Business Management - Industry Trends

The consensus is that sustained profitability isn’t about finding the next big thing. Rather, it’s about cultivating skills in mission-critical disciplines. The key for printers is cultivating skills in several areas, not one or two.

Finding and hiring staff is an ongoing challenge for in-plants and other print service providers. New research indicates that creative methods of retention, such as in-house training programs, are critical to attracting and retaining skilled workers.

Pantone announced its 2020 Color of the Year as Classic Blue. The announcement comes with a multi-sensory component of the selection, with accompanying touch, scent, taste and sounds related to Classic Blue and what it represents.

The In-plant Printing and Mailing Association just announced another keynote speaker for its 2020 Perfect Vision educational conference, taking place June 7-11, 2020 in Bonita Springs, Fla.

Which topics interested in-plant managers the most last month? We delved into our data to find out.

Drawing record attendance, the 26th Avanti Computer Systems User Group Conference was held last week in Nashville, Tenn., bringing together in-plants and commercial printers.

I felt like I was back at a trade show in the mid-’90s, so packed was PRINTING United with people and exhibitors. Booths stretched off into the distance as far as the eye could see, giving the hundreds of in-plants at the show plenty to investigate.

The past year has brought a number of changes to our annual ranking of the largest higher-ed in-plants. Six of the top 10 on our list have increased their revenues over the past year, resulting in some reshuffling of the ranks.

In a public letter issued on November 24, HP rebuked Xerox's threat of a hostile takeover, stating the proposal undervalued HP, along with addressing other concerns. Now, Xerox has responded, stating it still intends to mount a hostile bid attempt, while addressing what it claims to be misleading information in HP's letter.

According to the AF&PA report, total printing-writing paper shipments decreased 10% in October compared to October 2018. U.S. purchases of total printing-writing papers decreased 13% in October compared to the same month last year.