Print Trends

July 1, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

As part of IPMA's annual conference held in Rochester, NY, Xerox hosted a breakfast before their tour. It was a surprisingly chilly morning and I found myself huddled next to one of the heaters as the panel titled "Key Attributes to a Successful In-plant Operation" began. Panel members included Peter Muir, president, Bizucate and John Meyer, director of HUB print and postal services at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Panelists discussed techniques and strategies to help in-plants thrive during these difficult economic times.

"The panel spoke to the tremendous value in-plants provide to their companies and institutions," said Debbie Pa...Read More

June 29, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

One thing I did not mention in my last blog about the IPMA show was that I got to visit the George Eastman House. George Eastman was the founder of Kodak. His house is a historic landmark and is filled with trivia about his life and the history behind photography, motion pictures and Kodak. It was interesting, strange and controversial.

During the introduction of the tour George Eastman was called the "Father of Rochester." He believed Rochester should be the best city in which to work and raise a family and, as a result, he heavily funded healthcare, education, and the arts. Many attribute his efforts at helping to attract other large companies such as...Read More

June 26, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

After a number of in-plant shows were cancelled this year, I was happy to get the chance to attend and present at the IPMA (In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association) show a few weeks ago. The show was a success with more than 100 in-plant managers meeting in the beautiful Woodcliff Hotel in Rochester, NY. The weather was perfect for the class trips to the nearby facilities of both Xerox and Kodak. All told it was a great show filled with four days of business dialogs and fun.

Many speakers talked about how in-plants must be more proactive and create more value through new business opportunities. Barb Pellow, of InfoTrends, encouraged in-plants to become "e-enabled," star...Read More

June 24, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (1)

We have been talking about fallen leaders – companies that lead for a decade but emerged from the last recession weaker – and the possible lessons learned that we could apply to our current recession. We suggested a relationship between investments, new products, leader status and then a decline related to excessive debt. As a result, we are starting to look for the common denominators that make up “sustainable leaders” and those that result in “fallen leaders.”

Impacting this fallen or short-lived leader status may be a combination of changes in the economy such as the impact of a recession and debt. John Hyde, NAPL Vice President and Senior Consultant sees this problem often in his merger and acquisition work. John works with client...Read More

June 22, 2009 | Link This | Email this | Comments (0)

In the last few postings we have been talking about how a significant number of the companies considered leaders during the 1990’s became companies that were just hanging on after 2001. We suggested some relationship to a growth strategy, which was investing in new equipment or technology and offering new services, which created a bump in sales and profitability, which could have made these companies appear as leaders.

However, this is where the challenges start to become clearer. These bumps in sales and profits could be short lived over time because your competition sees what you’re doing and invests i...Read More