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Wilmer Introduces Prescription Pads
8 standard security features, including thermochromic ink. Wilmer meets mandatory requirements for CA, FL, IN, KY, ME, and WV. Contact us at 800-4WILMER (800-494-5637), ext. 5.
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Wise Business Forms
Comprehensive Printing Capabilities — Forms, Commercial, B&W Digital, Color Digital, Direct Mail, Statement Processing
www.wbf.com
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Matrix Imaging Solutions, Inc.
Print & Mailing Services
• Statement/Invoice Processing •
Document Archiving
& Retrieval System
www.matriximaging.com
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5 Markets, Infinite Opportunities
Print Matters delved into the health care, financial, government, education and retail markets to find out how you can grow your business in these segments. Each market presents unique opportunities, benefits and challenges.
In the first of this 5-part series, you will find out how you can grab a share in the rapidly growing health care segment.
Integrated Document Solutions® Inc. (IDS), a distributorship headquartered in Dallas, offers a variety of products to hospitals, physicians, nursing homes, clinics and assisted living facilities. These include continuous and unit set lab forms, flow sheets, labels, letterhead, envelopes, checks, tax forms, patient ID wrist bands, commercial printing, marketing material and more. Customers also use Inte/c, the company's e-commerce system, to order, control and review their inventory, which IDS maintains.
The health care industry is among the fastest growing and most profitable business segments today, says Will Deford, vice president of operations of IDS' SE Division, based in Chattanooga, Tenn. Here are some opportunities:
1. Hospitals and clinics need your expertise. Customers in the medical market, especially hospitals, are increasingly relying on the skills of trained document consultants-an area where IDS has made great gains, Deford says. "Larger companies aren't willing to commit the time required to handle the ever-changing demands of hospitals, which are increasingly feeling disgruntled with the services being offered by the majors," he says.
Read the complete report
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Consolidated Graphics Q3 Earnings Rise
Consolidated Graphics Inc. announced financial results for its third quarter and nine months ended Dec. 31, 2005. Revenue for the December quarter was $226.2 million, up eight percent from a year ago. Net income for the December quarter was $9.9 million, compared with net income of $9.7 million a year ago. Both revenues and diluted earnings per share this quarter were at a record level for the company. For the nine months ended Dec. 31, 2005, total sales were $657.1 million, up 13 percent for the same period a year ago. Full story.
Workflow Announces Leadership Team
Workflow Management Inc. named its senior management team. Mike Zawalski has rejoined Workflow Management as president and COO. Ed Larkin has joined the company as senior vice president of business development. They will report directly to Greg Mosher, chairman and CEO. Zawalski is responsible for overseeing WorkflowOne and Relizon operations, while Larkin is in charge of Workflow Management's strategic growth plans, including mergers and acquisitions. Workflow Management, the parent company of WorkflowOne, United Envelope and Freedom Graphics Services, purchased the Relizon Company last November. The combined entity represents one of North America's largest supply-chain and logistics companies. The company's revenue is expected to exceed $1.2 billion, with a portfolio of products and services ranging from full-service print and promotional products, to envelope, business process solutions, billing and direct mail services.
Team Concept Printing Enhances Capabilities
Team Concept Printing & Thermography installed a Ryobi 3304 4-color press and a K2 Digicoater Premier UV coating system. The Ryobi 3304 runs a maximum sheet size of 13.39 x 17.72 inches with a maximum image area of 13 x 17.24 inches. The press runs pre-converted envelopes, 4-color process, and 4-color spot, flat or raised. The K2 Digicoat Premier offers both continuous and spot UV coating.
VersaSeal Launches DVD on Pressure Seal
VersaSeal®, a PrintXcel brand, released an educational DVD to help distributors introduce pressure seal solutions to their customers. The DVD contains product descriptions, equipment demonstrations, key applications and an explanation of how the technology works. Call (800) 767-3743.
Bowater Reports Net Loss for 2005
Bowater Inc. reported for the year 2005 a net loss of $120.6 million, compared with a net loss of $87.1 million in 2004. Sales in 2005 totaled $3.5 billion compared with $3.2 billion in 2004. Bowater plans on closing a mill in the second quarter in an effort to reduce the use of high-cost wood and energy. Full story.
Super Bowl XL: This Company is Already a Winner
Whether it's the Seattle Seahawks or Pittsburgh Steelers who win the Super Bowl XL this Sunday, Proforma Promotional Group, Milwaukee, Wis., already has reason to cheer. The company provided a variety of promotional products to both Super Bowl teams this year.
