Fuel prices impacting print spend?

Appended:
I apparently wrote this before the DOE announced the National average of $3.39 per gallon yesterday afternoon so the news gets better and better! The message is still the same just even more urgent than last week.

According to the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration, Fuel prices are up 32% over this time last year. From an April 2007 average price of $2.36 per gallon to $3.11 per gallon this week. Diesel Prices currently average $3.95 per gallon up 111 cents since this time last year. Cost of shipping is definitely on the rise, paper is heavy and costly to ship, both to the printer and to the consumer. At the same time personal income has only rose 0.9% in the same period. Companies are taking a hard look at how to cut costs and anything involving freight charges will be scrutinized heavily.

Now is the time to be evaluating print production costs and focus heavily on freight charges.
What is freight costing?
Can I get a better freight cost at the expense of production costs?
Am I better served producing a job closer to the delivery destination?

If you don't have strategic suppliers providing you with cost effective print; YOU ARE LOSING MONEY. No question about it at this point. I would also heavily consider which jobs can be split to make production closer to destination so if you are split shipping consider split production. Ask your suppliers where they are producing if they have multiple facilities and challenge them if they are producing in a plant further from the destination than another plant. Now is not the time to let your suppliers dictate. I believe that the breaking point is very close. The word "Recession" is getting used daily on the news. I heard from a colleague today that his company is now on a hiring freeze. Companies are looking for cost effective ways to measure and source print spend consider looking at sourcing solutions that can help you evaluate based on these and other criteria.

Staple Offer for Corporate Express REJECTED

According to the Associated Press Corporate Express management rejected the proposal within about 2 hours of the offer being made public. CE officials sited the proposal as significantly undervaluing Corporate Express and failing to reflect CE's value.

http://news.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1074569&srvc=home&position=recent

Print Oasis 2008 this weekend!

This weekend is Print Oasis 2008 being held at Amelia Island Plantation resort in Amelia Island Florida. The show begins Saturday and runs through Tuesday, with opportunities for Print Buyers and Suppliers to mingle and gain knowledge of the latest happenings in print procurement. This is a great opportunity as well to talk with print buyers from all over the country and gain insight into the needs of print buyers. James Tower will again be exhibiting at the show. I will be there along with one of our sales reps to discuss Cross-Wind and our many other services we provide to print buyers. If you are at the show please stop by and say hi and tell me what you think. You never know you might just get mentioned in my blog! Hope to see you there!!
Information about the show can be found at: www.printoasis.com

New Customer Implementation for Cross-Wind

I am sitting in the Newark airport after leaving a new customer implementation that I have been on all week. It is Raining and flights are delayed so I thought this the perfect time to update the blog.
I have spent Monday through today in the customers office setting up print product templates to meet the customers specific needs and to add their supplier base and the buyers into Cross-Wind I will try to give you a breakdown of my week and the customers response to all of this.
Day 1
was spent understanding the customers current purchasing processes and mapping out Cross-Wind to fit that process. In addition, I reviewed a demonstration site with the customer to show them how their process would look once their application was set-up. I also added all of the customers suppliers information into the system. One of the great things about Cross-Wind, is the ability for the customer to put their specific vendors in the system.
Day 2
Set-up of modules to fit the customers need, I added the customers buying team and assigned access permissions, from there we reviewed product templates and inserted attributes for the customers templates, we applied pricing structures for their templates and we built the templates to be used.
Day 3
We reviewed the templates and pricing applied to each and then created the product-to-supplier associations. When this was completed we did a final over view of the administration tools and then began a complete walk through with the customer of their application and made minor site adjustments on the fly.
Day 4 TRAINING DAY
8:00 AM we set-up for Buyer training which was split into two sessions to allow for supplier training in between. We trained the buyers in the process of creating a project, specifying the product, selection of suppliers, and submission of the RFQ. At this point the suppliers were receiving quotes within the system and allowing them to begin review so we immediately went into supplier training. The suppliers called in to a conference bridge and a LiveMeeting demo of how to respond to quotes. The supplier training session was completed in one hour and all suppliers were able to login and begin sending responses to our training quotes. After lunch the buyers were trained to review the quotes and how to submit proposals to their customers and how to submit purchase orders back to the suppliers. The buyer and customer training was complete by 3:00 PM and the buyers spent the rest of the day practicing.
Day 5 System Live Day
When the buyers reported to work this morning they began entering live quotes within the system and began receiving quote responses from their supplier base. I answered follow-up questions and helped the buyers with any problems they were having in navigating the system. I thanked everyone for their time and the opportunity to learn another customers processes.
Overall, What a great week! The customer is extremely pleased with how Cross-Wind works and how flexible it is for them. I will follow-up with them most of next week to ensure that it is functioning in the manner they expected and I will return to their location in about 6 weeks to do a follow-up and to show them how to use the custom and scheduled report features. In addition we have tentatively scheduled a 3-day session to implement another of their buying facilities into Cross-Wind in the next 6 weeks. I can't wait to reveal the customers name, but until approvals and finalized contracts are complete I cannot. But it will show how flexible and wide ranging our customer base is.
Well I hope all have a great weekend and It looks like my flight will only be 2 and a half hours delayed!!
John

Busy, Busy, Busy, Are you busy too?

