A Field Guide to Folding features folding diagrams, illustrations and considerations for 85 brochure folds, and includes the industry-approved FOLDRite™ folding compensation mathematics for every fold. The book also offers comprehensive information about folding and file setup for print production. A Field Guide to Folding is a must-have for prepress departments, printing salespeople, estimators, print buyers, designers, and bindery professionals.

Manage your customers' content effectively to lower costs and improve productivity, and use content management to boost sales and profits and enhance customer loyalty. Citing real-world examples solicited from a variety of successful service providers who have augmented their businesses by adding this emerging value-added service to their portfolio of offerings, this solid, practical guide will show you how content management services can provide you with a competitive advantage and market differentiation.

Employ techniques and tools that turn weekly sales meetings into energetic learning experiences, resulting in a more enthusiastic, more motivated, and more effective sales force. Understand how these techniques and tools required to build successful marketing, sales, and, ultimately profits, will help you achieve A Year of Selling Profitably.


Due to overwhelming demand, A Year of Selling Profitably is on backorder until further notice.

Titled “Adobe’s Designs on Web Analytics: The Omniture Acquisition,” this 55-page report looks well beyond the headlines and the early reactions in the media and the blogosphere. It examines everything from the financial position of each firm to the full rationale for the acquisition. According to author Thad McIlroy, “Regardless of your stake in this deal, you’ll find all of the background here in one straightforward and comprehensive analysis.”

(Format: PDF download)

Today's bindery is a vital, interdependent part of the print production process, and this primer will help new and future bindery workers better understand the concepts, terminology, equipment and components, and techniques of binding and finishing so that they may achieve success at the finishing line.

Basics of Print Production provides an overview of the steps required to make a creative concept into a printed piece. Being aware of the basics of a process helps everyone who is involved recognize the time and cost factors as well as the influence of each decision or step on the overall process. This book provides the reader with practical tips and guidelines on each step in the production process.

The graphic arts industry has experienced tremendous change in the last quarter century. While the prepress and press areas have received the majority of the attention from the trade media, the bindery and finishing areas have gone largely unnoticed...until now.

This pamphlet, a compilation of columns by Harris DeWese, offers fine points on the art of human interaction, sound sales tips, the 10 commandments of selling, and much more! Learn from the best and join the short list of the most successful salespeople in the commercial printing industry.

Build a portfolio of digital services to better serve your customers in the modern communications market -- and develop digital services that answer clients' demands for variable and on-demand printing, shorter runs, faster turnarounds, and non-profit communications. Building a Digital Services Portfolio is a must-read for your entire management team.

Short, practical tips for the graphic arts professional that will enhance your skills at supporting, explaining and promoting your products and services.

Did you know that printing is one of the largest industries in the United States? More than one million people are employed in printing, or graphic communications. Read this book to learn more amazing facts about printing—and how you too can become part of this important information technology.

Beneficial for the newcomer and the seasoned professional, for students and industry personnel alike, this book helps the reader develop a working knowledge of chemistry basics before progressing into the chemistry involved in the graphic arts.

This third edition of Color and Its Reproduction: Fundamentals for the Digital Imaging and Printing Industry presents an updated treatment of the concepts and technologies related to the processes of how we define, produce, and evaluate color reproduction quality. This authoritative text is directed to all who seek greater understanding of the fundamentals of color and color reproduction.

Brand identity is as much about color as it is about design. This document provides some real-world examples of the importance of color in a company’s design standard, offers a discussion on color consistency, and considers the advantages of using the Pantone Matching System and Web-to-print solutions to maintain brand identity.

Gary G. Field explores the technical, practical, and perceptual facets of color quality through essays on topics such as color reproduction objectives, high-fidelity color, gray (color) balance, color saturation, high-resolution color, color image sharpness, and predicting color reproduction.

Color and Quality for the Graphic Arts and Sciences

Color Essentials, Volume 2 continues the series designed to help develop one’s color quality judgment and analysis skills through another set of fourteen essays on color principles as they relate to everyday graphic arts color reproduction issues.

Technological advancements have transformed the field of color management with new methods while the process has conceptually remained the same. This handbook is an invaluable resource for users who want to match or, more realistically, get an "optimal color reproduction" of the original sample. While this process has historically been time-consuming and difficult, current methods found in this handy guide to color management allow color reproduction to be accomplished far more efficiently. Find information on color management for input devices, monitors, printers, presses, and more in this thorough text.

A User’s Guide to Improved Pressroom Productivity

This book offers common-sense insights and practical advice to help make your flexographic printing operations safer, more efficient, more productive, and more profitable. Combining a scientific approach with a sense of humor, the author dispels some myths prevalent in the industry, highlights some of the good ideas and best practices that make flexographic print shops successful, and provides examples of the devastating effect that cutting corners often has on profitability.

Arm yourself with the resources you need - concepts, strategies and a tactical roadmap - to successfully implement CIM and achieve new levels of operational and manufacturing efficiency, flexibility, and profitability; compete effectively; and bring top-line benefits that will help attract new customers and result in business growth. With a focus on efficiency and profitability, Computer-Integrated Manufacturing covers such important topics as Six Sigma, ISO certification, lean manufacturing, and just-in-time manufacturing, and includes an introduction to standards and the Job Definition Format(JDF).