 Tom Van Rens, owner of Proforma Promotional Group (PPG), said the company worked with the National Football League to provide the teams a variety of imprinted team-specific products, including lanyards, pouches, security documents, tags, luggage tags and consecutive number identification wristbands.
Four years ago, one of the customers of the company's Denver office was the then owner of the Denver Broncos. PPG produced a stadium replica as a holiday gift for the owner, who was impressed with the company's creativity, Van Rens says. PPG then joined an association that many professional teams belong to. The company started providing gifts and giveaways for teams such as the NFL's Carolina Panthers, MLB's Colorado Rockies, NBA's Memphis Grizzlies and college athletic programs. Through the local Chamber of Commerce, PPG got a chance to provide promotional items to the 2005 NBA All Star game.
"It's exciting just by the uniqueness of the event," Van Rens says, but at the same time a lot of hard work. "We don't know which of the four teams in the division championships will make it, so we have to keep artwork ready for all four teams. Once we know the two winning teams, it's tough to reach them and send the materials to the hotels where they will be staying because they are made so secure."
Van Rens says he's cheering for both teams. Either way, PPG is already a winner.
American Solutions Wins State Award
American Solutions for Business (ASB) received top honors at a ceremony recognizing work-life balance initiatives. The ceremony, held Jan. 26 in St. Louis Park, Minn., represented Minnesota's first state-wide awards program honoring the efforts of local businesses to implement programs and practices that create flexible and supportive workplaces. ASB was among four companies that received the Gold Work-Life Champions™ Awards.
In Memoriam
Larry Athen, Northeast regional distributor sales manager at PRINTSouth Corp., died on Jan. 27 after a long fight with cancer. "He had a unique way of being a steadfast Marine, a devoted employee and coworker, and a lovable father and friend," said Mark H. Clabaugh, the company's vice president of sales and marketing. "He was true all-around talent."
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Final Call for Top 100 Manufacturers Surveys
Print Solutions Magazine editors are compiling the Top 100 Manufacturers issue, which means it's time to submit your information. This popular issue ranks manufacturers by fiscal 2005 sales through distributors. It includes sales per employee rankings, fastest-growing manufacturers and more. The best way to submit your Top 100 information is to complete the online form. If you prefer to fax a hard copy, download a PDF. Fill out the form and fax the completed pages to LaShell Stratton, assistant editor, at (703) 549-4966. Only surveys returned to DMIA by 6 p.m. EST on Monday, Feb. 6 will be included.
Call for Entries: 2nd Annual PEAK Awards Competition
Excellence. Have you got it? Enter the Print Excellence And Knowledge (PEAK) Awards program and prove it! PEAK awards spotlight excellence in the design and production of printed products that add value by solving client problems or improving a client's business. Winning a PEAK Award means you can market your company as "an award-winning print solution provider." Go to this link and click on the "Entry Form" link. The entry deadline is May 5. For a list of last year's PEAK award winners, click here.
Super TRADEMart at NYC
Pre-register now for the New York City Super TRADEMart, March 2 at the Marriott Marquis! Admission is free. This is the only DMIA show in the New York metropolitan area this year, and it includes five hours of exhibits and education sessions at a great central location, the New York Marriott Marquis in Time Square. Stay at the Marriott Marquis for the low DMIA rate of only $239! Check out the lineup of education topics:
- The Next Boom Market: Personalized Print and Web Solutions
- Technology Packaging and Filing Products
- Industry Roundtable on Sales and Management Issues
- Specialized Insurance Coverage for Printers
- Your Business Should Be Better Than Ever. Is It?
- The Print Provider of Tomorrow: What Printers Must Offer their Customers to Improve their Market Value
- Selling Online Stationery Programs
Pre-register online
Complete schedule and hotel information
Small Distributor Summit: Spend Minimum Time for Maximum Education
DMIA's third annual conference for its member distributorships with sales volumes less than $2.5 million is from March 17-19 at the Renaissance St. Louis Hotel -Airport, St. Louis. One of DMIA's best-attended and highly rated events, this 2-day program offers new topics, new technologies and new insights. Your peers developed all the programs, the schedule, and the manufacturer sessions. Spend a minimum amount of money, miss a minimal amount of office time and get the maximum educational benefit. For details, visit the Small Distributor Summit page on DMIA's web site.
New Member Profile: A Focus on Large-Format Printing
Network Printing Inc. has specialized in commercial sheet-fed printing for the last 50 years. Located in Louisville, Ky., the manufacturer produces single-color jobs to multicolor projects, specializing in full-color offset printing. It also focuses on large-format printing. The company has a complete prepress department and offers bindery fulfillment, cutting, folding, stitching and shrink wrapping.