Good Morning!
Or is it afternoon I am not sure! It has been a very busy start to 2008 for me. I hope your 2008 is starting out with a bang as well. I was at the Corporate Express National Sales Meeting last week. What a great show! The Keynote speaker was Astronaut Jim Lovell who talked about his experiences on Apollo 13. A very inspiring talk. I got the opportunity to visit with almost all of the Strategic Suppliers for Corporate Express and talk with them about their experiences with Cross-Wind and how it is working for them. Almost all of them were very pleased with how it works and expressed that it helps improve their processes when quoting to their customer. In addition, the Strategic Sourcing supplier manager did a supplier survey in early December asking for the suppliers input and the preliminary analysis is showing that an overwhelming majority of Suppliers are please with the tools. I hope to have the raw data soon and to share that analysis here as well. While the weather wasn't the greatest (Cloudy and rainy Wednesday through Saturday) it sure beat the Minnesota weather I came home too (-10 degrees) on Saturday.
Next week I am off to New Jersey for another customer implementation of Cross-Wind and hopefully I will be able to announce very soon the customers name. I am out of the office all next week but will have some time to start keeping up on this blog! As always if you have questions please feel free to send me a note.
John

New Customer Implementation

I am doing a new customer implementation in December so I thought I would touch on some of the things that are involved with implementation of Cross-Wind. One of the very first questions I get asked is;
"How long is this going to take?" knowing that everyone's time is extremely valuable a standard implementation of Cross-Wind takes only 5 days (Technically 4 and a half but who's counting?)
"Is there work I need to do before the implementation?" Yes, typically we send a spreadsheet prior to implementation asking for user information to upload to the customers site prior to implementation. This information is typically Buyers, Suppliers, and Customers that will be accessing the system. If the customer already has this information contained in a database or spreadsheet we will clean the information for them and help to fill-in the blanks. One of the other things we ask customers to consider is what products do they associate to which suppliers. This helps us in the building of there custom product templates to know which templates are associated to which suppliers. We also ask our customers to supply us with copies of any forms that they are currently using to spec print so we can develop the product templates to meet their current processes.
"What is the agenda for implementation week?" I won't get into specific detail here but typical implementation consists of understanding the customers current buying process. If the customer has there process clearly defined then this goes very fast. I have spent time in advance of an implementation sitting with the customers buyers to watch how they quote print and to produce a map of the process. This helps in understanding which pieces of Cross-Wind will be needed in the development of the customers application. During implementation week we cover the basic set-up of the site and administration, how to add modules, users, templates, modify existing templates, supplier associations, buyer training, and supplier training.
"How long will it take to do the training?" Buyer training will usually take 4 to 8 hours depending on how quickly and how knowledgeable the buyers are of their processes. Supplier training typically lasts 45 minutes to an hour and a half. Supplier access to the system is very straightforward and easy to use so the suppliers can usually start processing quotes with only an hour of training. The buyer side of the system is more complex because of all of the capabilities the buyer has to specify and request print.
I typically try to schedule implementation to start on Monday morning and will try to get out of the customers office by Friday noon. The customer then has access to myself and our client services staff at no additional charge to ask any questions or walk through any issues they may have. The Call period usually only lasts about two weeks after implementation and the customer is usually very comfortable with using Cross-Wind after that. We also provide user guides and online help to our customers and their suppliers.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and if you have questions please contact me.

Are Reverse Auctions good for the Print Industry?

So the question has come up again; "does Cross-Wind do Reverse Auctions?" My biggest concern is why are buyers so infatuated with reverse auctions? I find it hard to believe that anyone in the print industry would even consider these. Have the lessons not been learned? I really would like further feedback on this from the print supplier/printers perspective.

