More than 1,200 people came to Jay Mandarino’s party, where he personally shucked at least 300 of the 3,500 oysters eaten in a few short hours set aside each year to celebrate the printing industry. After battling dyslexia at a young age, Mandarino would found C.J. Graphics and go on to win more than 2,000 awards, as well as the respect of many peers for his tireless efforts in promoting the value of print.
Jon Robinson: How many projects do you submit a year into award competitions?
People think we submit hundreds of entries and so that, yeah, we are going to win a bunch. But 80 per cent of what we enter wins and that’s a high number. It’s incredible.
What has this done for C.J. Graphics?
When you get a piece of jewelry in a Birks box it represents a certain quality. You know you are getting more. I think this is what the name C.J. Graphics represents. People will come here and pay more. We get three or four phone calls a day inquiring about our services. Now, more come from the U.S. than Canada.
How does this affect your sales team?
The problem was they were starting to stay in the office, so I got them all blackberries. It’s made a huge difference. Because there were so many referrals, a salesperson would tend to stay in the office to take the calls. Now we rotate the inquires by email [to sales’ Blackberries] and they call that person right back. Everybody wants to respond so fast.
How can print become a front-of-mind medium for the Blackberry/iPod generation of media buyers?
It’s a huge challenge because everybody wants it yesterday and the new generation is actually accepting less quality. And there is also less quantity of print, which is why you will see so many digital machines out there from Xerox and other manufacturers. They see that market and what is going on. [C.J. recently installed one of Canada’s first DocuColor 8000 devices.]
How much research and development does C.J. Graphics put into printing processes?
We have some people whose job description and function includes research and development. We are pretty high up on this and we work with other leading manufacturers and non-local printers to develop new things.
Any new projects underway?
We are doing some special work with coatings right now, which I think will become revolutionary in the next little while.
"North America, I think, is going to be in for a rude awakening. We just cannot compete... We are so spoiled." |
Are you talking about the glass-like coatings that caught so much attention at drupa?
We can only talk in general terms because we are under contract, but there was some stuff launched at drupa. There are some people [in Canada] currently working on it. Whoever gets it first is going to do well with it. Like anything it has limited application, but everybody is looking for new things right now.
What print process holds the most potential for your company?
We just finished some waterless beta testing and we were quite pleased with it. When we bought our latest [Heidelberg SM 74] printing press, we had them make it with multi-channel control preset for waterless printing. We paid extra to have it made that way. We worked with Master Flo and had a multi-zone ink temperature control system built, so that we can control the temperature individually on each of the units.
How important is the environment to printing’s future?
With everything coming up in the next couple of years, some people will be charged. There are huge issues with waste removal and stuff, and a lot of people won’t be able to afford to make the changes that they need.
If given the funding, what print process would you most want to invest in for your future?
There is not one specific thing. In our business the printing is a small part of the whole. We are more of a graphic communications company. We are working out marketing ideas with people. But I think variable data is a huge growth area and that is one area where I am spending a lot of money because whoever controls the information controls the client.
Is this a business space for printers, because it really is a completely new marketplace?
I think it is where they have to go.
Do you hire an experienced offset salesperson, an IT manager or a marketing manager?
I would probably lean more toward a marketing manager and in that I’m sort of answering on behalf of all printers. I believe printers have to rethink their strategy about who they are and where they plan to be in the next five to 10 years. You need marketing solutions.
That said, where does IT fit in moving forward?
A lot of the challenges that printers face right now come from how fast technology is evolving and it is so expensive for a printer to stay in business. It is almost impossible to make money. The average printing company is making between two and four per cent now. For the amount of investment needed, the capital cost, the stress and headaches that go with it, you are crazy to be a printing company. Printers say, “I’m going to go buy a printing press” and I ask why. Why would you want to invest in a printing company? You cannot just invest in a printing company anymore. You need to invest in a communications company.
Where does your hard work ethic come from?
I have something called dyslexia and at a young age I was sort of getting into trouble in high school, even in grade school. I was getting low grades and teachers were telling me that I was stupid. My parents were pretty sure that I wasn’t, and then they found out that I had this challenge. They said the best thing was that I go into a halfway house and forget university. Even forget high school, maybe work as a gasoline attendant and if I was lucky I might be able to become an apprentice mechanic.
I am now the co-chair of the Learning Disabilities Association’s Stay in School program in Ontario, where I go out and talk to students and try to give them encouragement. I tend to be more optimistic because I was told that I couldn’t do it. I look at it as a tool, because it allows me to see things differently.
What do you make of all the talk these days about the 29-inch market versus the 40-inch market and the large-format market versus half web printing?
We used to farm most of our 40-inch work out and were primarily a 29-inch printer, but now we are going to that next level. Printers have no idea what to do. They are scared. They know they have to do something but no one is sure what the right thing is. When someone does talk about 29-inch versus 40-inch the reality is that there is a substantial price reduction. With a 29-inch press you only need two people, as where with a 40-inch you really can use three people.
How significant is the manufacturing growth of China to printing in Canada?
North America, I think, is going to be in for a rude awakening. We just cannot compete. Look at the book manufacturing moving there, for example. I am printing fewer and fewer books, unless it is a specialty book or if there is a unique time frame. You cannot compete with the labour rates and that is going to be a huge challenge in the future. We are so spoiled in North America.
What does the future hold for printing companies in North America?
I predict there will be 50 per cent less printers in the next probably year to three years, which is a high number. It is already happening now. There is just not enough demand for it.