This book provides an introduction to CTP and covers its essential concepts, intended for a general reader who would like to understand the current technology.

Determine which of your customers are potential buyers of cross-media services and what strategies and techniques will be effective in selling these services. Easily qualify potential customers, evaluate their needs, develop and propose solutions, and close sales. Walk through the best practices on cross-media selling -- from positioning your company in the marketplace to explaining and presenting new services, conducting introductory meetings and giving presentations. Cross-Media Cookbook: A Sales Primer will lead you from providing cross-media services to selling them profitably.

Bridge the gap between existing print services and new cross-media services, and quickly incorporate cross-media services into your business and leverage digital information into improved profits. With a strong cross-media start-up plan, see how you can successfully execute these new service offerings, demonstrate their value by tying your sales to quantifiable benefits for your customer, present and position them to your customers in a meaningful way, and close the deal.

Develop and implement cross-media services within your print business, and improve sales and profits by offering services that complement your existing business, provide more options for existing customers, and new options for potential customers. With a successful cross-media strategy offering cross-media services, see how you can capture a larger portion of the customer's total communications - not just print - budget.

Using examples culled from his more than 40 years in the graphic arts industry, Colbary provides a practical training tool for building the customer service resources and internal cohesion that will enable those firms that take advantage of it to grow and prosper.

Learn how to create added value, develop strategic alliances and transform customer relationships into profit-generating partnerships with Customer-Centered Marketing.

With a perfectly balanced mix of practical applications and field-tested theories, Customer-Centered Marketing gives front-line marketing managers a detailed roadmap – complete with action steps—for creating a marketing program that will develop new business, retain existing customers, and prepare their organization to meet whatever new industry challenges lie ahead.

Become an industry leader by focusing on not just meeting, but anticipating and exceeding customer requirements. With Customer Centered Production, transform your business into a company that always provides solutions to customers' problems.

Customized Communications: Advanced VDP discusses the need for document owners and marketing professionals to deliver more relevant and more effective business and marketing communications, and outlines how advanced variable data printing solutions can be employed to help marketers and document owners achieve business goals. It also contains examples of applications and discusses benefits for corporate communicators, marketers, and printers. (PDF format)

Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to read Customized Communications: Advanced VDP, which is in PDF format.

This document provides a definition of Entry-Level Variable Data Printing and identifies the market opportunity for print service providers. While discussing the needs of document owners in both the In-Plant/CRD and Commercial market segments and outlining the opportunity for print service providers, it also provides examples of variable data applications and a representative listing of entry-level variable data solutions. ( PDF format)

Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to read Customized Communications: Entry-Level VDP, which is in PDF format.

The formerly manageable world of marketing that primarily used print and mass media has exploded into countless micro-communications channels. Familiar media has been augmented with the rapid run-up of the Web, search, e-mail, blogs, satellite radio, chat, video on-demand, interactive television, and even the small-screen iPhone. With this report, you'll gain insight into the operational complexity for the graphic communications service provider who wishes to participate in these new business areas. (PDF format)

Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to read Customized Communications: Multi-Channel Communications, which is in PDF format.

Consumers today are bombarded with thousands of promotional messages on a daily basis, from television and radio ads to outdoor advertising and Web ads. Marketers face the challenge of getting their messages out in a way that breaks through this clutter. Increasingly, marketers are using transactional documents in new and different ways to ensure that their messages are noticed. This method of advertising is referred to as transpromotional, or TransPromo, communications, and it is creating a significant market buzz. (PDF format)

Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to read Customized Communications: TransPromo, which is in PDF format.

Web-to-print has transformed into a robust solution that encompasses much more than job submission. It has become an integral element of the workflow automation that is increasingly being sought by print service providers and their customers alike. Buyers and sellers of print are leveraging these systems to increase automation, improve operational efficiency, and enhance the quality and currency of printed materials. Read this report to discover the functionality inherent in Web-to-print solutions and the benefits that functionality brings to a business and its customers. (PDF format)

Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to read Customized Communications: Web-to-Print, which is in PDF format.

Target your customers, achieve better results with personalized content, and learn how to add value and increase customer loyalty with database services. Giving you the competitive edge and knowledge to compete in today's graphic communications' arena, Database Marketing can help you transform your business for greater profitability.

Delve into today's' complex world of binding, finishing, and fulfillment with information on the latest terms, techniques, and technologies. Written to be easily understood and absorbed by newcomers as well as experienced design professionals, Designer's Postpress Companion explores different types of folding, binding, finishing, and distribution techniques, focusing on key issues and providing information needed to successfully plan and execute effective postpress strategies.

Learn how to prepare graphic design files that will print without problems, how to use page layout programs, make PDFs, manage fonts, and deal with file formats. An invaluable teaching aid and tutorial with step-by-step instructions, Designer's Prepress Companion is the desk reference guide of choice of graphic artists professionals, as well as the design student, and/or anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of prepress and digital design, ensuring that your vision is successfully translated to print.