I can tell you that I have personally sat in on reverse auctions with a printer, as an observer and I can tell you it was quite painful for the print supplier. The auction was a long duration auction lasting 3 days. The supplier reviewed the specifications and had questions as did other suppliers apparently by the feedback response that was given to the questions. Of course no one really wants to ask a question about the specs on an open forum as that may give away something none of the other bidders had considered and if the customer is not accepting questions any other way then the questions often go unanswered. The specifications in the suppliers eyes were not complete so therefore they felt they were unable to provide the best pricing and without being able to consult directly with the customer the price would not be complete. Also pricing did not start coming in to the auction site until the last 3 or 4 hours and then got really heated in the last few minutes which by looking at the price differences that printers were providing there was margin the whole time. In addition, the customer was fairly savy in that they were using a ringer. They had a supplier that truly had no intention of doing the job but was there strictly to drive the price as low as possible. Every time pricing was submitted the ringer would respond within a minute or two and counter the price by a percentage point. So if a print supplier was truly interested in the job they were forced to drop the price even further if they wanted it. The print supplier I was working with had decided early on that they were not going to get the work and that this was a waste of their time. The supplier estimated the job with their standard markup, a discounted price, and with their cost. When the auction started he offered up his discount price immediately which was a 0.5% profit margin. Within an hour he countered with his cost price which meant no profit on the job. One minute later the ringer countered that price which would have put the print supplier at a 1% loss. The right thing to do for the printer would have been to walk away at that point. However the printer knew e needed to fill the press and chose to go .5% lower (now at a 1.5% loss.) With a half hour left in the auction another supplier countered his offer. The printer while frustrated chose at this point to walk away from the job. Now once the price went below cost the printer spent most of his time that afternoon trying to run different scenarios as to how they could cut cost on the project to win the bid. This was a very painful experience for the supplier as they met and engaged the production department and pre-press in devising ways that cost could be trimmed, but without the answers or the ability to ask questions of the customer their was no way to respond without taking a complete loss on the project. The supplier walked away frustrated and realized later how much time was truly wasted in trying to respond blindly to the auction. This supplier politely turned down the next invitation to a reverse auction for this customer, and when the customer called to ask why, they politely told them that if this was the way they intended to do business from now on that they were not interested in being a supplier for them.

The customer lost out on having a consultative resource available to them. The bottom line for the supplier was that if doing business meant doing it at a loss they were not willing to risk losing their company to satisfy a customers need to save money. There is a balance and companies are in business to make money.

What are your thoughts? I am interested in hearing what Printers and Print Buyers think regarding using and completing Reverse Auctions. Post your comments! All will be posted. Thanks!

DMIA Print Solutions Conference and Expo

The DMIA Print Solutions Expo is just around the corner. This year the Conference and Expo are being held in glamorous Las Vegas on October 17 - 19. At the Las Vegas Convention Center. This is a great opportunity for print distributors and buyers to hear the latest about technologies and processes in the print industry. I was at last years event in Chicago and was just overwhelmed with all of the exhibits and opportunities to hear some great insights. This year I am going to put a little different twist in my attendance, I am planning to blog right from the floor of the exhibition center. You got it live and on the scenes coverage of the conference sessions, and the exhibit hall. I plan to blog about the sights and sounds and the insights from the attendees.

I would like to know; What sessions you think I should attend, what exhibitors should I talk to and discuss in my blog, and what questions should I ask. Here's how you can help? If you click on the questions link you can fill out the form and I will ask the questions of the suppliers or attendees and post responses back here. You can find all of the information including exhibitors and sessions at: www.printsolutionsshow.com. If you are attending the show stop by at booth 1012 and say hi! I love to hear readers thoughts and would love to discuss them with you. I will post more information as we get closer to the show.

I encourage anyone that has the opportunity to take advantage of attending this show. There are always a lot of great suppliers and a great opportunity to learn more about the print and print services industries. It is a great opportunity to go to these shows for me and discuss procurement and sometimes show Cross-Wind. I hope to see you all there!

Contracts for Procurement Systems

I am working on revamped pricing for our estimating and procurement system and was having a discussion about terms. The question of contract terms and the length of the contract came up. There are some that will use a one year agreement as a selling point. However is that really good for the print buyer in the long run? Has our society become so bent on instant gratification that we can see the trees through the forest? Buyers need to be able to evaluate system needs up front before entering into a system without knowing what they are getting. So the up side to a short term agreement is "Well I only have to use this for a year then I can get out and start looking all over again" or as a buyer you will get a sour taste in your mouth and the common statement then is "well all of these systems are the same and this one didn't work for me so none of the others out there will...it's just easier to do this manually anyway." I think what you miss by taking that kind of approach is that you do not see the long term benefit an estimating and procurement system can provide.

