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By Kevin Keane, IAPHC CEO Historical Redux? "One worldwide web, spreading news, messages and information faster and more freely than ever before. Fortunes made in trading start-up company stocks, and lost in the next market crash. A global community, linked by rapidly evolving electronic wizardry managed by highly paid electronic magicians. Incompatible systems, on-line romances, and vociferous debates about government control and the impact of the new technology. The title of Tom Standage's richly detailed and immensely entertaining social history reminds us that, as revolutionary as the Internet may seem, it has all happened before." From a John Alden book review on 'The Victorian Internet: The Remarkable Story of the Telegraph and the Nineteenth Century's On-Line Pioneers' in the January 1999 Smithsonian. Or as the chronicler admonishes: Those who do not learn from history, are condemned to repeat it. Time in a Bottle; The Vortex Vise We heard from a number of Tuesday Morning News (TMN) readers last week. Dick Lunde, president of Print Shift in Los Alamitos, California faxed us: "Especially good TMN this week." Steve Jecha, president of Digital-Net in St. Paul, Minnesota e-mailed: "Your TMN today was right on line with where this industry will go." Therese Adlhoch, Director of Marketing for ImageX in Seattle e-mailed: "Thanks for the great newsletter!" Fourth District Governor Mike Donnelly wrote in the January 1999 York, Pennsylvania Club Bulletin: "TMN - the best newsletter out there related to printing." Gretchen DeWeese new Director of Public Relations for Heidelberg USA in Kennesaw, Georgia graciously accepted our invitation to be added to the distribution list for TMN. North, South, East and West we heard from folks who find it worthwhile to read about our industry. We appreciate the compliments, but would ask our readers to think about the pace of change in our industry. What we think notable is the manner in which change has affected our delivery of technical related information. Four years ago we produced a quarterly newsletter called PrintPerspective. But change was happening too quickly. Then we started producing a monthly hotsheet called Know More Notes, but change was happening too fast. So we've evolved to a weekly compendium of our rapidly changing business called Tuesday Morning News. Might time compress still further? Daily e-mail newsletters? Real time updates scrolling across your computer monitor? Arrrghhhh! In lockstep with the time compressing phenomenon, is the global shrinking phenomenon of the digital age. And this is where our organization has an opportunity to really flourish. No one of us can possibly possess the encyclopedic knowledge of our collective membership. The answers you seek may be right around the corner, but more likely they exist in the unique skill sets, and experience of a fellow member located perhaps on the other side of the continent if not the world. Consider these examples from the first week of 1999: Jeff Cooper from Reno, Nevada called to inquire if there was a book about understanding the estimating process in printing. We steered him to member Lloyd Dejidas at GATF in Pittsburgh. Roger Buck of Perfection Forms in Girard, Kansas e-mailed us looking for an answer on applying a decal to a 3 ring binder. We knew that Steve Koontz of Mastercraft in Seattle, Washington or Colin Campbell of Thames Label and Litho in London, Ontario might know, and within an hour we were able to send Roger a detailed and masterful reply from Steve, and later the same day we forwarded an equally detailed and experienced answer from Colin. Al Galviz of the San Francisco Club called last week at the suggestion of Tim Rooney. Al needed to find printers in Mexico. The best person we knew to help him is located on Long Island, New York. Within an hour we could forward an e-mail reply with the names and contact info for three printers in Mexico. Karen Woolley of the Hamilton, Ontario Club called last week in search of information about Printing Arts of America, as a representative of that firm was going to be calling on her. We read her information about PAA we had run in TMN in December which we had received courtesy of Patti Copeland of the San Francisco Club. Tom Newland of Minneapolis wanted to get some information on plate or imagesetters for his high school graphic arts teacher. We found useful information from Walter Gutowski of the Grand Rapids, Michigan Club and Mike Hemmelgarn of Western Lithotech/Mitsubishi based in St. Louis. Meanwhile Frank Dingle of the Baltimore Club called with some legal questions related to the digital age, and Cindy Johnson of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Club called with some legal questions involving incorporation of a non-profit entity. If you consider each of the above examples, you will note that in every case the answer sought was available from a fellow member who was most often located hundreds if not thousands of miles distant. And that dear reader is a HUGE and marketable member benefit in every local club. Another new book was reviewed in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram last week. The book is called "The Trillion Dollar Enterprise: How the Alliance Revolution