Learn the basics about each printing process, advantages and disadvantages, and how each technology works, and get a thorough explanation of digital printing technology, including inkjet and direct-imaging. An invaluable teaching aid and tutorial, Designer's Printing Companion is the desk reference of choice for graphic artist professionals, as well as the design student, and anyone who wants to gain a better understanding of printing and printing processes.

An ideal introduction for those new to desktop publishing and prepress operations, the Desktop Publishing Primer provides a comprehensive look at this ever-evolving area of graphic communications. In addition to introducing the terminology, technologies, and practices common to desktop publishing oeprations, the primer explores a wide range of topics relevant to the everyday tasks performed in those areas.

Whether you're considering a new investment or looking to maximize your existing investment, Digital Paths to Profit explains the best practices for successfully adding digital infrastructure and integrating digital services into your workflow. While providing a framework for approaching the new role of print in a multichannel world, Digital Paths to Profit shows how integrating digital services will aid you in addressing significant structural changes, growing volume, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty, and opening the door to new revenue streams.

Keeping up with all of the changes in prepress is an ongoing battle for everyone involved in print production. This book is designed to give the reader a straightforward reference to the new technologies used in prepress. It provides a short, illustrated, non-technical orientation to digital prepress along with a glossary of basic terms.

If you’re going to read one book on direct mail, this comprehensive yet accessible book is it. A smart, thorough exploration of the world of direct mail, Direct Mail Pal: A Direct Mail Production Handbook casts light on every corner of the direct mail process, including direct mail planning, preproduction, production, and postproduction procedures. It strikes a perfect balance between being detailed yet not overly technical.

Direct Mail Pal—Canada is a direct mail production handbook serving the informational needs of the Canadian direct mail industry and provides a thorough exploration of the world of direct mail. Technical tips and pertinent illustrations are sprinkled throughout the text; also included are additional features such as sample checklists, forms, and glossaries.

The only published source of comprehensive information of top direct mail users in the U.S., including names, addresses and phone and fax numbers of their key personnel. With nearly 5,000 major mailers, this comprehensive directory shows if mailers are using color, carrier sorting, the dimensions and number of pages of their latest mailings, and more. It also indicates which direct marketers are using international mail, electronic media, and telemarketing. Published annually, this directory is a must-have for anyone related to the direct mail industry.

Add value for your customers by designing and producing mail with postal regulations and discounts in mind, and learn how to build a profitable mailing and fulfillment service that complements and fuels your existing print business.

Understand the market drivers and industry culture of packaging and how to successfully add packaging as a profitable complement to your existing print business. Written by industry insider Ted Namur, former executive at Kraft Foods, this is a "must read" for commercial printers looking to enter this market, existing suppliers looking to expand their business, design and production students, and industry educators.

Realize the profit potential that is hidden in your business by identifying and implementing value-added services as profit-generating opportunities and increase the range of solutions that you provide to your customers. With Diversifying with Value-Added Services, learn exactly what are value-added services, which services are the most profitable, and which ones make the most sense to offer. Discover what capital investment is required, what the value is for customers, and how you should get started, and learn how to sell non-traditional services to customers who are used to seeing you as "just a printer".

This presentation contains the results from InfoTrends' inaugural Emerging Strategies in Production Printing program, which focused on Green Printing and Sustainability strategies and policies of in-plant printers and print for pay companies. The Emerging Stategies program is a quarterly survey conducted by InfoTrends that focuses on market trends, strategic issues, and hot topics in Production Printing. This first survey was conducted in partnership with NAPCO, publishers of Printing Impressions and In-Plant Graphics magazines.

A must-read for all of your company's CSRs. Explain job responsibilities of CSRs, what customers really want from their CSR/printing company, how to service each buyer type and effective problem-solving techniques.

For those who need a brief but thorough introduction to color reproduction in the printing industry, Field Guide to Color Reproduction is the perfect reference tool. Providing a concise but comprehensive overview of digital color reproduction in the printing industry, this "color primer" explores color quality and how individual characteristics of materials and processes interact with each other to influence the appearance of the printed image.

FIRST 4.0 is the industry's most comprehensive set of specifications, guidelines and tutorials designed to provide all members of the flexographic supply chain with the technical information they need to produce high quality and consistent print results, pressrun after pressrun.

This book presents all of the concepts, vocabulary, technologies, trade practices, workflows, and current applications associated with flexography. It is ideal for educators, students, graphic artists, marketing professionals, customers and anyone who needs a fundamental background in this printing process. Diagrams, charts, and photographs clarify the text, and a glossary aids in more accurate communication.

Graphic arts supervisors face a vast array of managerial issues every day. Beyond its look at the traits, roles, and dilemmas faced by supervisors, this primer offers ways for production supervisors to become better at their jobs and help upper management enhance the roles of their supervisors.

How to create effective job descriptions, pre and post-employment testing options, how to make the most out of the interview process, creating training plans, incentives, that keep good employees and evaluations that help, not hurt.

The printing and graphic communications industries are as exciting as they are diverse, and the landscape is constantly changing. This book is an excellent reference tool for students, those new to the field, and for those already in the industry. It will help you keep pace and better communicate with peers - everyone from sales and marketing, to copyediting and design, to prepress, to production, to the bindery, shipping, and warehouse.