Now as a buyer I believe that a long term of 3 years is the optimal length of an agreement because it gives me the ability to gather data and to analyze my spend for at least two years of the term and then gives me an ability to at least start practicing forecasting in the third year of the term. By mid-year of the third year I should have enough data gathered to prove or disprove my forecasts. You see I believe that a system is not just purchased for the ability to improve you effieciency but also to capture and analyze the data from your purchasing to be able to better predict spending cycles. So a system is not just to make your job easier from day to day but it is also to gather information to help you make more informed purchasing decisions. So is it really worth your while as a print buyer to be using a system for a year to "evaluate" whether it is right for you up front? OR, is it better to know exactly what you want from a system and sign a long term agreement to get that information that will help you do a better job down the road?

What are your thoughts? Post your comments.

Have a great weekend!
John

Does the price of Fuel impact Print Production costs?

The national average for the price of gasoline today is $2.81 per gallon. But the price of gasoline has nothing to do with the equation. It is the price of diesel fuel that has an impact on print production costs. The average price per gallon of diesel fuel is $2.92, an $0.11 per gallon difference. And the price is higher today than it was a year ago by $0.067. Now that doesn't seem like much but it is significant because prices are on the rise and winter is coming.

Economics 101
Sorry for the economics lesson but in order to understand the significance let's consider just a couple of factors. Fuel Prices are already high in the mid-west and IF we have a bad winter (meaning lot's of cold and snow) combined with a shortage of refineries and lot's of competition from overseas markets for fuel oil (Asia and Europe) the price of diesel fuel will continue to rise to all time highs. Now throw in just one hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico (that shuts down production and refineries) and we will be toast. Here endth the lesson.

OK so why is diesel higher than gasoline it didn't used to be?
That's very true diesel prices before 2004 were always lower than gas. For this I will give you the Department of Energy's explanation;
Until several years ago, the average price of diesel fuel was usually lower than the average price of gasoline. In some winters when the demand for distillate heating oil was high, the price of diesel fuel rose above the gasoline price. Since September 2004, the price of diesel fuel has been generally higher than the price of regular gasoline all year round for several reasons. Worldwide demand for diesel fuel and other distillate fuel oils has been increasing steadily, with strong demand in China, Europe, and the U.S., putting more pressure on the tight global refining capacity. In the U.S., the transition to low-sulfur diesel fuel has affected diesel fuel production and distribution costs. Also, the Federal excise tax on diesel fuel is 6 cents higher per gallon (24.4 cents per gallon) than the tax on gasoline.

Alright so let's put it all together...
The cost of fuel is high, it is going to remain high, and if foreign competition is will to pay more per barrel for oil, then we are going to lose out.

So what if I buy my print in Asia?
Cost of fuel is still high, but labor and living conditions are low so it balances out you can only work a human for low pay for so long...ever here of sweat shops? I don't think it is a win to print in Asia, and with all of the substandard products coming out of that part of the world are you really willing to sacrifice cost for potential hazardous chemicals?

What can I do?
The best thing to do in today's market is to look at suppliers that can produce your job close to the destination thereby reducing freight costs. If the job is shipping to two locations seriously look for split production not split shipping. The cost of production may be higher BUT you may save overall, by reduced freight. Print Buyers should seriously evaluate freight cost first when determining production then look at the total cost for the job not just production price not just freight but the total. In today's market it is extremely important to consider freight. I have stated in an earlier post that I had a customer that routinely evaluated freight and made production decisions based on that. Now if you are using a procurement system it should have the ability to break freight out as a separate line item in pricing and to go one step further it should also be able to sub-total your production costs and your freight costs. If your procurement system doesn't allow for freight as a line item then get a new system! I am betting the cost savings in freight alone will pay for a GOOD procurement system. If your suppliers are not breaking freight out then ask them too. Don't let them give you excuses either because if they think they might lose the job because of their freight price they will hesitate to provide it. Also, now is the time to be supplier shopping. Look at your shipping destinations closely and then start looking for suppliers that are in those areas that can provide the same services that Charlie down the street is providing, just at $250.00 per shipment more. A little trick that the big boys have learned is...When a large print supplier is involved and you know the companies I am talking about, they have figured out that, if you have a job that is shipping to Cleveland and your quoting with the plant in Dallas they will get the quote from the Dayton plant and then estimate freight from Dallas for the quote. Then when you order they will produce in Dayton and charge you for shipping from Dallas. So another question I would be asking your suppliers in the quote is; where is the producing facility located? If you ask that question and get a response of; "Why is that important? OR it doesn't matter! OR my favorite...we haven't determined that yet. (Yeah right) They knew EXACTLY where they were going to produce this the minute that quote came in the door!! With the press operating systems that these major printers have they know when the pressman is on coffee break and when he will return to the press halfway across the world.