Will Transform Global Business." The author is Cyrus Freidheim. The review comments: "An alliance is a group of companies that form a network that in turn, operates as single company. But the grouping is far more efficient, especially in using its capital, than the typical merger or acquisition." In our own way, we too have seen the value of an Alliance. We have just begun to mine a rich network called The Knowledge Network of Craftsmanship. And the work product of our group as found in our Mission Statement is such that we exist for the purpose of our member's self development and our member's companies success. And it works! Over hundreds and thousands of miles in ever shorter time frames, Your Knowledge Network Obviously Works, Y'KNOW? Now one last thing. We know that TMN is widely forwarded and re-forwarded to people all over the world. Some of them aren't yet members. Look yourself in your computer monitor. If you aren't an IAPHC member, shouldn't you be? Please contact us about getting on the rolls. It will be good for you and for your business too! Surf's Up! Tammie Aaron, a member from Birmingham, Alabama sent us an interesting comparison which she found in Silicon Alley Reporter, Issue 19 (www.siliconalleyreporter.com) The printed version of Time magazine has a circulation of 4.2 million, with median household income of $55,000 and median age of 43 The online edition has 12.2 million pageviews, median household income of $62,000 and median age of 37. Other Time Warner publications including Fortune and People have very similar statistics. As the reporter of this information (Young Media Professionals) noted, "The large number of pageviews relative to the print circulation is an eye-opener." PODi News On 11 January, The Print On Demand Initiative (PODi) announced the addition of five new manufacturers to PODi's roster. PODi is a non-profit strategic marketing and educational initiative focused on evangelizing the opportunities in digital printing technology and services. The five firms are Hewlett Packard, Minolta, Bitstream, NexPress and Varis. NexPress is the joint venture between Heidelberg and Eastman Kodak which is slated to unveil a digital press at drupa 2000 and Varis is the company which hopes to maximize the variable printing power of the digital printing press engines such as Xeikon. The Big get Bigger: Goliathzilla? From the February 1999 issue of Worth magazine, in a story about Jeff Vinik, one time Fidelity Magellan Fund manager and current hedge fund manager: "A good candidate for his presumed favorite stock would be Consolidated Graphics, a fast growing Houston-based printing company that's a favorite among many aggressive small-stock investors. It has been among his top five holdings for the past three quarters." On 11 January Consolidated Graphics announced it had signed a letter of intent to acquire Mercury Printing of Memphis, Tennessee. Upon the successful completion of pending acquisitions, Consolidated Graphics will own 51 companies with annual revenues of more than $590 million. The same issue of Worth, includes an interesting interview ala mode with Mort Zuckerman who owns a bundle of companies including the New York Daily News and Applied Graphics Technologies. With regard the latter firm, Mr. Zuckerman is quoted: "It's still a very solid company. We have very good technology, and we've just signed contracts with Fuji Photo Film and Bristol-Myers Squibb." The article goes on: 'He scoffs at the notion that AGT can't compete against Chicago's R. R. Donnelley, its chief rival in pre-press services, the business of turning computer files into pages of a brochure or magazine....(Worth is an AGT client). Donnelley, unlike AGT, is also in the printing business and wants its prepress clients to use its printing services as well.' "We don't lock people into printing contracts," Zuckerman says, "That's a tremendous competitive advantage." Competitors in Sheep's Clothing? At the 1999 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Pitney Bowes is showing a range of new software and Internet based products for the SoHo market (small office/home office). One caught our eye. It's called DirectNET (tm) which is said to be a 'one stop' Internet based printing and mailing service which allows users to modem their direct-mail document and mailing list to Pitney Bowes' web site for printing, handling and mailing. "Professional looking mailings of up to 5,000 pieces go out within three business days." Meanwhile we received a piece of mail from the merchant verification service we use for credit card payment processing. An insert was included which announces that NOVA Information Services, Inc. and Dynamic Color Images have joined together to offer NOVA merchants a cost-effective solution for ordering full-color brochures in small quantities and with quick delivery times. "Ideal for short run jobs, it is no longer necessary for you to run large quantities of brochures or postcards to remain cost effective. You can order as few as 50 brochures or 100 postcards! Best of all, there are no set-up charges." Xerox and Scitex News On 7 January, the Hebrew newspaper Ma'ariv reported that Xerox may pay $17 a share to acquire Scitex the Israel-based digital printing firm. Ma'ariv has been predicting this transaction