Day2_18

GraphExpo_ShowDaily_September_26_2016

Printing Industries of America Honors the Best of the Best in Print After almost a full year of preparing printed pieces and meticulous judging, Printing Industries of America (Booth 1425)wrapped up the 2016 Premier Print Awards with their annual gala event held last night at the Orlando Hilton Hotel. Attendees had the unique opportunity to see all of the winning pieces fi rsthand before any were released to the public. After perusing through the winners over cocktails, the group sat down for a full course meal and watched peers accept their most-deserved “Benny” statues onstage. The night was full of fun, laughter, astonishment, and—most importantly—print. This year was a tough one for the judges. As Michael Makin, President and CEO at Printing Industries of America put it, “We were astounded by the quality of entries this year. The creativity, design, and innovation displayed made the competition extremely diffi cult to judge because there were so many spectacular submissions.” For those who walked home with a Benny statue last night, it was a welcome gesture in response to all of their hard work. Among the 2016 winners, there were pieces that called for multiple processes, extensive hand work, challenging fi nishing, brilliant color reproduction, and other outstanding features. For example, Classic Color, a company based out of Illinois and a member to the Great Lakes Graphic Association affi liate, took home the Best of Category award in the binding category. Sappi’s The Standard Volume 6: Bindery Techniques included four different types of binding techniques in one book. Not only did this informative piece talk the talk of binding, it walked the walk. The “Benny” statue in the hi-fi delity printing category went to QuadWilliamson from Dallas, TX. This member company from the PIA MidAmerica affi liate created the Jacobs Annual Report that stunned the judges with brilliant halftones that made the report come alive. According to one judge, “the use of color screamed ‘read me,’” and they congratulated everyone involved with a job well done. Of course, international companies won big as well at the Premier Print Awards Gala. CJ Graphics from Canada, a member of the Printing Industries of America OPIA affi liate, walked out with a “Benny” for their digitally printed cookbook Blue Dragon Chop To Chopsticks where tastes and textures were captured digitally and tastefully. Then, Body of Work (out of Australia) won multiple Best of Show awards with exceptionally printed pieces. For instance, the calendar piece “Body of Work ‘One’” wowed the judges with its size, case bound, and stochastic screen printing technique. After losing one of the graphic communications industry’s greatest pressmen and supporters, Jim Mayes, Printing Industries of America set out to honor him by creating the James H. Mayes Jr. Memorial Best of Show Award. The inaugural winner of this memorial award was given to Artron Art Group for the Equation of Time Peter Lik piece. Peter Lik spent years perfecting his photography and his pictures were printed in a Smythe Sewn leather bound collector’s edition. The beautiful production weighs 106 pounds and measures 27x19.7" in size. One judge noted, “In my 30 years of judging, this is fi nest entrant. Wish I could afford to buy a copy.” Starting today, you can see all of these pieces—as well as more of the Best of Show winners from the 2016 Premier Print Awards Gala—at the Printing Industries of America booth. Stop by booth 1425 to see these pieces with your own eyes and learn what it really takes to win a Premier Print Award from Printing Industries of America. 6 Steps to Print MIS Software Success You’ve heard the adage “it’s not rocket science” so many times, yet implementing major new software, such as a Print MIS system, throughout your company can sometimes feel like it. Preparation and communication before decisions are made is very important. Resistance to change is a natural human instinct, but one that can quickly derail the best intentioned project. If your team isn’t on board, the chances of failure are high. It is important to encourage everybody to participate and be openly accountable throughout the entire process. By following these steps, you can help solidify your team and guide them through the process of reevaluating the way jobs run through your shop: 1 Defi ne and articulate the vision of what you are trying to achieve for your business. Begin the venture with an explanation of why you want to change the way things are done. Provide specifi c examples and keep the conversation going. By focusing on the strategy and desired outcomes, you will help people understand the bigger picture and the reasons for the changes you are going to ask them to make. 2 Analyze your current processes at every step throughout your shop’s workfl ow. This is the time to utilize your team’s knowledge of their positions, and show them that their involvement in the process is key to success. Sit your team down and work through typical job workfl ows and elicit suggestions of how things could be done better. This collaborative approach can pay dividends down the road. 3 Create clear and measurable objectives you want to see as a result. Think about your workfl ow and the types of jobs you run. How fast do you turn jobs around? How many touches does a typical job take? What does this mean for your costs of production? Are you running some types of jobs at a loss? What kind of benchmarks should you use to quantify improvements? What kind of timeline is appropriate for your organization? 4 Appoint a project leader. This isn’t a technology role, but a business role, so make sure they have a broad understanding of your entire operation and they are a leader, since they will need to convince others that this is the right thing for everyone. They will need to be able to clearly communicate the strategy, listen to others, and inspire them to be part of the process. 5 Be proactive throughout the implementation process. Set clear deadlines, make sure everyone involved has a set of learning and implementation tasks assigned to perform. Run weekly project meetings with your project leader and team to ensure deadlines are reached. 6 Don’t wait for 100% perfection before going live with your system. You know from past experience that you can conduct business with a less than perfect system. Wrinkles will still need to be ironed out and other things will only come up once you start working in a real-life environment. This is normal and should be built into your planning, expectations, and timelines. Implementing something as disruptive as a new MIS system is not something to be taken lightly, but if you get your team on board, across the entire company, and set clear and actionable goals for success, it should become aeasier. For personalized advice on how our print MIS system can benefi t your workfl ow, visit PressWise by SmartSoft (Booth 2384). Give Back @ GRAPH Join OutputLinks Communications Group and the EDSF Board of Directors for the “Give Back @ GRAPH” EDSF Scholarship Night, tomorrow, Sept. 27, from 5-8 pm at the Hyatt Regency Orlando. The event directly follows the closing of the GRAPH EXPO exhibit hall for the day, and attendees are encouraged to come in what they were wearing for the day at the show. This is a great way to enjoy a fun fi lled evening while supporting the EDSF Scholarship program. It will feature cocktails and networking with key industry executives, followed by dinner and live and silent auctions of exciting products and packages donated by EDSF supporters. The event will also be recognizing the OutputLinks Communications Group Women of Distinction and will hear from the scholarship recipients. 100% of the proceeds from this event will go to benefi t the EDSF Scholarship Program, and are tax deductible within the U.S. 18 | September 26, 2016 | GRAPH EXPO 16 Offi cial Show Daily | PrintingNews.com


GraphExpo_ShowDaily_September_26_2016
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