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Here's what's covered in today's "HOTLINE"
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DFW Gala Registration CLOSES TODAY!
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New iLearning Center Course
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The Economy is Taking Off - Are YOU?
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- Tech Expert at your Finger Tips
- Welcome NEW Member - Omni Solutions
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The Passing of a Legend - Tim Trabon
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Trade Tariffs Impact our Industry
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PIA National INTERTECH Technology Awards
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Calendar of Upcoming Events
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DFW GALA REGISTRATION CLOSES TODAY!
You don't want to miss this event! With a fabulous theme and hundreds of people attending this will be THE networking event of the year! Register NOW and you could be the lucky winner of the golden ticket!
Next Thursday is the day we will find out which nominee has been chosen by the community as our Texas & Oklahoma Print Champion of the Year! The nominees are Bill Ehrlich, ColorDynamics; Suzanne Stewart, Impact Stamping; Blakeley Warner, Olmsted-Kirk Paper and Jim Waterman, formerly with Veritiv.
If you are in Kansas or Missouri your chance at the golden ticket is on April 26th with your Print Evangelist Nominees being announced at that time.
REGISTER TODAY!
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PRINT scores BIG!
Print scores high in latest ISM survey...
Printing and related support activities soared in February according to the
latest ISM (Institute for Supply Management) survey of manufacturing covering 18 U.S. manufacturing sectors.
Print was number one out of 15 industries with growing sales; number three out of 15 sectors with growth in new orders; number one out of 14 sectors in growth of production activity; and number one out of 11 sectors with growing employment.
SHARE THE NEWS! Tell your clients, tell your vendors, tell your neighbors & family. We work in a GREAT industry!
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Yet another new
iLearning Center course!
Free to all printer members, there's a brand-new course available in the iLearning Center titled Creating PDFs for Print Production. Go under the hood and learn all about the settings to choose from when creating PDFs, what they do, and how to know which options to select for specific workflows and printing processes. Get knowledgeable about PDF specs and standards, image sampling and compression, transparency handling, and color options. Finally, learn what settings work best when creating PDFs for both digital and offset printing.
To learn more visit
https://www.printing.org/ilearning
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The Economy is Taking Off!
Are YOU?
By Bob Lindgren
Exploding investment, increasing employment and general business optimism demonstrate that 2018 will be a year of real growth. Your firm can (and surely must) participate in this growth.
Your growth must start with a commitment to fully utilize the capacity you already have before adding additional capacity. It's the rare printer who couldn't increase their sales by at least 50% without adding any more equipment or plant than they already have.
In 2018's world of increasing demand, achieving this sort of growth will turbocharge your bottom line, building a foundation of financial strength. How can you get to a 50% increase? First, check out your hit ratio (quotes divided by orders). If it isn't at least 50%, your pricing (estimating) system is out of touch with your reality. If you've identified prospects who have work that you could handle, but you're not getting the order, you must concentrate on getting the order from them by getting into their price ball park. You can't demonstrate the value of your service if you're not doing business. Second, really get to know your customer's and prospect's businesses. Knocking on the door and saying "do you have anything we can quote on" is not the way forward. Successful, solid relationships are built upon the printer being a trusted, go to resource for the customer. A resource that's totally focused on helping them achieve their goals of increased sales and profitability. Third, work on expanding your sales team. This can take the form of hiring new reps or building relationships with print brokers (or both). Look for someone who is hungry and motivated, then really help them get started while accepting the reality that outside sales are tough and the possibility of failure is great. Don't ignore print brokers as a resource as the best of them are project managers who are helping their customers with a total range of needs. If your manufacturing capabilities work for them, they can bring you the volume of work that can fill your capacity--at usually lower prices but without sales costs.
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Graphex Best of Category Winners Automatically Submitted to the PIA National Premier Print - Benny Competition
PIA MidAmerica members will begin receiving information from PIA National on the upcoming International Premier Print Competition. WE'VE GOT YOU COVERED! If you submitted an entry to our Graphex Award Competition and received a Best of Category Award we are submitting it for YOU in the International competition. Just another perk of being a PIA MidAmerica member
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If you did not get your entries submitted to us in time for the MidAmerica Graphex competition we can still submit for you internationally. Mail 3 copies of your entry to Cristen Perkowski at our office located at 5720 LBJ Freeway, Suite 655, Dallas, TX 75240 or email her for more info at
[email protected]
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Tech Expert at your Finger Tips
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Ask The Tech Experts
is a resource of PIA National's Center for Technology and Research that features the responses to questions covering a wide gamut of topics.
If you would like to ask a technical question, simply email Dillon Mooney at [email protected] or call PIA's toll-free hotline at 1-800-910-4283.
I received some logo artwork from a client in SVG file format. What is an SVG file?
The Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format has been around since 2001 but is rarely seen by printers, mainly because it's a web-based file. SVG files are basically Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) code that illustrates vector files in a browser.
They're used by web designers frequently because of their small file size and high-quality for vector graphics. If you come across one as a printer, it's recommended you contact the client and request new artwork. However, if that's not possible, it's as simple as opening the file in Illustrator and saving an EPS file.
You will need to confirm and adjust colors with the client because SVG files convert all colors to RGB.
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Welcome NEW Member ~
omni solutions
Omni Solutions delivers measurable, bottom line results through the implementation of a unique digital print workflow and business process automation platform called Praxis. Praxis works with existing systems to deliver immediate value through enhanced integration, increased equipment utilization and labor reduction in all departments."
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The Passing of a Legend
TIMOTHY MICHAEL TRABON DECEMBER 27, 1950 - MARCH 17, 2018
Tim Trabon - husband, father, friend, entrepreneur, explorer, horseman, rancher, storyteller - passed away on March 17, 2018, in Houston, TX.
After the passing of his own father, 50 years ago this spring, Tim, then 17, was left with a Heidelberg letterpress and a final instruction from his father: "I have full confidence that my son, Tim, will carry on the family business." And that, he did. From those humble beginnings in the basement of his family home, Tim would surpass his father's wildest dreams. Today, a half-century later, the printing business not only endures but thrives, by Tim's design, in a digital age in which most family businesses have not.
But Tim could not settle on only one of life's paths - he had places to go. Twenty-nine years old and eager to see the world, Tim, through sheer force of will, found himself under the wing of famed underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau. Only after years of trying and failing could he finally call the fabled Calypso, home. He went on to earn his red cap on expeditions that probed areas unknown, from the Amazon rainforest to the indigenous villages of Papua New Guinea.
His business could wait, and his steadfast wife, Patti, told him to chase his dreams. Later in life, horses, cattle, and the tough people who shepherd them charged into Tim's life and would remain there until the end. Tim took to horses and they to him. Raising and caring for animals would become his greatest and most beloved lifelong challenge. On his ranch was where Tim felt most alive - his father had dreamed of having one, too.
Tim helped people, often those he did not know; hoping to give others the same small foothold that he had been given. Without hesitation, Tim and Patti welcomed a young girl, Delila, from war-torn Bosnia into the comforts of their home and soon called her one of their own. Tim had a soft spot for those who yearned to live like he did.
All his life, Tim continued to chase new ideas and relationships and experiences, always following Patti's nod. He co-founded an art education company with his son. He built an olive oil import business after a visit to his familial homeland, Sicily. He boxed heavyweight fighters. He rode bulls and broncos and motorcycles - all fast. He earned the respect of hardened cowboys and acclaimed artists, alike. He took his sons everywhere with him and showed them to be good men, and expected nothing else. Tim inspired those who knew him and his absence will leave a cavernous hole in the hearts of all those who loved him. In the final months of his life, he wrote: "Say yes more than no. If there is a door in front of you, walk through it." He left the rest to the divine. Tim, son of Michael and Mary (Triscari) Trabon, is survived by his wife, Patricia; his sons, Michael (Roop Bhatti), Timothy, and Anthony; and his sister Elizabeth Brockman.
Tim will be honored at the Kansas City Awards Gala with the Print Evangelist Award forever being named in his honor. Join us on April 26th in Kansas City to show your support.
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INTERTECH
TECHNOLOGY AWARDS
PIA National is currently seeking cutting-edge print and graphic arts technologies from manufacturers and suppliers of equipment and software for entry in the 2018 InterTech™ Technology Awards.
Pay for your entry by March 31, 2018, to qualify for a $500 discount.* A special fee is available for small manufacturers and suppliers.
The final deadline for the 2018 InterTech™ Technology Awards is June 1, 2018. Visit www.printing.org/intertech to get the full program details and start your entry today!
*Early-bird discount is qualified by payment received by March 31, 2018, and does not require full submission of entrant's materials until the final program deadline of June 1, 2018.
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President Announces Trade Tariffs and Other Measures Against China;
Input Will be Sought on Scope of Tariffs
By Ryan Ong, National Association of Manufacturing
President Donald Trump on March 22 signed an
executive order
to impose tariffs on billions of dollars' worth of imports from China based on findings of IP theft and technology transfer in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative's (USTR) Section 301
investigation report
. These tariffs on a list of products that will be unveiled in the next 15 days will go through a public comment process allowing manufacturers to weigh in. Those tariffs are one of a set of proposed remedies that also included planned restrictions on Chinese investment in U.S. high-tech industries and a World Trade Organization (WTO) case against discriminatory licensing practices.