Sell Excess Inventory
DMIA's Excess Inventory Depot enables members to sell items such as excess inventories, blank forms and labels, pre-converted material, paper stock, converted material, new or used equipment and other business-related items. Take advantage of this offer and post your items for free. Find out what's for sale. DMIA members can view postings 24/7 at no charge.
Sales Barrier? Don't Take No for an Answer
Breaking the Print Sales Barrier offers hundreds of unbeatable responses that overcome customer resistance and turn objections into sales. You'll also learn how to gain trust and establish credibility, hold your prospect's undivided attention, find out their concerns, use probing questions to eliminate objections, and more. Code: SALEBARRIER. Member Price: $49.95. To order, click here or contact Tina Davis.
Top 10 Unusual Source Requests Received by DMIA: Stretch wrap, screw and post fasteners, die cast replica trucks. See the complete list
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 Does Your Survival Depend on Variable Data Printing?
 Yes, says Dr. Harvey Robert Levenson, Ph.D. In an interview with Print Matters, Levenson discussed the importance of variable data printing (VDP). He is a professor and department head of Graphic Communication at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
1. What kinds of strategies should printing companies develop to succeed in the digital print market?
To begin with, let's define digital printing in the context of this interview. Digital printing in and of itself is really not that different from traditional printing. It simply means using technologies and applications that are digital as opposed to analog. Such technologies and applications can be found in prepress, press, and post-press technologies of the printing industry. The production of long run or short run printing, where the image is exactly the same from impression-to-impression or from sheet-to-sheet throughout the duration of the press run, can be accomplished in an analog or digital mode.
However, from my standpoint the really exciting application of digital printing is in the variable data printing (VDP) area where each impression within a press run can be personalized for the recipient of that printed impression. To me, this is where the high growth of the printing industry lies in the years ahead. And, quite frankly, I believe that the survival of the printing industry as a major provider of information services lies in the further development and application of VDP. Hence, from this point on in this interview, my reference to digital printing will be to VDP.
Read the complete interview
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Product: Xpaper™ Digital Writing System
Company: Cardinal Brands Custom Solutions
Features and Benefits: The system consists of a Logitech io2 digital pen that records handwriting and Xpaper manufactured by Cardinal Brands. The pen has a miniature camera that captures the grid of dots on the background of each Xpaper sheet. When the user is writing, the pen records its paths and stores the information. When the user places the pen into its cradle, it transfers information to a computer and creates a PDF document. Anoto Group, Lund, Sweden, developed the core technology. Talario LLC, Brookings, S.D., developed the software and Logitech makes the pen. Users can easily convert contracts, forms and handwritten notes into digital files.
Applications: Users in various markets such as medicine, government, education, trucking and transportation, real estate sales and management, construction and contracting business can take notes and sign contracts.
Have a product? Be featured in What's Hot.
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Right Paper Does the Trick
Selling commercial printing? Here are three tips to keep in mind:
1. Ask for education from manufacturers. "Spend time with your vendors, understand their capabilities and learn from them," says Jim Schultz, president, CEO and chairman of Great Lakes Integrated Inc., a commercial printer in Cleveland. "Every printer worth their weight in gold will train their customers. If they don't, find another printer."
Many headaches associated with commercial printing-from preflighting to glitches with the final product-can be avoided if print buyers and distributors are educated. "The only way to make projects hassle-free is to understand the process," Schultz says. "Then you can control your budget and the outcome."
2. Keep designs simple. "Many pieces get so complicated," says Frank O'Connell, owner of OC Productions. Novice designers often add too many design elements or styles that distract from the piece. "Stick with a simple, bright, colorful format, keep the copy down and grab the audience with headlines and highlights," O'Connell says.
3. Don't make paper an afterthought. Sometimes designers get so caught up in the layout of a project that they ignore the importance of paper selection. "You need to understand the mission of the project to know what paper to use," Schultz says. Choosing a 100# C2S paper instead of an 80# recycled stock with 30 percent post-consumer waste, for example, will give very different results: Neither is a "better" paper, but rather better suited to different printed pieces.
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Increased Capacity for Increased Sales
The order, a simple presentation folder intended for use within the company, was a no-brainer for the employees at manufacturer Stylecraft Printing, Canton, Mich. "I entered the order as an exact repeat," says Andrea Pesci-Jones, vice president of the company. But when she received the first proof, the order wasn't an exact repeat-it was something better.
Read the full story
Have a solution? Be featured in the Solution of the Week.
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