for lightweight, mid-weight, and heavyweight booklets. New designs for wallet-style booklets, oblong booklets (spine in short dimension), and folded booklets (large mail pieces folded to letter size) were also added. For each design the requirements specify the dimensions of the piece, piece weight, paper weight, the need and location for sealing tabs, and the need and location of glue lines. Printers must be knowledgeable of mail design requirements to avoid losing postal discounts. Check with your mailer on this before you go to press.
Member
News & Activities
Welcome back to member firm Atlantic Graphic Systems, Inc.! The company is an equipment supplier and is located at 9687 Gerwig Lane Suite B in Columbia, MD (next to PGAMA headquarters!) Learn more at www.agspress.com.
Upcoming
Events
| July 5 |
PGAMA Office Closed. Enjoy your holiday weekend! |
| July 22 |
Webinar: Making Your Move to Digital A Success, 2:00-3:00pm. Digital printing continues to grow and as a traditional printer, your business plan now includes an investment in a production level digital press. This session will help you to become familiar with the unique business characteristics of the digital print industry and what it takes to acquire, operate, and maintain a profitable digital press operation. Led by Frank Kanonik, President of DigitalPrintInfo, LLC. Cost is $49 for PGAMA Members ($99 for non-members.) More info and register at http://www.printing.org/node/6147. |
| September 9 |
Webinar: Creating Flawless Files that are Print-Ready, 2:00-3:00pm. A recent Printing Industries of America survey showed that 70% of printers need to repair more than half of all files submitted before they can be output successfully. Solid digital file creation is the key element to reproducing jobs in a time- and cost-efficient manner for print production. Go “under the hood” with Adobe CS5 and other desktop publishing applications and become a pro at preparing digital filesP for print production! Led by Cost is $49 for members/$99 for non-members. More info and register at http://www.printing.org/node/6166
***Printers: Purchase this webinar for your customers to strengthen your relationships, AND get problem-free files! |
| September 13-14 |
Workshop: Optimizing Color from Your Digital Press, Printing Industries of America headquarters in Sewickley, PA. Although color management and process control for toner-based digital presses involves many of the same techniques used for offset presses, the tools for and execution of those techniques can be very different. "Optimizing Color from Your Digital Press" is a brand new workshop designed to supply you with a comprehensive look at what it takes to produce reliable, high-quality digital output. Led by Julie Shaffer, Vice President of Digital Technologies, Printing Industries of America and David Zwang, Principal Consultant, Zwang & Company. Cost is $595 for members/$1095 for non-members. More info and register at http://www.printing.org/node/5960. |
October 14-16
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SAVE THE DATE! Plan now to attend the PGAMA/PIVA Fall Management Conference, and get the direction you need to ensure a successful future for your business. More info to follow in your PGAMA print and email. |
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