Uncover proven environmental strategies for printers, from forest certification to renewable power, plus ideas for achieving printers' and customers' environmental aims while still making a profit. This special report looks at a wide variety of initiatives that can help turn socially responsible objectives into bottom-line boosting results.

This book is written for the general reader who would like to understand the current technology, processes, and terminology associated with gravure printing. A glossary of commonly used terms is provided, along with drawings and photos that provide visual reference to technical concepts.

Starting with an overview of digital and variable-data printing and culminating with an extensive glossary, this handbook addresses a wide range of topics to help you successfully enter this new printing realm and make informed business decisions.

This handy collection is ideal for every member of the industry—from the novice encountering offset printing theories and mathematics for the first time to the expert seeking an inclusive reference. Theory and practice come together in the Handbook of Graphic Arts Equations, Second Edition, which outlines the theories, presents the equations used to calculate them, and gives concrete, real-life examples.

Implement key marketing principles and buying trends that affect print sales to improve your company's market position and increase profits. By implementing Hands-On Marketing techniques, you can prepare and put into practice a marketing plan that will quickly improve sales and profits.

Learn the approaches the industry leaders use to find and keep the best employees in sales, production, managerial, and support staff - practical, proven solutions, with real-world examples, thought-provoking exercises, and probing employment interview questions. With an extensive list of resources that will help printers find, hire, and manage human resources, including industry events and seminars, Internet job boards, and professional search firms, legal resources, trade publications, and trade associations, Hiring and Managing meets the unique needs of the industry as it shifts from ink-on-paper to a greater focus on providing service to the customer.

A practical guide to converting fulfillment from an overhead cost to a stand-alone profit maker.

Here are the steps that will help you evaluate, plan, and improve your family business. You'll find invaluable advice on conducting personal, family, and business assessments, and setting attainable goals for you, your family and your company.

Cut a clear path through the maze of people-related issues that affect every graphic arts firm with this compact reference to today's most pressing human resources issues - from compensation methods and competitive benefits to federal regulations and new legislation. With industry resources, sample job descriptions, and a wealth of information on key HR functions, Human Resources Guidebook's helpful list of best practices guides the graphic arts manager through the complexities of HR management.

This book describes what Total Quality Management is and why quality is not just “what the customer will accept.” Printers who have embraced the tenets of quality management have seen employee morale improve, productivity increase, and sales soar!

To gather this valuable information, graphic arts firms of various types and sizes across the United States and Canada were invited to share the actual plans that are in place for their employees. Sample plans in this report include those focusing on safety, waste-reduction, quality, and departmental/plant-wide incentives, as well as individual incentive or bonus compensation plans for executives, departmental managers/directors, sales managers, salespeople, sales assistants, and customer service representatives.

Understand how the interaction of inks with different substrates, presses, chemistry and environment factors can affect the color that customers are asking for. Whether used as an introduction for new press employees, a refresher for current press operators, or an overall shop reference tool, Ink & Color is the ideal resource for the printer who wants to better understand the process of reproducing perfect color on press.

In the past two years, there have been a number of high speed digital color inkjet label printing systems that were introduced. While inkjet is certainly not new to label printing, full color high speed label printing at speeds comparable to alternative technologies is new. This document highlights the competitive market for high-speed digital color label printing systems introduced in 2008. ( PDF format)

Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to read Inkjet in High Speed Color Label Printers, which is in PDF format.

Regardless of a person’s field or discipline, graphic communication is practiced everywhere. Introduction to Graphic Communication provides a “snapshot” of the industry’s past, present, and prospects for the future, and it covers new printing and imaging technology issues impacting day-to-day communication of people in all fields of study and occupations.

Are your documents secure? Highlighting the importance of security printing as a means of protecting documents from counterfeiting, forgery, tampering, and other fraudulent use, this book explains the technologies, techniques, and risk management issues used to protect secure documents, labels, and packages.

In today’s competitive environment, it is mandatory for printers to find new ways to reduce costs, waste, and setup time while adding value to the products they offer their customers. By examining proven techniques, Lean Printing: Pathway to Success shows the benefits that come from engaging the entire workforce in recognizing value-adding processes and eliminating waste—whether that means wasted material, wasted motion, or wasted time.

A wide variety of products including packaging, books, magazines, posters, business forms, and labels are printed by the lithographic process. This book is written for anyone desiring an understanding of the current technology, processes, and terminology associated with lithography.

Educate yourself-and your clients-about the major issues in the high-tech area of digital prepress operations. Filled with tips to avoid common roadblocks in production, this is a perfect companion to prep for your next sales call or deal with prepress.

In the print environment, a sure way to improve operational performance is by tracking your performance against a benchmark—especially when you compare yourself against the industry’s best. Managing by the Numbers: Key Benchmarking Metrics for Printers is a one-of-a-kind compilation identifying performance standards which sheetfed printers can use to benchmark their own operations. Use these benchmarking metrics to gauge your performance against industry averages and against industry performance leaders—and set new goals for your team to reach.

