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1. What Printers Want. I was re-reading a 1999 BIA study that surveyed
commercial printers’ attitudes about post-press services. Here are
highlights: Printers typically send work to two to three different
finishers. Quality, dependability and turnaround time were the top three
factors in selection of a post-press house. Tabbing/indexing, diecutting,
foil stamping/embossing, and specialty folding (all of which we do!) were
the top four outsourced services. Interestingly, 52% of printers expected
mechanical binding to grow over the next few years. (Perhaps that explains
why we’ve seen such an increase in this work lately.) I was also struck
with the finding that printers don’t believe trade finishers can help
reduce costs or suggest improvements, and many medium-sized printers
wanted post-press vendors to provide more samples. How about putting
Seattle Bindery to the test on both these scores. Perhaps we can convince
you that one finisher is all you need.
2. Forewarned is forearmed. As the economy recovers, don’t forget that
it takes capital to finance growth (which in this case may be defined as
returning to previous levels of business volume.) My banker recently
commented that more companies fail during a recovery than in a downturn.
He says it’s due to the exhaustion of capital resources in the downturn,
and then having no way to fund an expanding payroll and outside purchases
as business recovers. Surely no Seattle printer will fall into this trap.
Right?
3. Tip of the Week. Since turnaround is the third most important
consideration in your selection of a finishing house, here’s a
suggestion that’ll help: Provide us with a detailed purchase order as
far in advance as possible. Many important decisions regarding equipment
we’ll use, materials we need to order, and scheduling are based on the
information you provide us. For instance, if we’re foil stamping, we
need to know the size of the stamped area, whether or not it registers to
the print, and the color of the foil. A diecutting job may require a
custom die, which takes time to manufacture, so the sooner we get
information from you the quicker the turnaround when the job arrives.
Explicit details regarding packing and shipping will also avoid delays. In
short, the more information you give us, the better armed we are to
process your job without delay.
4. Looking up. According to WhatTheyThink.com and CAP Ventures most recent
Executive Intelligence Briefing, “print spending levels are increasing
and a growing percentage of companies expect higher levels of print
spending over the next six months The biggest improvements in print
spending and outlook are coming from companies with large print budgets,
the ones that appear to have been hit hardest by the 2001 recession.”
The same duo also reported that “April was the fourth straight month
with an increase in the percentage of printers indicating demand is stable
or continuing to improve.” Of interest, the larger printers (over $20mm)
are still seeing negative current market conditions, whereas small to
mid-sized printers appear to be doing much better than their big
competitors. Only the smallest printers ($1mm or less) “have the most
negative sentiment for local market conditions.”
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