Summary
There are lot's of options available to help you cut freight costs and you need to be taking advantage of each and every available option. I also encourage you to share those little tips and tricks with your peers. If you have an idea as to haw to save money or save on freight costs post a comment to my blog. I will share all ideas with the rest of the readers. If you want to know more about diesel fuel costs go to the DOE website located here.

Print Oasis 2008 Exhibitor Opportunities Now Available

Print Oasis 2008 Print Buyers Conference & Exhibit will be held February 9-12, 2008 at the Amelia Island Plantation in Amelia Island, Florida near Jacksonville.

ARLINGTON, VA, September 5, 2007 — Print Buyers Online.com, a free, educational e-community for print buyers, print communications professionals and their suppliers in partnership with Print Communications Professionals International (PCPI), the premier association dedicated to print buyers, will host their annual Print Oasis Print Buyers Conference & Exhibit (www.printoasis.com) on February 9-12, 2008 at the Amelia Island Plantation in Amelia Island, Florida near Jacksonville.

The Print Oasis 2008 Print Buyers Conference & Exhibit is the premier independent conference focused on the needs and challenges of print buyers, specifiers and production professionals. Previous exhibitors have included printers, proofing companies, major technology firms and paper manufacturers.

Extended Exhibit Times
Print Oasis 2008 exhibit times will be extended from Sunday afternoon and evening to all day Monday, concluding with the Paper Show on Monday night. Back by popular demand, compelling mini-educational sessions will be conducted in the Exhibit Hall providing attendees with a fun way to quickly learn the tricks of the trade while promoting traffic on the exhibitor floor.

“We are thrilled to bring our annual conference to the exotic ocean-front destination of Amelia Island Plantation Resort. We are confident that conference attendees and exhibitors will enjoy this exciting locale,” said Suzanne Morgan. The Amelia Island Plantation is Florida's premier AAA-Four Diamond destination island resort. The 1,350 acre property overlooks the blue water of the Atlantic on the east and the green marshland and Intracoastal Waterway on the west. This resort is family friendly and offers many exciting amenities including four championship golf courses, tennis courts, 25 swimming pools, bicycling, fishing, beach rentals, chartered fishing boats, award-winning Youth Programs, nature tours and programs, Health & Fitness Center, aquatic sports, boat tours and The Spa & Shops. Amelia Island Plantation offers beautiful hospitality suites with ocean-views. From fine dining to casual elegance, Amelia’s restaurants offer the finest foods in a variety of atmospheres.

Exhibitors are encouraged to stay for the full conference, as the program allows plenty of opportunities to spend quality time with prospective clients. Exhibitors are invited to develop meaningful relationships by hosting a golf outing, a boat tour, a scavenger hunt, a beach bon-fire or pool party. They can also demonstrate their expertise by presenting a mini-educational seminar in the Exhibit Hall.

Exhibitor Fees
Early-bird exhibit fees start at $3,000 for a standard 10’ x 10’ booth (ending October 31, 2007) or $3,500 thereafter. Table-top exhibits for the popular Monday night Paper show, available to manufacturers and distributors of paper products only, will be $750 for early-bird registration (ending October 31, 2007) or $850 thereafter.

Print Buyers Online.com is also offering its exhibitors the opportunity for year-round promotion by combining online sponsorship of its over 12,000 member e-community or its "Think Fresh" educational web content package with a Print Oasis exhibit. Savvy print suppliers can drive more traffic and repeat visits to their websites by using this innovative web interface tool to educate buyers. Print Buyers Online.com also provides its online sponsors with tremendous exposure and a proven lead generation program. Details are available in the Print Oasis 2008 Exhibitors Prospectus.

Print Oasis 2007 exhibitor, Dan Freedland, V.P. Business Development of Primary Color, Inc. shared his experience at last year’s conference, “Print Oasis is an excellent venue for those wishing to interface with a significant community of qualified print professionals in a condensed time period.”

Booth location and event sponsorship opportunities are all determined on a first-come, first serve basis. Interested exhibitors are encouraged to contact Kimberlee Sautter, Conference Manager, today to guarantee the best spot at (703) 534-9305 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. EST or via email to ksautter@e-pbo.com. For more information about the conference, please visit www.printoasis.com.