Production Measurement & Control Techniques for Commercial Printing Environments

Managing Print Production is a collection of some of Roger Dickeson's most popular and important columns concerning production measurement and control. Both as an expert and student of the industry, Dickeson asks the tough questions and brings thought-provoking answers to the subject of printing productivity.

This booklet should serve as a guide for printers looking to improve their company's productivity and streamline its processes.

(CD-ROM packaged with Executive Summary Booklet)

To help print providers become solutions oriented, the Digital Printing Council (DPC) has undertaken a comprehensive, unique, and extensive research project, Marketing4Digital (M4D), that will give digital and conventional printers the information and tools they need to develop new business within 24 vertical segments.

Each M4D set includes 1 bound booklet containing executive summaries for the 8 market segment reports for the set and 1 CD-ROM containing the full reports for each of the 8 market segments in the set.

(CD-ROM packaged with Executive Summary Booklet)

Marketing4Digital is the first project that provides specific information about a broad set of vertical industries representing 80% of all print buying in the U.S. M4D will arm print providers and their sales staff with the specific detail they require

Each M4D set includes 1 bound booklet containing executive summaries for the 8 market segment reports for the set and 1 CD-ROM containing the full reports for each of the 8 market segments in the set.

(CD-ROM packaged with Executive Summary Booklet)

To be a successful company, print providers must be armed with the kind of knowledge that helps them build more business from stronger, more loyal customers. Marketing4Digital will help print providers understand the specific needs of current and potential customers and help sales staff "speak the language" of customers by giving them a deep understanding of the respective environments and unique requirements.

Each M4D set includes 1 bound booklet containing executive summaries for the 8 market segment reports for the set and 1 CD-ROM containing the full reports for each of the 8 market segments in the set.

Materials handling is more than just using a pallet jack to move a skid of paper; it is “providing the right amount of the right materials, in the right condition, in the right sequence, in the right orientation, at the right place, and at the right time.” From receiving through shipping, this book provides ideas that will help printers of all sizes improve their materials handling procedures, which will reduce expenses and improve the bottom line.

The only study of its kind, the 2008/2009 4C Practices & Pricing Study represents NAQP’s second such study in recent years geared toward the needs of small, four-color commercial printers and copying firms. The study helps 4C printers benchmark their businesses against industry-wide practices. It also reveals user ratings for 15 different presses and three major suppliers of digital copiers.

Through her unique nine-step approach, Biegert walks you through the process of preparing for and performing your press OK. This step-by-step approach takes the stress out of the press check, making it an ideal resource for newcomers to the industry and a much-needed reference point for others.

With applications ranging from regional catalogs to database marketing to personalized course packets, market experts predict the continued growth of on-demand and digital printing. This book provides an introduction to the digital and on-demand printing processes, intended for the general reader who would like to understand the current technology and trends.

Everything you ever wanted to know about packaging…in one neat package!

The package is the product—it not only protects the contents and conveys information, but it must also sell itself! Package Printing, Second Edition is the definitive guide to this ubiquitous graphic communication medium. This book, written for the package buyer, the printer, the artist and designer, the supplier of printing equipment and materials, and students of printing and packaging, can be used as a reference, textbook, or training tool.

Need a crash course on PDF for print production? Your number-one resource for working with PDF files for print production has just gotten bigger and better with its third edition. The PDF Print Production Guide is back with its easy-to-follow, how-to format that takes the mystery out of creating print-perfect PDF files.

Edited by Thomas M. Destree
This quick-reference "press operator's bible," written by PIA/GATF experts, helps the press operator to analyze more than 100 press problems encountered in all areas of sheetfed offset printing.

An indispensable book, this guide analyzes more than 100 press problems encountered in all areas of web offset printing. In this revision of Solving Web Offset Press Problems, an all-new layout and binding format make help to make this problem-solving guide easier to use in the pressroom.

Effective salespeople are an essential aspect of any successful graphic arts organization. Playbook for Selling Success in the Graphic Arts Industry is a workbook designed to identify the strengths and weaknesses of anyone interested in selling graphic arts services.

The value of effective proofreading cannot be overstated, but formal training in this important area is often overlooked or even ignored. A handy refresher for seasoned proofreaders and a comprehensive how-to for the beginner, Practical Proofreading can help you release documents that are crisper, cleaner, and error-free.

Recent InfoTrends studies show that wide format is a very profitable area for print service providers. Nevertheless, it is very important for those entering the wide format business to effectively price their services. This document provides examples of prices from various wide format print services providers throughout the United States.

(PDF format)

Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to read Pricing Wide Format Output, which is in PDF format.

Although major advances have occurred with prepress and press technologies in recent years, the underlying principles of successful color reproduction remain fundamentally the same. With this in mind, PIA/GATFPress reprints Principles of Color Reproduction, the classic text on the topic. For this special reprint edition, an introduction and update chapter written by Professor Gary G. Field supplements the original text. Each adds a timely dimension to the book, covering recent developments in the industry and augmenting its value as a reference tool.

Print Production Management Primer covers every aspect of the production process within a printing plant, from the roles of specific positions to cutting costs and errors. In a series of sixteen concise chapters, the author addresses a number of topics including: the roles and responsibilities of the production manager, order entry considerations, accurate specifications, and many more.

