|
|
Industry News
Presstek. The firm took the interesting step of posting a letter to its shareholders on January 20th. The letter was in response to certain "misinformation in the marketplace regarding Presstek." Among the tidbits -- "Heidelberg has further expressed its intention to maintain its relationship with the Company and will continue to be an important customer to Presstek in the future. However, the backlog that existed for the Quickmaster DI has recently been filled and the Company's future Quickmaster imaging kit production will be based on Heidelberg's ongoing worldwide order rate and inventory levels. This may result in the company's future revenues from its Quickmaster imaging kit being subject to unpredictable quarterly fluctuations." The letter also mentioned that the Karat 74 digital press (see the current double issue of Know More Notes under member services on CraftNet) will include Presstek technology and thermal ablation plates. Nonetheless, "We view 1998 as a 'transition year for Presstek...."
Lasermaster. This company has really seen some of the changes impacting the graphic arts up close and personal. It's had a difficult time for the past several years as it transitioned from being a high res laser printer solution to a large format color printer seller and thus it's noteworthy that even though six month fiscal year revenue is considerably less than the similar time frame in 1996, the company finally got back to profitability by the end of the second quarter.
BCT International Inc. Also on January 20th came the news that BCT had inked a deal with OfficeMax to produce the printing of business cards, envelopes, stationery and announcements sold in the nearly 700 CopyMax stores located inside OfficeMax locations coast to coast. This is a great deal for BCT (Chairman William Wilkerson said it's the third biggest contract in the firm's history,) but it also bears watching by traditional printers. Some old line printers might find it hard to believe that printing customers would buy printing from a place with the word Copy in its name. Kinko's has proven that belief tenuous at best. OfficeMax sells to the huge and rapidly growing SOHO market -- the small office/home office clientele. These folks will buy printing where it is most convenient, and CopyMax and Kinko's have made convenience a cornerstone of their omnipresent locations. Some observers will question the level of customer service at some of these stores. Our advice: learn from the competition and don't be complacent.
{ Editor's Note: In the last two issues of Tuesday Morning News we wrote about the success of Mail-Well by buying up the competition, and we wrote about the success of Consolidated Graphics in doing much the same thing in the current issues of Know More Notes. The CEO of Mail-Well says "We are a consolidator." The CEO of Consolidated graphics predicts that 50% of the commercial printing market in the year 2005 will belong to a mere 150 printers. It seems to us that in some ways, the growth of Kinko's as a brand name and the development of CopyMax forseshadow a day when, as a member-at- large wrote us recently, someone will create a Federal Express in the printing industry. In our view, what is really needed is a cooperative association of independent small printing business owners, rather like the Our Own Hardware cooperative affiliation.}
If you're having difficulty finding a solution or have an example of how the Craftsmen Network has recently benefited you, we'd like to hear about it. Please send an e-mail to headquarters@iaphc.org.
|