With more than 12,000 members, who purchase over $14.1 billion in printing each year, Print Buyers Online.com is the premiere place for education and information for print buyers. A free, educational e-community, PBO provides tips, articles, Q&As, tools and resources to help print buyers learn new and existing technologies and best practices for the business of working with print suppliers. In addition to providing valuable information, Print Buyers Online.com conducts research to understand the needs and challenges of the print buying community. For a free membership to Print Buyers Online.com, please visit the PBO website.

Print Communications Professionals International (PCPI) - Created by Print Buyers Online.com, PCPI expands the services of PBO by offering robust education, resources and networking opportunities to help professionals who purchase print media provide greater value to their organizations. PCPI encourages best practices to enhance the buying and selling experience and promotes the exchange of information in a non-sales environment. The association also offers advanced certification for print communications professionals. For additional information about PCPI membership, please visit the organization's website.

Editing Supplier Information in Cross-Wind

I got a call tonight from a supplier and I thought this is probably a good time to address this issue. While it is not the most Frequently Asked Question it is up on the list of questions that I get from print suppliers so I will try to explain the edit features for suppliers here.

When a supplier logs into Cross-Wind, they can access their company information by clicking on the "Administration" section in the top navigation bar.

In the Administration section you can edit your company information in the default page. You can edit ALL of the information here and then click the Save button. If you would like to edit the USER information, click on "User Info" in the secondary navigation bar. You can change all of the information in the User Info section and click Save to update the information. This information is used in the RFQ page for contact information for the print buyer and in the supplier address book of the "Resources" section also for the print buyer.

It is a good idea for the print supplier to keep this information up to date for the print buyer so they know who and how to contact your company. This whole process should only take you about 5 minutes. If you have further questions please let me know.

Submitting Print Samples to your Printer

Everybody hates chicken scratch! So why torture your printers with it? Sometimes samples are a necessity when specifying print jobs but take the time to mark up your samples cleanly. The cleaner your samples are the easier it will be for your suppliers to review and provide accurate quotes. I suggest digitizing your samples if at all possible. The price of a cheap scanner is less than the price of a mistake in production because of miscommunication on the sample. If stock or matching ink color is the issue then obviously you need to send a sample but if your concern is the attributes then digitize that sucker and send it out via email, ftp, disk or whatever! Below are examples of a poor sample and a good sample. Put your chicken scratch on a separate sheet of paper and reference the attributes by number or letter. It makes life a lot easier for your printer and for you when referencing. Now obviously there are more sophisticated ways of doing this but if this is all you got then at least make it organized!

Ink Prices on the Rise

Today the Flint Group North America announced an increase in Ink prices. Flint cited the continuing and unprecedented rise in raw materials, transportation and energy costs as the reason for the increase.
The following inks are affected:
Publication Gravure - 10%
Publication Heatset - 8%
News Ink - 6%
Sheetfed - 5% to 7% depending on product technology and color.
Packaging – up to 12% depending on product technology and color.

Sheetfed buyers...expect these costs to be passed on to you. The increases are set to become effective October 1, 2007.

Flint Group is citing that "the increased global consumption of petroleum and petroleum derivatives, along with limited refinery capacity, continue to be the key drivers in the cost of raw materials" according to Bill Miller, President Flint Group North America.

Link to Press release: http://www.flintgrp.com/FlintGroupPressRelease.nsf/PressRelease/C9544A35B6F7ACA3852573440070F815?OpenDocument

Will XPS replace the PDF?

XPS stands for "XML Paper Specification." XPS is available in Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 07 which is available for Windows XP. XPS architecture is built specifically for the Windows Vista environment but there is a free download available from microsoft called: "Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 Redistributable Package" If you are running Office 07 on a Windows XP machine you will want this download to use XPS. You can get the XPS viewer here: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/viewxps.mspx

XPS is designed for use three ways;
As a spool file format the format which documents are submitted to the printer drivers for conversion to PDL.

As a printer command language. Newer printer are being released that support XPS just like PCL or PostScript(r) Language

As a document sharing format; allowing a static, electronic representation of the document to be shared for viewing, collaborative development, proofing, or remote printing.

Advantages and Disadvantages
There are not a whole lot of advantages of XPS as yet as it is new. There are not any disadvantages to it over PDF either. I can say that of course PDF has had ten years of maturity over XPS and is a widely accepted format for both printers and the legal profession. However, if adobe attempts to go down another road like the FedEX/Kinko's fiasco...I would say XPS will at least have the advantage. (and don't think this is the last attempt Adobe will make at this kind of venture) I would guess they are plotting right now as to how they can pull this sort of thing off again. I think at this point PDF has a pretty firm hold on the market. But, don't hold your breath! I think there are some pretty cool things in XPS and based on what I read by Global Graphics I think there may be some cool things to come!