Print Production Scheduling Primer provides proven scheduling procedures that lead to loyal customers, faster turnaround, more accurate forecasting, improved personnel usage and workflow, and the prevention of costly downtime.

Streamline your workflow to achieve efficient production and improve profits, and use practical ways to maximize your conventional, digital, or hybrid workflows. A comprehensive and definitive text for printers, service bureaus, and production managers at printer operations, ad agencies and publishing houses. Print Production Workflow takes the concept of "workflow" from the abstract to the practical, examining the importance of integrating print production workflow into an overall business workflow.

Learn how to get at the waste in all areas of your operation, involve your staff in a total workflow strategy for trimming waste, work with customers and suppliers for greater efficiency, and avoid predictable roadblocks.

More than just outlining specifications and costs, the estimator must also have a firm understanding of and plan for the complexities of the pressrun. Printing Estimating Primer explores this wide range of considerations, as well as digital presswork and estimating software, to provide a comprehensive overview of estimating. Filling the text with forms and tables, Merit not only explains the basic principles of estimating but also provides samples to help an estimator perform the job more effectively.

This reference manual tells you everything you need to know about plant expansion. The ideas presented in this book will help printing firms, primarily lithographers, develop the best facility design and layout for their printing operations and support services. It's a must-have reference regardless of whether they are building a new facility, adding on to an existing building, acquiring a larger plant, or rearranging the old one.

Printing Sales Contracts: Samples from the Industry, compiled by the Printing Industries of America Human Relations Department, offers a large collection of sample printing sales contracts.
While readers are cautioned to refrain from using these samples on an “as-is” basis, this resource can be extremely valuable in providing practical ideas that can be customized to fit your company’s needs.

Printers have always had to deal with issues such as “Why is the color so inconsistent on these printed sheets?” and, “The color on the press sheet doesn’t match the proof.” However, the only way to reproduce color more accurately and consistently is by applying process controls. The chapters in this Process Controls Primer break down the various production steps so you may analyze your production workflow and identify problem areas and their causes. By making the processes, tools, and measurements defined here a part of your workflow, you will gain more control of the entire color reproduction process.

This document provides an overview of the benefits of promotional products, which are also called advertising specialty items. There is almost no limit to the products that can be used as ad specialties, and marketers are limited only by their creativity. In today's challenging economy, marketers must take that extra step to ensure that their brand stands out in a crowd. This document discusses how promotional products can be used to ensure differentiation and increase customer loyalty.

Harris DeWese offers his unique perspective on the state of the printing salesperson along with how to prospect hard for new business and overcoming sales objections. This handy pamphlet offers a laundry list of key virtues that every graphic arts salesperson should keep close to his or her heart.

Re-energize Your Printing Business focuses on strategies to help commercial print providers re-energize their businesses as the industry continues to experience revolutionary change, conveyed as a fictional story through the experiences of Marty, a typical owner.

You can leverage technology to increase profitability-if you know how. This compact guide will help you learn how to put the latest Customer Relationship Management tools to work for your company.

This revised Sample Union Contract Language Manual provides updated sample contract language to help graphic arts employers set goals for formulating initial and subsequent proposals for negotiations with unions. The 2006 edition delivers more variety of language than previous versions, and actual language is included that has been or is currently being used in contracts in the printing industry.

Diversity, flexibility, quality, uniqueness. These are but a few of the terms that define screen printing’s role in the graphic communications industry. Samuel Ingram applies his years of experience in this book to offer insight into the industry, the process, and the components that combine to highlight screen printing as a manufacturing process responsive to consumer needs. The book is written for the general reader who would like to understand the current technology, processes, and terminology associated with screen printing.

This newly-developed handbook helps design/creative professionals and print professionals improve their collaboration and performance. After all, the relationship between the two groups is symbiotic, but unfortunately often becomes confrontational. Exploring important technical issues and techniques, this handbook is an invaluable guide.

Are you looking for new ways to hit sales goals in a down economy? Do you need new methods to initiate successful contact with busy prospects?

In Selling in Tough Times, Linda Bishop draws on more than two decades of selling experience and the best practices developed by her national sales consulting organization, Thought Transformation, Inc.

This valuable guide takes you inside the buyer's world during a downturn and shows you how to to react to changing circumstances, reach sales goals and maximize income.

Designed to supplement press operating manuals and formal apprenticeship programs, the third edition of Sheetfed Offset Press Operating provides both novice and experienced press operators with valuable information to improve productivity and print quality. It combines theoretical and practical how-to information in a single, easy-to-read volume.

Plan ahead to better manage the transition from transactional print sales to multimedia communications consulting, while learning how to leverage a full range of technological advancements in new, more profitable business models. With the dizzying pace of change in the print industry and pressures of day-to-day problems, Strategic Positioning shows you how to take a step back and view the big picture so that you can better manage a successful transition from print vendor to a total graphic communications solutions provider. Written for the ultra-busy printing executive, this book will get you started on the path to future profitability in a rapidly evolving industry environment.