Just prior to today's announcement, NAM President and CEO Jay Timmons
weighed in
, praising the Administration's focus on addressing intellectual property theft but urging caution
on tariffs given the potential impacts on manufacturers in the United States: "Tariffs... are likely to create new challenges in the form of significant added costs for manufacturers and American consumers... [and] also run the risk of provoking China to take further destructive actions against American manufacturing workers." Timmons argued that real progress depends on a strategic approach: "The only way we'll truly make lasting progress is through a strategic approach that uses both carrots and sticks to accelerate changes to Chinese policies, which should include efforts to forge a fair, binding and enforceable trade agreement with China that requires them to end these practices once and for all." The NAM has been actively engaged throughout the 301 investigation process, advocating for manufacturers' views on IP challenges they face in China and the need for such a strategic approach with senior and working-level officials across the Administration and providing
detailed comments
to USTR.
President Trump's executive order announced a series of remedies that would roll out over the next several weeks and months:
- Tariffs: Though the executive order did not explicitly state a figure, President Trump's remarks and NAM sources indicate that tariffs will likely cover $50-60 billion of imports.
- Further details provided in the executive order and in USTR's press release and fact sheet indicate that these tariffs would be a 25% import tariff on products supported by Chinese industrial policies such as aerospace, information technology, and machinery, though other sectors named in industrial policies such as Made in China 2025 plan could also be included.
- The full list of proposed products for tariffs will be published by USTR within 15 days via a Federal Register notice, with a public comment period of 30 days, a public hearing, and an interagency review before the final list of products is announced.
- Investment Restrictions: The executive order directs Treasury to propose executive branch action, in consultation with other senior executive branch officials, to "address concerns about investment in the United States directed or facilitated by China in industries or technologies deemed important to the United States." Under the executive order, Sec. Mnuchin must report back to the president on progress within 60 days.
- WTO Case on Discriminatory Licensing: USTR was also directed to file a WTO dispute settlement case against China for discriminatory technology licensing practices. On March 23, USTR announced that it had filed a request for WTO consultations with China. Amb. Lighthizer required to report to the president on progress within 60 days.
Other key questions for manufacturers - negotiating with the Chinese to prompt policy change, U.S. coordination with other trading partners, and potential Chinese responses - remain unanswered at this point. China has responded quickly to the investigation, with statements from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
(China would "surely take all necessary measures" to protect its interests) and
Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai
(China "will certainly fight back and retaliate" and "see who will last longer").
President Temporarily Exempts EU and Several Countries from Section 232 Steel and Aluminum Tariffs Pending Negotiations; Quotas Possible on Exempted Countries; New Partial Retroactivity for Product Exclusions
On Thursday, March 22, the President announced adjustments to
steel
and
aluminum
tariffs to temporarily exempt imports from designated countries until May 1, marking a change from proclamations that had been issued earlier this month (see initial notices on
steel
(Proclamation 9705) and
aluminum
(Proclamation 9704)) under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. Specifically, the President exempted from the 232 tariffs all imports of steel and aluminum from the countries of the European Union, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and South Korea until May 1. The proclamations also modify the original exemptions for Canada and Mexico, subjecting them to the May 1 deadline. As described in the proclamations' findings, the United States is negotiating with each of these countries and the exemption from tariffs may be extended if there is a successful resolution of negotiations.
Additional Country Negotiations and Quotas
: These new proclamations note that other countries may seek to negotiate with the United States, a category that could include Japan (not currently exempted). In an accompanying
White House release
, the White House indicated that quotas may be applied to countries exempted from the tariffs. Assistant to the President and White House Director of Trade and Industrial Policy, Peter Navarro,
indicated
that quotes would be required, stating: "[e]very country that is not facing tariffs that we're going to negotiate with will face quotas so that we protect our aluminum and steel industries. For all countries, there has to be a quota."
Product Exclusion Retroactivity
: In addition, these proclamations provide some retroactivity for product exemptions, stating that the "relief shall be retroactive to the date the request for exclusion was posted for public comment." This differs from the forms originally posted by the Commerce Department that had indicated tariff relief would be effective five business days after the approval is posted on
www.regulations.gov
.
Chinese Retaliation
: In response, China's Ministry of Commerce today labeled the steel and aluminum tariffs as a "safeguard action" and announced proposed tariffs on $3 billion in U.S. exports on 128 products (full list with HS codes in Chinese
here
). Those products were divided into two categories: a 15% tariff on 120 products that include seamless steel pipes, modified ethanol, wine, and various agricultural products, and a 25% tariff on an additional eight pork and recycled aluminum products. China is seeking
public comment on the product list
- including products to add or remove - through March 31.
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MEMBERS RECEIVE 10% OFF YOUR FIRST PURCHASE
OF OFFICE SUPPLIES
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