For Printing Companies:
I would start asking your IT departments to look at XPS format and what it will take to start accepting XPS files from your customers. It is coming and I think you should get ahead of this one.

Information regarding XPS: http://www.globalgraphics.com/xps/more.html
XPS downloads: Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0 Redistributable Package for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003
XPS Viewer: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/xps/viewxps.mspx



Sources: American Printer July 07
www.globalgraphics.com
www.microsoft.com

Printers Tag-line

“expert solutions to the publishing world”

"To many of our customers we are more than a print vendor, we are an extension of their print purchasing departments because of our consultative approach to selling and customer service. We don’t just take orders, we help our customers by looking for ways to save them time and money, we remind them when they should be ordering so they don’t miss their mail dates and we help educate them on the most efficient ways to print their materials."


This printer is looking for a new tag-line to describe themselves their tag-line is this...“expert solutions to the publishing world”. Now here is my dilemma in all of this. How many of your printers describe themselves as above? Probably ALL of them "we're more that just a print vendor.....Yada, Yada, Yada!! How many print buyers have heard this? Almost every company in the U.S. says something like this "[puking], [puking]. Print Buyers, just once wouldn't it be refreshing to have a sales rep come into your office and say something like this: "We print [insert item here] and [insert other item here] we try to do our best to deliver your products on schedule and on budget. Sometimes we don't! and when we don't we will try to make it up to you the best way we can. We are humans and sometimes humans mess up! We will try to help you with anything we can but we don't do everything!" I am not saying this printer doesn't deliver what they say...I am saying actions speak louder than words! You shouldn't have to advertise your abilities you should be able to show your abilities. If your that good word will spread Print Buyers are a small but close knit community they know which printers are good and which aren't and if your that good print buyers are not afraid to make recommendations for you.

[rant]I had a supplier that I worked with in the medical field and they would come into my office and instead of trying to give me a bunch of fluff they would say "this is what we can offer you it's the best I can do. If you can find it cheaper somewhere else then buy it from them!" Sometimes they would even come in my office and say; "Here's the price of [product] but I know you can get it from [XYZ Vendor] for cheaper here's the sales reps number give him a call and he will help you out" [end rant]

Now guess who got my business 95% of the time? You got it they did! Why? Because there was no bull about how we are going to help you they actually HELPED me!! It wasn't in a tag-line or mission statement. It was what THEY did for the customer they were trained to provide WOW service to their customers. They were also the ONLY vendor that could come to my office without an appointment. They would just show up and most times they would walk out of my office without a sale in their pocket but if I needed something fast or I needed anything they were the one I called first and always. Bottom line: Cut the crap and treat your customers like they are your friend, neighbor, brother, or sister.

So this company needs a new tag-line how about this; "We will do the best job we can."

This post is dedicated to Zane and Brianna hope things are going well for you!


Excerpt from http://printceoblog.com/2007/08/printing-company-tagline

Print Procurement Questions

I am not going to say that "I am the leading authority on print procurement and print buying." But I will say that If I am asked a question I will find an answer. It may not always be the answer your looking for but I will get an answer. I have had extensive experience in purchasing and as I stated in a previous post the process of purchasing is really not much different between print or an other commodity. Now I said that word, "Commodity". Believe what you will, and I plan to address this further in a later post, print is a commodity. My background in working with both printers and print buyers gives me a unique perspective of hearing both sides objectively as compared to other pundits in the business who have an "either...or" background. I encourage, you to ask me questions. I am not going to give fluffy answers. I will tell you the way I see it or as I have heard it said. If you have a question related to print or print procurement send me an email at: jgangerjt@gmail.com

Buyer VS Print Buyer

When we started designing a web-based print procurement system, I drew from my background as a Purchasing Manager as my knowledge base for design. Now as a good Product Manager I spent time with Print Buyers from all across the country to get an understanding of what print buying was about. Now, after lots of years in purchasing I had a preconceived opinion that print buyers had basically created an aura of mystic around print purchasing, so others in the company would not question what they did and that way their job was secure from other purchasing agents taking it. I must admit today and after countless conversations and interviews with print buyers that theirs is much more specialized than most purchasing agents.
Nevertheless, print buyers can learn a few things from their counterparts in purchasing.

Keep an open mind and look at the purchasing departments process from the 50,000 foot level.
Look at what things look similar to what you are currently doing and then take a hard detailed look at those things they do differently.
Analyze how they would fit into your current process, will they trim time from an already long process?
Experiment, try these things that you think might be of value, and measure the results, (if you need to time the process then do it.)