Build a stronger sales team in order to fulfill the changing demands of print buyers. With Strategic Sales Management, learn how to maintain a motivated and professional print sales staff and meet corporate sales and profit objectives.

Learn how print buyers are making their purchasing decisions. Whether you’re deciding on the process to use, evaluating potential print suppliers or negotiating for the best value at the best price, Successful Print Buying will provide you with the information you need in order to truly partner with your print suppliers. An invaluable teaching aid and tutorial, this book is the desk reference of choice for purchasing professionals, printing industry students, and anyone who wants to maximize the value of their printing dollar.

Learn how to adjust your selling strategies to fit today's print buyers -- the seasoned print buyer, technology specialist, marketing associate, marketing executive, creative executive and the "Boss".

The economy is in a slowdown, and many signs indicate that a full-blown recession is looming. CEOs and other business leaders are no longer allowing aggressive business investments without more rational strategies, more solid metrics on return on investment (ROI), and a direct, positive impact on customer value. This document discusses six critical strategies that graphic communications firms and outsourcing providers can deploy as they strive to continue growing in these challenging economic times.

Philip Beyer has raised the bar in quality and excellence, having spent ten years researching, considering, dissecting, tweaking, writing and implementing business process management systems that brought total order to his business. With his brand new book, System Busters, learn how to eliminate errors and clean up the messes to make your business run like a super-clean, well-oiled machine.

This step-by-step guide shows how to make smart hires and get great results from every new salesperson. Includes five hiring danger signs, seven commandments of good screening, and 20 tips for effective hiring.

The Adventures of the Mañana Man – Book II contains 51 of Harris DeWese’s greatest columns from Printing Impressions magazine. With the Mañana Man’s help, you’ll learn how to deal with the inevitable challenges within the printing industry while gaining invaluable insight into successful sales, customer service and leadership techniques – all with a dash of inspiration and humor.

You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll learn – and you’ll sell more then ever before with the aid of The Adventures of the Mañana Man – Book III. Here, you’ll find 52 of Harris DeWese’s most outrageous columns from Printing Impressions magazine. Let the Mañana Man guide you through adversity, provide you with priceless sales tools and inspire you to succeed in your printing business.

With drupa 2008 behind us, there is now a clearer picture of the current products and announced technologies that will be available for high-volume process color printing applications. Transpromotional applications (supported by basic forms replacement) will be one of the first markets in which these products are tested. This strategic assessment document covers the range of available printing solutions for this growing market opportunity and highlights the importance of running cost.

(Format: PDF DOWNLOAD)

Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to read The Latest in High-Speed Continuous-Feed Process Color TransPromo Printing Solutions, which is in PDF format

Revolutionize your relationships with customers, employees, and vendors, help improve your status as a preferred supplier, employer, or customer, and pay powerful dividends at the bottom line. From the workings of top print shop customer loyalty programs to the inception of industry trailblazers such as FedEx and Lightning Source, The Loyalty Payoff's inside stories will help you relate its principles to your business relationships.

This package includes Harris DeWese's latest releases:

The Adventures of the Mañana Man – Book II and The Adventures of the Mañana Man – Book III

Save 40% when you buy both books! (Get both books for only $29.95 -- individually priced at $24.95 each!)

Discover how to value your work correctly, price profitably, and avoid common pricing mistakes. With The Pricing Game, implement a pricing strategy that incorporates the customer's sense of value and builds a sustainable competitive advantage.

Among the topics discussed in this special report are testing fundamentals, different ways to test and tips and secrets to analyzing test results.  Many of the authors have spent their entire careers trying to beat the long-time control package.

Order more than 6 how-to guides in any combination to receive discounted pricing. The more you order, the bigger the discount. Discounts will be reflected at check-out.

6 - 9 guides - $19.95 each
10 - 39 guides - $14.95 each
40+ guides -- Please call 800-777-8074 (Outside the U.S.
215-238-5482) for custom pricing

HOW-TO GUIDE

The editors of Target Marketing have brought together a group of contributors who make it their business to help companies directly market their products and services effectively, profitably and by the numbers. Our guest authors take complicated processes, boil them down to their essence and put this knowledge in your hands. ($24.95)

Order more than 6 how-to guides in any combination to receive discounted pricing. The more you order, the bigger the discount. Discounts will be reflected at check-out.

6 - 9 guides - $19.95 each
10 - 39 guides - $14.95 each
40+ guides -- Please call 800-777-8074 (Outside the U.S.
215-238-5482) for custom pricing

The Ultimate Guide to Multi-Channel Communications Solutions is a must-have document for any print or marketing service provider evaluating the variety of emerging multi-channel solutions on the market today. This guide provides a market overview, a discussion on how to choose a multi-channel communication solution, and an in-depth analysis of some of these leading solutions.

The Ultimate Guide to Web-to-Print Solutions is a must-have document for any print service provider evaluating the variety of Web-to-print solutions on the market today. This guide provides an industry overview, a discussion on how to choose a Web-to-print solution, and an in-depth analysis of the leading Web-to-print solutions. Each of the 14 solutions has been reviewed using over 75 different metrics. The Ultimate Guide for Web-to-Print Solutions is part of a series of Ultimate Guides, which each provide an in-depth look at the leading vendors for a variety of software solutions. (Format: PDF DOWNLOAD)


Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to read The Ultimate Guide for Web-to-Print Solutions, which is in PDF format.

