News

Ron Davis, vice president and chief economist, Printing Industries of America, has released a financial report focusing on the long term future of print and print markets. The report explores how leveraging multiple functions of print can increase the longevity and viability of a printer’s success in the marketplace.

The Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF) presented the 2011 Harold W. Gegenheimer Annual Achievement Award to John Berthelsen, President and CEO, Suttle-Straus, Waunakee, WI. The Achievement Award was presented by Michael Makin, President and CEO, Printing Industries of America, at the PGSF Board of Directors meeting during GRAPH EXPO 2011 in Chicago, IL. The award was established in 2003 in honor of Harold W. Gegenheimer, former Baldwin Technology Company Chairman. The award is given to an individual for outstanding service and continued contribution to the overall mission of PGSF in the areas of development, education, and sharing knowledge. It represents the highest order of sharing knowledge and promoting education.

Printing Industries of America will be holding the next meeting of the Automation Solutions Network at Mimeo.com headquarters in Memphis, Tennessee, January 31–February 1, 2012. For more information on Mimeo.com and the activities for the meeting, visit http://www.printing.org/mimeomeeting.  

Printing Industry of Illinois/Indiana Association (PII) and the Printing Industries of Wisconsin (PIW) recently combined to create a new association that represents 13 percent of the total print market in the United States. The new association, the Great Lakes Graphics Association, represents an area that consists of 3,400 establishments, with more than 118,000 employees and combined annual shipments of nearly $19 billion per year, according to Printing Industries of America's most recent Global Print Atlas. The Great Lakes Graphic Association, to be headquartered in Pewaukee, Wisconsin, will support members and the print industry through state directors in Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin, and will strengthen the regional and national identity and market position of this important industry.

Printing Industries of America and the Digital Printing Council reveal the 2011 web2award winners. In its third year, the web2awards is the premier annual award competition that names the best websites in the print/marketing service provider industry. "We are excited to see the new ways printers are implementing online tools," says Julie Shaffer, vice president, digital technologies for Printing Industries of America. "We saw a great deal of creativity and technical sophistication in this year’s entries." 

Printing Industries of America’s new Integrated Print Forum 2011 will prepare attendees for the future by providing a variety of sessions on the latest technological advancements in the industry as well as how to hire the employees who can take advantage of emerging technologies. Rick Gardinier, Senior Vice President, Chief Digital Officer, and Nicole Milojevic, HR Director at Brunner, will offer valuable insight that has helped Brunner, a top 100 U.S. ad agency, stay ahead of the curve to effectively hire and retain talent in their session, Digital Acumen: How to Hire the Staff of Tomorrow,Today! 

Platt College, Aurora, Colorado, has won the 2011 Print and Graphics Scholarship (PGSF) College Poster design competition. The poster, titled “Get a Scholarship that makes Your Dreams a Reality,” will be given to all colleges and high schools in the United States that have printing and graphic communication programs for the 2011–2012 academic year. This student-designed poster is used to promote the availability of scholarships to pursue a career in the graphic communication industry. The posters will be available in the PGSF Booth #5145 in Education Main Street during GRAPH EXPO in Chicago, September 11 through September 14.

Dr. Jerry Waite, professor of technology, College of Technology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, has been named the ninth recipient of the Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF) Educator of the Year Award. This award recognizes excellence in educational instruction for graphic communication and printing. The award will be presented at the Teachers Conference, Sunday, September 11 during GRAPH EXPO in Chicago.

Printing Industries of America has released more information about the eight technologies recently selected to receive a 2011 InterTech™ Technology Award. 

Pittsburgh, PA, July 27, 2011—The Binding Industries Association (BIA) a special industry group of Printing Industries of America, is pleased to announce the election of Chris Eckhart, President, Eckhart & Co. to the position of Chairman.

TAGA, The Technical Association of the Graphic Arts, begins the summer with a new president, and a number of new board members who are key industry and academic leaders from the ranks of the top companies and technical universities in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Printing Industries of America seeks to honor a business leader who has surpassed their obligations and a woman who personifies the Naomi Berber school of thought and excels in her field of graphic communication with the Lewis Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award and the Naomi Berber Memorial Award, respectively. 

Integrated Print Forum 2011 contains a dynamic array of sessions designed to provide clear strategies for printers on critical and timely topics, including social media, mobile applications, modern day staffing, and new innovations in direct mail marketing. This event takes place October 24-25 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is an engaging forum where printers and industry experts will come together to discuss the current trends and innovations in the printing industry.

Printing Industries of America has sent a letter to the White House in response to the Obama Administration's Executive Order to cease the printing of the Federal Register. In Obama's announcement, he equates the printing and mailing of the Federal Register as a stack of "expensive doorstops" and "stupid spending" that "doesn't benefit anybody." By dismissing print as "pointless waste" that "no one reads," one may infer a negative perception of a stalwart industry or mistakenly assume that printed material is a dying and irrelevant relic. Printing Industries of America hopes to inform the current presidential administration about the importance of print in this economy.

The 2011 Web Offset Awards winners were announced and featured at the 2011 Offset & Beyond Conference. Members of the SNAP (Specifications for Newsprint Advertising Production) committee judged a variety of web-offset-produced pieces on the degree of difficulty to print; registration; folding, binding, and finishing; and the overall craftsmanship. Pieces that met the high standards of the competition were rewarded with the highest designation in the web offset industry.