The printing and graphics students at Dubiski High School in South Grand Prairie Texas walked away with 16 awards at the recent Texas Skills USA competition in Corpus Christi.  Eight of those students were national qualifiers and will travel to Louisville, Kentucky this summer to compete with students from all over the U.S.  

Dubiski is one of several print/graphics programs supported by the Nolan Moore Foundation, PIA MidAmerica's educational foundation.  The Foundation provides funding as well as other resources to these programs which are developing students who see a potential career path in the industry.
 

SkillsUSA is recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and is cited as a successful model of employer-driven youth development training program by the U.S. Department of Labor.  The organization serves technical, skilled and service occupation instructional programs in public high schools, career and technical centers and schools and two and four year colleges. SkillsUSA annually serves more than 320,000 student members, organized into more than 3,800 schools and 54 states and territorial associations

Direct mail is one of the robust sectors in the world of print, and as marketing budgets expand it will continue to be a key component of printed communications.  One of the challenges for print providers is making sure firms using direct mail are cognizant of the rules which make for an effective piece.  Sales teams should be sharing tips with customers on a regular basis.  If the print provider is involved with the design process, management needs to ensure that their production teams are utilizing that same knowledge.  Here's a story from Target Marketing that's worth sharing.

Value Stream Mapping is a key process used by companies in the early stages of developing a Lean Program.  If you would like to learn more about Lean and/or this Lean tool, plan on attending our DFW Lean Roundtable, which is held the 2nd Thursday of every month.  This month's meeting will be held at Olmsted-Kirk Paper Company (Valley View and Luna) at 11:30 this coming Thursday, April 9th at 11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.  You can register here - or you can contact us for more information by calling Dave Pierson at (469) 249-8271.

One of the concerns voiced frequently by many is the communication changes occurring between generations.  Specifically as it applies to the Millennials who are now beginning to enter the workforce and are much more reliant on digital technology than their predecessors. Here's what "Marketing Profs" had to say in an online article titled "B2B Buying: Millennials vs. Gen X and Baby Boomers."

 "Millennials B2B buyers want to interact directly with vendors' representatives far more than Gen X or Baby Boomers buyers when researching products and services, according to a recent report from IBM.

The report was based on data from a survey of 704 people who influence or are responsible for B2B purchasing decisions of $10,000 or more for their company. Respondents came from 12 countries and 6 industries.

The researchers compared the responses of Millennial employees (born 1980-1993) with those of Gen X (born 1965-1979) and Baby Boomers (born 1954-1964). Millennial buyers rely most heavily on information provided by vendors when researching products and services, the analysis found.

In contrast, Gen X buyers rely most on third-party articles, blogs, reviews to research vendors, and Baby Boomers rely most on tradeshows."