Real-world tactics from a million-dollar print salesman: Planning the beginning, middle, and end of every sales call, focusing your prospect on your message, keeping communication moving, positioning yourself effectively, and finishing with impact by using time-tested winning closers.

To Be a Profitable Printer invites you to look beyond the familiar issues of training, value-added services, and changing media and to recognize the value in managing well in a world of constant change. Learn how to make accountability, mission awareness, customer integration, quality, and preparation your new business mantras. This book explores a business theory and management approach that spells success, and the author underscores these elements with plenty of real-life examples and present-day scenarios that can be applied to your own business.

To stay competitive, printers must maximize all the components of the graphic arts processes, from prepress to shipping. The TPM system is designed to optimize and maintain a graphic arts technical system, as well as accelerate plant production throughput. Total Production Maintenance is a guide to helping printers develop and implement a formal program for achieving optimum equipment effectiveness.

How large is the package printing market? What is the effect of globalization on package printing? What is the role of digital printing?

Get the answers to these and many more questions with Trends in Package Printing. In this helpful guide, current and future trends are illustrated and supported by numerical data, with a focus on long-range trends. Each chapter includes a summary, a list of market drivers, and an expanded discussion of key trends to help you get ahead in the package printing industry.

Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to read Trends in Package Printing, which is in PDF format.

With the advances of desktop publishing, the basics of typography are easily taken for granted, but what people often consider to be just letters and fonts proves to be a science in itself. This book is ideal for educators, students, and graphic artists—anyone who is interested in understanding this most basic element of graphic communication.

During the course of a recent InfoTrends research project, printing establishments identified “Textiles” as one of the strongest applications they produce. Textiles, however, are not an application, but a substrate. To find out more about the actual application, InfoTrends developed this research study to try to gain greater understanding of the digitally printed textiles market.

(Format: PDF DOWNLOAD)

Note: You must have Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to read U.S. Digital Printing and Textiles Report, which is in PDF format.

Understanding Customers simplifies the concept of customer relationship management in the printing industry and offers thought-provoking guidelines for improving customer loyalty and profitability. Classify customers based on profit potential, establish a cost-effective customer service strategy that will help you make and keep profitable customers happy, and extract maximum profit from every customer on your list.

Consistent high-quality color reproduction is the heart of the graphic arts. With new chapters on workflow, file preparation, and output systems, this revised edition covers all aspects of digital color. Develop greater levels of quality and consistency, implement faster and more efficient workflows, and meet your customers’ needs through specialized services.

Understand how information technology offers print services providers a competitive advantage in today's tough graphic arts environment. From streamlining your production and business operations to making more efficient and productive use of both staff and equipment time, you'll send savings directly to your bottom line. Whether you're considering a basic accounting and business system or a fully automated computer-integrated system, Understanding Information Technology will show you how to plan, implement, and leverage IT systems in your print services business.

This concise, easy-to-understand book by industry experts David Clark and Frank J. Romano explains why digital presses do not reproduce images in the same way a conventional press does and why it is important to tailor designs specifically for the digital press in order to maximize the quality of the finished piece—whether it be an on-demand textbook, a series of personalized brochures, or a variable-data direct-mail marketing piece.

Designed to supplement press operating manuals and formal apprenticeship programs, the fifth edition of Web Offset Press Operating provides both novice and experienced press operators with valuable information to improve productivity and print quality. It combines theoretical and practical how-to information in a single, easy-to-read volume.

Do you want to know how to weigh the pros and cons of whether to build your own solution or license one from a vendor? Do you have any idea what sort of options you want to offer your customers through a website? Do you wonder if you have the staffing required to manage an e-commerce storefront? Or are you curious as to how the dozens of solutions on the market stack up against one another? The answers to these questions, and many more, can be found right here in the Web-to-Print Primer.

What the Printer Should Know about Ink, Third Edition, covers everything from the components of printing inks to testing and specification and includes troubleshooting charts for litho, gravure, flexo, letterpress, and screen inks. Presented in a basic, easy-to-understand format, this book is a valuable reference tool for both printers and students alike.

Paper is the most expensive material used in a printing plant. If you don’t know enough about paper, you could lose money on every job you print. Solving a paper-related problem, or at least identifying its cause, is a skill that can save the printer money and time. To make a profit in an increasingly competitive marketplace, you need the best, most current insight you can find. Learn everything about paper, from printability to handling.

Develop and execute a marketing plan that will help you find and grow customers on a consistent basis, as well as turn marketing competencies into new profits. Discover why marketing is critical to success and has the power to drive your margins and profits to new levels.

Win Top-of-Mind Positioning shows why it is essential to be thought of first in this relationship-based business and how to create successful sales and marketing efforts. Concrete, real-world examples are provided throughout, making it perfect for all graphic arts professionals wanting to increase their company’s bottom line. This book is truly your key to graphic arts sales and marketing excellence.