for the past month. Also on 7 January, Scitex announced the launch of RenderView, an Internet based client server solution for instant remote viewing of high resolution images. According to the news release: "This unique communications solution for the global graphic arts industry is the first fully interactive solution that allows all the participants in the prepress process to quickly examine images in maximum detail via standard Internet connections. It enables printers and trade shops to boost productivity, quality and level of service, creating more business and bringing in new customers." Scitex President and CEO Yoav Chelouche said: "Scitex has long believed that creating a connected global graphic arts community is key to maximizing the digital workflow." Meanwhile, on 6 January, Xerox announced a restructuring of the company to take better advantage of fast growing market for digital copiers and printers. The master plan is to continue Xerox's shift away from light lens (or analog) copiers to digital products which are networkable. One of the newly formed divisions is called Industry Solutions. This division will employ most of the current Xerox direct sales force and is the division which will have responsibility for the graphic arts segment. As we have been reporting in TMN, sales of Xerox digital products have overtaken light lens copiers in just the past year. Accordingly, the rumoured romance with Scitex, and its digital expertise, seems to make some sense. New Strategy at Silicon Graphics On 11 January, Silicon Graphics made a splash at The Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California, as the firm unveiled 2 new workstations called the Visual Workstation line. Silicon Graphics is making a shift in its marketing philosophy with the new hardware. Previously all SG machines were based on SG chips and the Unix operating system. The new machines are both much cheaper, starting at $3,395 and are based on Intel's Pentium chip and Microsoft Windows NT. Adobe Systems was quick to embrace the new hardware announcing yesterday that the Visual Workstations will support Adobe's full line of design and imaging software. Bryan Lamkin, Adobe's VP of Marketing, Professional Publishing Solutions said: "Our graphics professional customers will be elated by this news. Now they can combine powerful design and imaging tools with an equally powerful computing platform all at a desktop OS price." Time for Paper Power? The February issue of Individual Investor magazine suggests that it may be time for the sun to shine on the paper companies. The magazine quotes Timothy Ghriskey of Dreyfus who says that paper is a deep cyclical. By that he means: "It's hard to create demand for your brand of paper or your brand of aluminum." The magazine says that signs of life in a deep cyclical industry like paper can be found when companies buy capacity -- and cites the example of Boater purchasing Canada-based Avenor last spring; another sign is production cuts -- and the magazine cites Smurfit-Stone Container shuttering 17% of its container board operations in November. On 8 January Reuters reported that both Georgia-Pacific and Smurfit-Stone Container announced price increases as 1999 began, to take advantage of lower capacity and declining inventory. GP announced a price increase in the range of $40 to $60 a ton for uncoated free sheet, and Smurfit-Stone announced a price increase of $50 a ton on liner board and $60 a ton on corrugated medium grades. However, Reuters reported a slightly gloomier view just three days later when on 11 January it quoted Argus Research analyst Cornelius Sewell: "I expect fourth quarter earnings (for US paper companies) to be off 20 - 30 per cent versus a year ago." The news item said: "Asia's continued economic woes have meant a double whammy for paper companies in the US as demand overseas remains low while products that were headed to Asia end up in the United States, flooding the market." Fruit Flavored iMacs Later this week, Apple Computer is expected to announce its first revenue rise after 11 consecutive quarterly declines. The revenue gain is of course directly tied to the success of the iMac computer, which Apple announced last week at Macworld will now be available in blueberry, grape, tangerine, lime and strawberry colors. Other Industry Tidbits David Mainwaring, the fellow who founded the very popular Computer to Plate discussion forums announced on 11 January that the web site he created dedicated to helping graphic arts employers find qualified help -- Graphic Arts Virtual JobFair will continue as a free service until 30 March 1999. The site is dedicated to job seekers for positions below senior management level. Additional info about the site can be found by going to www.mainzone.com Bowne and Company, the worlds largest financial printer now also calls itself an information empowerment company. Consider this company capsule: "Bowne and Co., Inc., established 1775, is the global market leader in the field of empowering information by combining superior customer service with appropriate new technologies to manage repurpose and distribute a client's information to any audience, through any medium, in any language, anywhere in the world."
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