Print Solutions 2006: Innovation, Education, Networking at its Best

D. Madhusudana Rao flew 8,000 miles from Hyderabad, India, to attend Print Solutions 2006, Oct. 3-5 in Rosemont, Ill., to see what the premier event offers. He went home with a bagful of new ideas, products and solutions, new partners and friends, a deeper understanding of the printing industry and more.

Rao, managing director of Hitech Print Systems Ltd. was among the 1,411 attendees at DMIA’s national trade expo, which this year was outfitted with lots of new features. In addition to the top-notch educational sessions and 330 booths offering the latest products and services, attendees viewed production equipment in action on the show floor and they joined in standing-room-only roundtable discussions at several locations within the expo.

Keen Manufacturers, Curious Attendees on the Show Floor
Manufacturers and suppliers, including 35 first-time exhibitors, showcased the latest solutions in web-to-print, digital printing, document security, promotional products, labels and tags, commercial printing, e-commerce systems and more. For a list of all conference exhibitors, click here.
 
“People have been very helpful,” said first-time attendee Louise Krainer of Vintage Printing and Distribution Services, Louisville, Ky. “We were looking for new ideas and solutions to problems, and new vendors who offer labels, envelopes and business cards. We got the information and creative ideas.”

Wayne Nemecek, president of manufacturer AmeriPrint Graphics Inc., was pleased to see the crowd at his booth. “Two hours into the show and we have seen double the response and activity we saw at the show two years ago,” he said. “Customers are interested and serious and that’s a big difference this year.”

Ray Dalessandro, director of business development at ETACTICS Inc., a first-time exhibitor was impressed. “It’s been busy,” he said. “It’s interesting how many people here in the show are right in our backyard and we did not know about them.”

New this year at the show floor was the Technology Showcase where companies demonstrated traditional and digital printing equipment in a special exhibit area. Jenny Crichlow of Crichlow Products Company, Indianapolis, saw a 2-station hat and shirt embroiderer, and a digital T-shirt printing machine from SWF East. “The whole concept of printing on odd shapes is fascinating,” she said. “The technology is interesting and we didn’t know it existed.”

Roger Buck, CDC, national sales manager of Ward/Kraft Inc.'s forms division, who saw TPS Group Inc.’s revolutionary EasyMailer mail processing system that delivers personalized direct mailers and marketing pieces in a single pass, said the manufacturer was considering using the machine for innovative applications.

Also sprinkled across the show floor this year were Idea Exchange Centers, where moderators led discussions with small groups on topics such as marketing your business for less than $1,000, web-to-print successes, qualifying sales prospects and growing your company. Ray McCabe, president of distributorship cmfi group, participated in a discussion on the importance of assertiveness in sales and liked the format. “It was very informative,” he said. “There’s a lot more interaction within a smaller group. Communication seems more one way in a bigger setting.”

Many companies showcased their latest offerings. FTI Group displayed Fingerprint Checks, the company’s web-to-print program for MICR printed laser checks. Strata-Tac introduced a face laminate for integrated cards designed for Xerox iGen and other high-speed digital laser printers. The laminate’s top coat is applied with heavy coverage to maximize absorption of the color toner. Boise Paper introduced its CheckProtect with HeatStar security papers. HeatStar is a blue star pattern in blended heat sensitive thermochromatic ink on the backside of the white CheckPoint paper. The blue star ink begins to decolor at 75 degrees and completely disappears at 91 degrees. This color-changing property allows a person to easily verify the authenticity of a document by activating the print and viewing the change from colored, to colorless and back.

On the show floor, member companies held sessions on topics such as document security, online check ordering with MICR verification, innovative web-to-print and variable data solutions and driving growth through e-commerce.

Abundant Learning Opportunities
The annual event featured 14 well-attended education sessions led by top-rated speakers and experts. David Rothfeld, founder of consulting firm Creative Sales + Management Inc., said that in the last two decades companies have focused on cost management or revenue growth. Today, companies need to effectively distinguish themselves by adopting a new marketing strategy called relationship asset management—a concept of managing a customer as an asset. Companies need to:

• Manage customer life cycles. Know how much your customers buy from you every year. Then find out how you can gain more business from each.
• Exploit the power of databases by using customer management software. “Without these tools, you can’t take your relationship to the next level,” Rothfeld said. “You can’t manage your relationship.”
• Quantify customer value. Find out how much each customer is worth.
• Optimize the mix of customer acquisition and retention. Instead of focusing only on large customers, find a balance between small and large customers.

At a lively Young Presidents’ Forum led by Jay Vento, president of distributorship Proforma Spectrum Graphics, and Steve Reiss, president of manufacturer Business Stationery Inc., attendees discussed whether office supplies and ad specialties are lucrative markets for distributors, program selling vs. product selling, ways to hire CSRs, strategic planning, and the feasibility of a vendor/distributor rating system. Michael Patch, CEO of distributorship CSM Group Inc., who attendee the forum, said “it was a great, interactive session. I’ve got some great ideas about program-selling and it’s good to know the directions in which other companies are headed.”

