Quad/Graphics

The best thing about 2002 is that it's over. A stagnant economy, massive worker layoffs, corporate accounting scandals, fear over chemical and biological warfare—enough to make a newborn want to crawl back into the womb. No one's rushing to pop the bubbly; the toast is "Here's to a better 2003," not "Happy days are here again." And, like the world around us, the printing industry is suffering through depressed sales and earnings, plant closings and staff reductions, cutbacks in capital expenditure plans, as well as personnel changes in the board rooms at North America's largest companies. As 2002 drew to a close, executive

The best thing about 2002 is that it's over. A stagnant economy, massive worker layoffs, corporate accounting scandals, fear over chemical and biological warfare—enough to make a newborn want to crawl back into the womb. No one's rushing to pop the bubbly; the toast is "Here's to a better 2003," not "Happy days are here again." And, like the world around us, the printing industry is suffering through depressed sales and earnings, plant closings and staff reductions, cutbacks in capital expenditure plans, as well as personnel changes in the board rooms at North America's largest companies. As 2002 drew to a close,

BY MARK SMITH Predictions of the paperless office may have lost their edge, but not the threat of a paperless printing plant. One only has to go as far back as 1995 to find the last time some printers were faced with shutting down their presses for a lack of paper to run through them. The buyer's market of recent times saw printers, and their clients, being doubly blessed with a ready supply of paper at historically low prices. Everyone knew it was just a matter of time before the market swing came, though. In the case of paper, the more apropos saying would

From Quad/Graphics’ perspective, 2002 will be remembered as the most difficult in the company’s 31-year history. In July alone, a storage facility collapse and fire at its Lomira, WI, plant claimed the life of a contracted worker and, weeks later, company founder Harry V. Quadracci died after drowning in a lake near his home. Such tragedies would bring lesser companies to their knees. But Quad/Graphics has demonstrated an industry model, a corporate ideology, that bears both witnessing and emulating. Thomas Quadracci is surrounded by employee children at one of Quad/Graphics’ in-house day care centers. Tom Quadracci, who succeeded his brother as president and

BY MARK SMITH There may not be a one-for-one correlation between the business outlook for publishers and the fortunes of publication printers, but the link is obvious. Also, the tough business environment has marketing gurus and industry executives evangelizing the need for printers of all types to "really get to know their customers" in order to succeed. On the whole, it has been a mixed year for the magazine publishing segment. According to Publishers Information Bureau (PIB) data through September, advertising revenues in 2002 have been running 1.5 percent above 2001 totals. Unfortunately, especially for publication printers, the year-to-date ad pages total was

BY MARK SMITH Judging the strength of the printed catalog market segment used to be a straight-forward proposition. Catalogers merely had to compare the total dollar value of orders placed with the cost of producing and distributing their print programs in order to determine the financial return. The rise of online shopping is beginning to skew this traditional benchmark. If a shopper initially selects items by perusing a printed catalog, but actually executes the order via a Website and online catalog, which medium gets credit for the sale? Should each get partial credit? Top 10 -- Catalog Printers   CompanySegmentSales(millions)TotalSales (millions) 1Quebecor WorldMontreal$1,071$6,300

By Erik Cagle Say what you want about 2002, but very shortly you'll be able to say these two magic words: it's over. By nature, printers are optimists. So are trade magazine journalists. Thus, coming off a dreadful 2001, horribly punctuated by a reeling economy and the September 11 attacks, most industry people were forecasting a much-improved 2002. No one was ready to pop the champagne cork, but a marked improvement was in the offering, with a strong economic rebound catapulting revenues heading into 2003. Better days, like Godot, never arrived. To say 2003 cannot be any worse than 2002 is tantamount to whistling

(Editor's Note: Company rankings for the current and previous years are based on figures reported in 2002. Therefore, companies that revised their 2001 revenues may have changed their 2001 ranking as compared with the ranking that appeared in last year's Printing Impressions 400. Similarly, the percentage change in sales is calculated on the most recent information provided.) 1 ('01: 1) Quebecor World, Montréal, Canada Total Sales (millions): $6,300.00 Previous Year's (millions): $6,500.00 Change (%): -3 Principal Officer: Charles G. Cavell Employees: 40,000 Primary Specialties: PUB 26%; ADV 21%; CAT 17%; DM 13% Web Offset Units: 3,156 Sheetfed Offset Units: 985 Other: 808 Ownership: Public

PEWAUKEE, WI—Quad/Graphics, based here, has begun construction on a new printing facility in Oklahoma City. Initially, Quad/Graphics will install two web offset presses—an eight-unit Heidelberg and an eight-unit MAN Roland—as well as saddle stitching equipment. When gravure operations begin in 2005, Quad's Oklahoma City plant will feature Italian-made Cerutti gravure presses. The presses will be equipped with full automation, from cylinder loading through signature delivery, including computerized process-control systems by QTI, Quad/Graphics' R&D subsidiary. "Quad/Oklahoma will feature a manufacturing platform engineered for nimbleness," reports Thomas Quadracci, president and CEO. "We're constructing and equipping the plant to rapidly adapt to changing client needs in terms of geo-demographics, targeted

Printcafe Closes Acquisition PITTSBURGH—Printcafe Software has completed its acquisition of printChannel. Printcafe did not assume any printChannel obligations or liabilities other than in connection with certain customer contracts.Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Donnelley Exec to Head Oce CHICAGO—Ronald E. Daly has resigned as president of R.R. Donnelley Print Solutions, the company's business responsible for magazine, book, telephone directory and catalog/retail insert printing, as well as premedia services, to become the CEO of Océ-USA Holding, the North American business of Océ N.V., based in the Netherlands. Michael B. Allen, executive vice president for R.R. Donnelley Print Solutions, and Robert S. Pyzdrowski, president of operations for