Cup-a-Joe

I was listening to a panel discussion of printing company owners last night at an event sponsored by the Printing Industries of Colorado.  The panelists have been successful in transitioning their businesses over the past decade. More importantly, these individuals are running 2^nd or 3^rd generation companies.  These “old” dogs (sorry Janet, Debbie, Curt, and Tim) are learning a bunch of new tricks — and sharing them!

The audience heard the typical mantra of diversification and the need to be very customer centric (solution selling).  Many have heard these words over the years, but these company owners are embracing the new realities of our industry.

When an audience member towards the end of the presentation asked ,“Why aren’t you folks talking about what you’re doing to fill up your printing presses?” I saw one of the main challenges we face as an industry.  The person questioning the panel is still thinking about how we’ve done business in the past.  We are printers, and we print.

The response from the panel was very pointed.  We must understand that the world we knew is never going to come back.  In 1995 there were over 50,000 commercial printers.  By the end of 2010, that number will be about 30,000.  We lost over $20 Billion of print sales in the past two years (12% decrease) as the economy tanked and buying patterns changed.  We can not do business as usual.  As one of the panelist stated, “I provide solutions for my customers.  It may or may not be print, but it’s going bring dollars in the door and keep the business running.”  It’s no longer business as usual.

At one time, in very recent memory, attending Graph Expo in Chicago was a must for anyone who was serious about being a printer.  You were able to talk to equipment vendors, who were ready to close deals.  You attended workshops to help you better understand the intricacies of the business and the trade which was printing.  For those of us who lived in Texas, it was welcome relief from a long summer. A trip to Chicago and McCormick Place was something to anticipate.

I did not make the trip last year, but decided it was important to make the trip this year to our industry’s annual “overcapacity fest,” as the late Dick Gorelick liked to call it.  Needless to say, it wasn’t the same.  Gone was the heavy iron – Heidelberg did not have a single square foot at the show. Rather than seeing the familiar blue/white logo when entering, you saw the Xerox and HP booths.  Then Kodak, EFI, Ricoh, Canon, and Konica Minolta.  You eventually got to KBA, ManRoland, and Goss – but there weren’t any presses in those booths.  As one of the attendees said to me, “The clicks you hear are not coming from sheets running through presses.

Yet, the same energy and networking and sharing of ideas was still evident.  The overall mood was upbeat and many of the exhibitors I spoke with were very positive about the show.  There was a heavy presence of mailing and ink jet equipment along with various finishing devices.  I did not see as many stand-alone MIS and workflow providers as in the past, and the amount of square footage utilized was much less than two years ago. 

When you walked the floor, it was very apparent that change was everywhere, and that’s not a bad thing.  Overall the show was a very positive event, and in my mind, it’s just another message that print continues to be a viable medium – we’re just going to produce it differently.

This past weekend was beautiful in Dallas, Texas, where I office.  The temperature was in the low 80’s, the humidity was non-existent, and football fans descended on Dallas for the Red River Shootout weekend.  The entire North Texas area looks forward to this legendary meeting of the University of Texas and Oklahoma University at the Cotton Bowl, and it’s the talk of the town.  But there are more important things to talk about this week (sorry football fans) then who won the game. read more »