In a session called “The Hidden Cost of Poor Manufacturer/Distributor Relationships,” Robert Nadeau, managing principal of the Industrial Performance Group, revealed results of an online survey to which 175 DMIA sales people (55 manufacturing companies sales people, 16 independent and 104 distributorship sales people) responded. Results showed that sales staff spent only 38 percent of their time selling and a whopping 62 percent on non-revenue generating activities, Nadeau said. “You can achieve low cost, double-digit growth by freeing your salespeople so they have time to sell,” he said. “Identify and remove the barriers that keep your salespeople from selling.”

PEAK Awards Banquet Celebrates Excellence
DMIA’s outgoing President Tim Mehl, CDC, CEO of Dispatch, a manufacturer in Erie, Pa., presented plaques to the PEAK 2006 Grand Award winners at the first-time banquet honoring their success. Attendees enjoyed the awards presentation, dinner and entertainment by singer and impressionist Ken Block and his band.

Randy Nipper, vice president of sales and marketing at manufacturer Plastag, which won two PEAK 2006 awards in the Plastic Cards category, said, “The awards allow the industry to showcase talent and products, and recognize the better of the bunch. We have worked very hard to improve our processes—from design to prepress to press. Knowing that we have worked hard and being recognized is a great thing.”

Gold Sponsors of the banquet included Appleton and Plastag Corp.  Silver Sponsors were Folder Express, Pilgrim Plastics, Team Concept Printing and TopForm Inc.

Preceding the banquet was a cocktail party sponsored by Glatfelter Carbonless & Specialty Papers Group.

Reinvention Tops Incoming DMIA President’s Goals
At the Breakfast of Leaders annual meeting keynote Oct. 4, incoming DMIA President James Riley, CDC, CEO of Riley Barnard & O'Connell Inc., a distributorship in Maryland Heights, Mo., spoke to attendees about the need to reinvent DMIA so it reflects changes faced by its members. “Our industry’s constant evolution requires that we take a long, hard look at ourselves,” he said. “We need to present ourselves to the world in a more relevant way.”

DMIA’s Board of Directors has created a three-year strategic plan to guide the association’s transformation. During Riley’s tenure, the association will adopt a new name and brand. “Over the course of the next year, we will reinvent DMIA,” he said. “We’ll have a new brand. We’ll have a new name which will aptly describe who we are today and where we are going tomorrow.”

Mehl thanked Board members, the PERF Board of Trustees, 2006 Regional Directors and Print Solutions 2006 sponsors. For a list of Winners’ Circle sponsors, click here.

In his keynote speech, DMIA Executive Vice President Peter Colaianni, CAE, who was dressed in a cow costume, referenced The Big Moo: Stop Trying to Be Perfect and Start Being Remarkable, a collection of business advice and parables. The book talks about the importance of avoiding commoditization. “One of the ways the business printing industry will become remarkable is through innovative product applications,” Colaianni said. Another means to becoming remarkable is through partnerships. Colaianni pointed out that strong partnerships allow distributors, manufacturers and suppliers to create custom solutions for end users. “Solutions—sounds like a buzzword,” Colaianni said. “It’s not. It’s the next big opportunity for our industry to become remarkable.”

Newt Gingrich Speaks on Technology, Competition
Former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich gave the keynote speech to a packed hall. Gingrich reflected on technology, national security, government relations and global competition, then answered questions from the audience.  “In this time of immensely rapid scientific change, there’s no reason we can’t be the most value-added society 100 years from now,” Gingrich said. “But to accomplish this, we have to confront cultural and government problems.”

The war in Iraq, terrorism, health care costs and government bureaucracy are some of the pressing challenges the United States faces, Gingrich said. Global competition, especially from China and India, is another. When asked what he would do to level the playing field with those countries, Gingrich said, “I would find ways to accelerate us instead of trying to decelerate them. My argument for Americans is that we need to roll up our sleeves and say ‘This is a real game.’”

Gingrich pointed out that neither China’s nor India’s economic dominance is guaranteed. For instance, China faces water shortages, air pollution problems and internal political conflicts—including government corruption and cronyism—that will hamper its economic expansion. Likewise, the implementation of more robotics in U.S. manufacturing would reduce China’s labor advantage. “I am much more confident of a goal to become the most value-added, least expensive manufacturing economy in the world than one that tries to stop China and India,” Gingrich said.

Rising health care costs also are a concern for the country and small business owners in particular. Gingrich, who founded the Center for Health Transformation, suggested that owners create health savings accounts for employees. He urged DMIA and its members to actively lobby the government for health care reform, and he pointed to models where technology and free market principles could potentially reduce health care costs. One example was a web site that allows Florida residents to compare prescription drug prices.

View pictures from the event.

Best Booths at Print Solutions Expo
Nearly 330 companies, including 35 first-time exhibitors, showcased their products and offerings at the expo. The following companies won awards:

Click here for winners' photos.

Best Overall Booth
Large: Formax
Medium: Ward/Kraft Inc.
Small: Quikproof

Best Overall Design
Large: Printegra
Medium: e-Quantum
Small: ISODISC

Most Helpful Staff
Large: Ennis Inc.
Medium: MAR Graphics
Small: Animated Lighting and Designs

Best Use of Technology
Large: Wise Business Forms Inc./Nextwave Digital Marketing
Medium: TopForm Software Inc.
Small: SWF East

Most Creative
Large: Glatfelter Carbonless & Specialty Papers Group
Medium: C.E. Printed Products
Small: EM Print Group