Last month the networks interrupted Frasier and his pals again to bring us the State of the Union address. While some of us grumbled, ready to share a laugh with Roz and Bulldog, it's important to remember that what the President said will likely affec t us and ours for the rest of the year.
Information that holds the same level of importance for those of us in the printing industry can be found in the 1997 Print Market Atlas, recently published by Printing Industry of America, Inc. (PIA). This is an invaluable guide to trends in our industry, and so, I thought it would be wise to examine some of PIA's discoveries. After all, the further down the road we can project, the better prepared we'll be to make informed decisions.
In 1996, there were 52,097 printing establishments in the United States, employing 1,013,234 people, and producing $132.1 billion in sales. These figures represent an 8.9% increase in shipments and a 5,000 person increase in total industry employment f rom 1995, even though the total number of establishments dropped by about 100.
These numbers suggest the strong are not only surviving, but thriving. As evidence, industry profitability continued its steady rise, supported by a number of factors including national economic and printing industry growth, lower break-even points due to streamlined printing operations, niche markets and smarter marketing practices, and a movement to add ancillary services such as mailing list maintenance, distribution and fulfillment. Also, paper prices have held steady since late 1994, even showing slight declines from the first to the fourth quarter in 1996.
Of course we have little control over the nation's economic health or the price of paper, but we should be proud of lower break-even points, intelligent marketing and the insight to add additional services. What these three factors suggest is that we, as an industry, are working smarter and continuously adapting. That might be the most important bit of knowledge to take from this report.
Certainly, we must continue to be fast on our feet. In its report, PIA suggests that the key to continued success will be our ability to keep an eye on emerging trends such as digital technologies and using those technologies to better serve clients' communications needs. That's a subject I've discussed in several previous articles, because I believe in it strongly.
In fact, according to PIA, digital technology is changing the face of our industry to such a degree that we'll soon be part of an "information logistic marketspace," a place where printers offer services not normally associated with the printing business in order to remain competitive. To help, PIA offers four suggestions for printers as this change continues: shift focus from print production to customers' business and communication needs, emphasize relationship marketing and consultative selling as opposed to "selling press time" or "job marketing," digitally integrate partners and customers, and manage customers' information flow whenever possible.
Remember that while many of us survived the initial digital assault, the challenge remains. We must continue to employ whatever new technologies come our way that will allow us and our clients to work faster and easier. Those 100 establishments that lost the battle in '96 provide ample impetus for the rest of us.
The Atlas also includes a study of U.S. regions, comparing the number of printing establishments, employees and shipment values. Let's look at the following statistics on total numbers:
- The East North Central region (Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio), supports the most printing establishments (19.5%), employees (22.3%), and the highest shipment value in the nation (22.6%).
- The Pacific region (Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii), weighs in at second for the greatest number of printing establishments with 8,332 or 16% of the total.
- The Middle Atlantic region (New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania), boasts the second greatest shipment value and employment numbers (18.2% for both).
When PIA breaks the industry down by metropolitan areas, New York leads the nation in establishments, employees, and shipment value. Los Angeles and Chicago jockey for second in all three categories-Los Angeles edges ahead in number of establishments and employees, but falls behind in total shipments.
Such rankings are probably not terribly surprising to any of us, as these regions and cities are traditional centers of printing. What is interesting, however, is that the greatest growth in shipment value (13%) was seen in the Mountain region (Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah), followed by the West North Central region (North Dakota, Minnesota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri). So, printing appears to be gaining a real foothold in these market s, suggesting that ours, like most industries in this day and time, remains fluid.
Of course no one knows how these rankings will change in the next several years as our industry continues to evolve. That will depend on who reacts to market trends the quickest and with the most intelligent solutions.
Milt Vine is president of Seattle Bindery, a post-production house specializing in
custom index tabbing in addition to bindery services including plastic spiral, Wire-O®
and perfect binding; folding; stitching; scoring; perforating and trimming services for
the trade. You can reach Milt at 206/682-2558.
©1998, Seattle Bindery.