I had a customer a few years back that the print buyers swore up and down that the way they were buying print WITHOUT a system was faster than with their new system. Management brought in a team of time keepers to sit with the buyers and measure. They would do the project the way they were used to doing it, then they would do the EXACT same job in Cross-Wind. The results even surprised them, they were actually doing the jobs in HALF the time in Cross-Wind versus the OLD way (and it quickly became the OLD way!) The problem was open mindedness, and they readily admitted that they thought it was more complicated doing it through a system rather than filling out the form and faxing or emailing. They also thought it was taking longer to get vendor responses back when really it also was taking less time.
The moral to this little story...Keep an open mind.

If something doesn't work, increases workload or time, then stop doing it! Take the good things from the procurement departments process and toss the rest out with the bath water. In addition, your purchasing manager might find out in the process that print procurement IS different than other types of purchasing and they might even get a deeper respect for your talents! I sure did!

Reverse Auctions the Gold Rush is Over!

Is anybody still using these things? If they are and you are reading this then I guess I am about to stir a hornets nest!

I read probably the best article ever on reverse auctions a couple of months ago By Mohanbir Sawhney at CIO.com called: Reverse Auctions Cutting Costs. In the article he points out the historical facts that the biggest reason these became popular is because GE claimed huge savings by doing them. Mohanbir also points out that Reverse Auctions can be damaging to supplier relationships. I believe most are finding out that this statement is quite true. I have talked with several suppliers who have out and out refused to do reverse auctions and have told even valued, long time customers that they would rather lose the business than participate in a reverse auction. Suppliers are revolting because of the consumption of time involved in responding to a reverse auction. Often times these auctions are open for hours and usually tie up an estimator and a production manager during the entire auction attempting to shave pennies off an already profitless project. Reverse auctions may serve a purpose in industries where there are bloated profit margins. But in the print industry where the profit leaders are netting between 2 and 3 per cent and the rest are lucky to net .5% profits, reverse auctions can be detrimental to a printers business. I know someone will claim they are saving 20% or better on jobs they have quoted using a reverse auction but I would counter that they were probably using the wrong supplier in the first place. The bottom line is you could probably research suppliers, submit and receive well priced quotes in less time than it takes to conduct a reverse auction. I would also venture to guess that you will get comparable pricing with less work on every one's part.

Reverse auctions are a fad in the print industry and fads usually last about 18 months. Is anyone even doing reverse auctions anymore? If you are maybe you should seriously take a look at the time involved in conducting a reverse auction and what suppliers you are quoting with. As a wise man said at Print Oasis in 2005 "Reverse Auctions, I wouldn't do'em"

Selecting Printers - Distance is not Dead

I read an article today by Jim Van Natter saying that "You can find exactly the right printer with the right combination of equipment and services at the right price anywhere in the world. And because the Internet allows instant communication, you can transfer files, view and approve PDF proofs, and place orders without having to actually go to “your printer’s shop.”"*

Now no doubt, the age of the Internet and portable document files and vendor management tools has made it easier to quote and purchase from a wider variety of print suppliers, and making it faster and easier to quote and purchase. However, the cost of freight and the cost of moving that product is still a great concern. If nothing else it makes it easier to have your print buyers located in one office or part of the country and allow them to make print purchasing decisions for another office halfway around the world. So making the statement "Distance is Dead" is not true. With the price of fuel and shipping on the rise print buyers should be focusing on the freight charges from the print supplier to their destinations. Instead of splitting shipping as buyers have done in the past consider splitting production. Can you get smaller amounts of print done by two suppliers for the same amount you could get the whole job done at one supplier. This is where digital print can play a key role. I suggest making freight a primary consideration when looking at how you can cut costs. Do you ask your printer for freight costs? and do you ask them to break out based on split shipments? If you do wonderful! If not start! Looking for an area to cut costs? This is it!

One of my customers came to me several years ago asking that they be able to move the freight charge to the top of their comparison sheet. I was a little confused until they explained that the first thing they consider in purchasing print is the freight charge. Often times they would go with a higher production cost, as long as their freight charges were cheaper. They would then compare that with a contract rate and go with the cheaper shipper. They could then specify to their supplier whether the supplier would pay for shipping or, they would issue a shipping number to them and pay for the shipping themselves. Putting extra attention on the shipping charges actually saved them money in the long run. Much more than it cost to do the extra work. So I conclude that Distance is NOT dead it has shifted from one end of the process to the other.

*Excerpt from Graphic Arts Monthly Blogs - How do prospects choose printers (part-2) By Jim Van Natter