Graphic Arts

LONG BEACH, CA—The Graphic Arts Show Company (GASC), which already runs such high-profile printing industry trade shows as Graph Expo and PRINT, has purchased the Gutenberg Festival. The purchase was announced during the recent Gutenberg Festival 99, held here. The addition adds a major Western event to GASC's established network of regional exhibitions, which already includes Minneapolis' annual Midwest Graphics show, Philadelphia's annual Graphix East, and Graphic Arts/The Charlotte Show, held in alternate years in Charlotte, NC. "The Western region has always been healthy and highly creative," says GASC President Regis Delmontagne. "Print sales in the region have grown strongly, with further growth

ROCHESTER, NY—Xerox recently revealed a company-wide strategy to mobilize its global direct-sales force behind an initiative that, over a 10-year period, will grow to represent as much as 50 percent of its overall business. Xerox has refocused its direct-sales efforts by industry, rather than by products or geography. Six segments teams—each with its own P&L responsibilities and customer councils—are being established, focusing on publishing, creative professionals, prepress, commer- cial printing, franchises/ quick printing and service bureaus. As part of its new "Global Industry Solutions" portfolio, Xerox wants to redefine the value of digital printing by helping graphic arts companies use knowledge to outpace competitors in the

In my March 1999 column, I included a print salesperson survey and promised to send a magic "sales power" paperweight to everyone who completed and mailed in the survey. I hope I never weaken and make this kind of offer again. The mailman has been bringing in bags of surveys, and I am bone-tired from wrapping these little boxes. Furthermore, in a post-column wave of euphoric largess, I decided to send every survey respondent a Sean McArdle audio tape and my book, "Now Get Out There and Sell Something!" So, this whole stupid survey idea has cost me a bunch of money, and I had to tabulate

Well, now I know I've made it: Starting with this issue, Attila the Editor has granted me Columnist Status. That way I get a page—or less—to rant and rave about topics of interest to prepress professionals every month. So what if it ticks off the key advertisers . . . Having recently attended the Seybold Conference in Boston—thankfully the show has been moved out of New York—I would like to muse about those behemoths of our industry, Adobe and Quark, and what might happen to those of us that rely on their software to earn our daily bread. Thanks to the "keynote addresses" granted to John

I don't know about you, but the Gallup people have never, never, never called me for my thoughts on any national issue. I have never been polled by anybody. Not "CNN," Time, Newsweek, USA Today—nary any national media pollster or political party pollster has called me. Hey, I'm in the phone book. I've even got an e-mail address. I file and pay my taxes every year. I'm a registered Republican voter. I've got credit cards, and all the catalogers have my name and address. I'm not hidin'! The pollsters can damnsure find me! No one has asked me to rate the president's performance or that of

Consolidators, independents discuss merits of selling the business to a roll-up company. BY ERIK CAGLE To sell or not to sell? A difficult question with no easy, or clear-cut, answers. The last 15 years have been marked by considerable growth in the commercial printing industry. That growth has been bolstered by awe-inspiring advances in technology: computer-to-plate, offset press automation and digital prepress advances, which have all streamlined production processes and decreased turnaround time. By building a better mousetrap, printers large and small have made their industry highly competitive. While the National Association of Printers and Lithographers projects industry growth in the 4 percent range

The consolidation of the PIA and GATF signifies a new era—one aimed at bettering the position of each association's membership. BY ERIK CAGLE The mere mention of the word merger is enough to conjure up images of Exxon and Mobil, layoffs and plant shutdowns. The modern business partnership—be it a merger, consolidation or whatever moniker du jour is applied—has more to do with bottom lines than frivolous considerations such as, say, enhanced products and services for the customer. With that in mind, we bring you the marriage of the Printing Industries of America (PIA) and Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF), which went into

BY CHRISTOPHER CORNELL If you spent any time at all in 1998 reading the quarterly reports issued by publicly traded printing companies, you are probably up to your Y2K-compatible eyeballs with the term "record-breaking." But as the year draws to an end, it's clear that the phrase will be remembered as the one that most describes it. In previous years, consolidation was an interesting sidelight to other major events in the graphic arts industry. In 1998, it was all about consolidation. More than $3 billion was spent by larger fish swallowing up smaller ones, and while a few big names led the charge, they

Suttle Press' John Berthelsen loves to impart his experience on others. BY ERIK CAGLE John R. Berthelsen has been inspired and motivated by many people in his professional life. Whether it's speaker Zig Ziglar or his high school shop teacher, Berthelsen—co-owner of Waunakee, WI-based Suttle Press and a 1998 inductee in the Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame—has made a habit out of taking nuggets of wisdom from influences in his life and incorporating them into his own work experience. Now Berthelsen is returning the favor whenever possible. "Zig Ziglar has a great statement, that you can have everything in life you want

BY CHERYL A. ADAMS Welcome to this special (fictional) edition of the game show "Jeopardy," where the contestants are printers, paper manufacturers, paper merchants and industry experts. The category is "Global Competition and World Markets." The question: "Is offshore paper usage affecting domestic demand?" But wait. This is a special bonus round. There's an economic crisis in Asia. The high hopes of European paper suppliers to sell their grades in Asian markets have backfired. Tons of paper, including coated free sheet, are headed for American shores. So contestants, get ready. Here's your chance to score big with a special bonus-round question: "What are