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 NAPL/R&E Pressroom Productivity Conference:
Profiting from Specialized Markets
by C. Clint Bolte
This 31st annual seminar held November 1-3, 2005 at the Marriott O’Hare Hotel in Chicago drew nearly 140 attendees. Unfortunately three quarters of this number were supplier representatives and consultants rather than printers. The content of this gathering was outstanding and very timely, as this article will report. However, suppliers were heard to discuss what type of meeting format would better draw their printer prospects. Supplier budgets are becoming more restricted and simply cannot justify support for venues that don't give them greater exposure before decision makers.
New Blood
Keynote presenter Joe Davis, Chairman & CEO of Consolidated Graphics, described the challenges facing the printing industry and his firm’s response. All of their nonprinting services such as variable data one-to-one, cross media and fulfillment services are being marketed as CGX Solutions by a special team of experts. Finding quality people is an increasing problem. Consolidated Graphics’ answer is to hire four national recruiters to interview at 70 colleges located near their subsidiaries.
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Competitors have complained about this pirating practice to which he responds, “If your employees want to stay with you, you won’t have a problem.” |
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The college grad new hires enter their Leadership Development Program for a structured two-year training program. After spending 3-6 months in a department learning and making meaningful contributions, the individual is given a written exam covering what s/he should have learned.
Started in 1991 by 2000 there were 130 of these Associates hired into this program and this year that number has accumulated to 225 new leaders or about three per regional company. While many have chosen to leave the company, several have gone to work for clients whom Davis thinks will ultimately benefit Consolidated Graphics. Davis introduced two of his firm’s young associates to the conference attendees and read the rave reviews of their supervisors. It would have been interesting to talk with these young professionals and welcome them into the industry. But they left the conference with Davis only minutes after his presentation missing the remaining 43 presentations and their resulting educational insights.
Davis challenged NAPL and R&E to be more aggressive at helping attract craftsmen to the printing industry. Consolidated Graphics is not waiting for that to happen, as their national recruiters are paid commissions to hire journeyman craftsmen from their competitors. He acknowledged that competitors have complained to him about this pirating practice to which he responds, “If your employees want to stay with you, you won’t have a problem.”
A PGSF recruiting video was described from the audience by Fuji’s Larry Warter, which has been prepared for presentation to high schools’ vocational education students. Davis was not aware of this initiative but volunteered to help distribute the videos to high schools in his companies’ locations.
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