Business Management - Industry Trends

Skylar Tibbits, a trained architect, designer, computer scientist, as well as a TED2012 Senior Fellow, recently presented a new concept at TED2013: 4-D printing—where materials can be reprogrammed to self-assemble into new structures. Apparently, this is just the tip of the iceberg in manufacturing with minimum energy consumption.

“If we combine the processes that natural systems offer intrinsically (genetic instructions, energy production, error correction) with those artificial or synthetic (programmability for design and scaffold, structure, mechanisms) we can potentially have extremely large-scale quasi-biological and quasi-synthetic architectural organisms,” noted Tibbits.

As a leader in the printing franchise business, PostNet has grown steadily and profitably to over 200 million in revenues with 700 franchises worldwide. Noting that only 50 percent are in the United States, Steve Greenbaum, PostNet’s chief executive and founder, said it took 30 years to build his company to where it is today.

We’ve all seen the signs for years. Three pieces one day. Five the next. Mondays, now that’s another story...10 pieces in my mailbox this week. While our e-mail inboxes are bursting from perpetual overload (I’m lucky if I keep mine under 100), our physical mailboxes become emptier and emptier.

Shows are expensive, requiring big checks up front. Kodak says it sees a better return from bringing more prospects to its demo center in Rochester, NY and stroking customers at GUA, the company’s user association. The question is whether this is enough.

eBooks are slowly subsuming the printed format as the preferred vehicle on which people read books. But perhaps there is reason to hope that eBooks and print books could have a bright future together, because for all the great things eBooks accomplish—convenience, selection, portability, multimedia—there are still some fundamental qualities they will simply never possess:

• Books have physical beauty.
• Books have provenance.
• Printed books are collectible.
• Books are nostalgic.

Nonexistent state funding for new textbook purchases is driving the search for alternative sources of information, mainly via the Internet, electronic databases and licensing of eBooks. Schools also are making do with the books they have, stretching out replacement cycles and repairing worn volumes when practical.

State funding has dwindled from $21 million in 2008 to nothing in the current biennium, said Kentucky Department of Education spokeswoman Nancy Rodriguez. The education department and the state board of education is lobbying for more money the next time around but 2013 isn’t a budget year, she said.

Increasingly, districts are buying netbooks and iPads

At first, I dismissed the online discussion surrounding this question with a shoulder shrug and a “Really? Are we still talking about this?” Digital may sing and dance, but when I hold a good printed piece, it communicates in tangible ways that tablets and smartphones can’t.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Guy Kawasaki who has written 12 books, 10 of which were traditionally published. His newest book, “APE: Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur—How to Publish a Book,” helps people understand how and why to self-publish. Guy shares his thoughts on publishing and why he decided to forgo the traditional model and go indie.

The Printing Industries of America (PIA) announced the recipients of its 2012 Best Workplace in the Americas Awards. A total of 36 graphic arts companies, both PIA and non-PIA members, were selected by a committee of human resource experts from within the industry.

Buried within Wal-Mart’s website, beneath the red sales banners and loud holiday graphics, is a magazine called BeautyScoop. Thousands of stores also carry it, and it was mailed to millions of the store’s customers. Most big retailers fill their stores with custom-published shoppers that double as cheaply made catalogs…BeautyScoop is something else.

Though wafer-thin—it runs just 12 pages—and produced on glossy stock, it is as close as a store catalog can come to a magazine. And there are editorial features.

The entire magazine was made by Condé Nast, sources said.

A year ago, Wal-Mart went to the MediaVest Group