C. Clint Bolte & Associates

The fourth annual Print Oasis conference for the print buying and specifying professionals had more than 700 in attendance May 22-25 at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. Sponsored by Print Buyers Online, this is the only nationwide conclave for the printing industries' clients.

Ms. Suzanne Morgan, President of the PBO e-community, spoke on the Trends in Print Buying as reported from a recent survey involving 265 print buyers. With a five to one leverage (increase versus decrease) half the respondents expect print purchases to increase in the next six months. Fourteen percent of the firms have bought less than 5% of their total print requirements from overseas. Most of these were experimenting with the global sourcing opportunity. When asked to describe the most effective buying practice for their companies, 77% reported "establishing partnerships with a core group of print suppliers." Ms. Morgan remarked that the most significant trend indicated from this survey was that 47% of print buyers reported consolidating their print procurement among fewer print suppliers.

The emergence of a new association for print buyers debuted at Print Oasis. Print Communications Professionals International (PCPI) is created by and expands the services of Print Buyers Online.com by offering education, resources and networking opportunities to help its members provide greater value to their organizations. Individual dues are $279. Corporate and supplier membership dues have not been announced yet.

Print Oasis 2005 also had its largest number of exhibitors at 64 with more than 40% of them first timers. Two of these print vendor exhibitors had unusual offerings. The Johnson Group, headquartered in Illinois and having five midwestern general commercial plants, discussed a strategic alliance they have had for over a year with a printer near Shanghai, China. They have two Johnson Chinese national employees on site and another two Americans who make frequent trips to China to coordinate major projects. A typical Chinese printed project is the collateral materials that would be inserted in the packaging for goods manufactured in China for export to the USA. The owner and designer of the goods is an American corporation for whom the Johnson Group provides much of their stateside printing and fulfillment needs.

The largest printer in Latin America, Posigraf Printing & Publishing Company from Brazil was an exhibitor. An ISO 9001/2000/14000 certified supplier, this high quality printer touted PDF workflow via worldwide FTP transmission. While they offer general commercial printing capability, their niche is signature products produced primarily via a battery of 8 web presses including a pair of MAN Roland Uniset 70 (2 by 6 format) webs installed in 2002. Their primary client is their sister division, the Positivo Educational System, which is a network of 2,200 k-12 affiliated schools throughout Brazil. When asked what benefit he offered USA publishers, sales representative Ricardo Salini Abrahao responded, "Quicker delivery (than the far east) at China prices."

Consultant Dick Gorlick offered tips and guidelines on structuring supplier relationships. He gave a series of reasons why printers lose accounts as reported by a recent survey. Here are five in the list: (1) general buyer frustration at something the printer thinks is small, (2) not being dependable, (3) pricing inconsistency, (4) slow and incomplete estimates versus the current 24 hour standard and (5) slowness of billing. He reminded the audience that the billing practice of advertising agencies of not paying their bills until their clients pay them is called "sequential liability" and it is not legal.

While Gorlick advised against reverse auctions, he asked the audience if they could report any successful print reverse auctions. A number of hands went up but here are the experiences of two. John Coudriet, Print Procurement Manager of Nationwide Insurance in Columbus Ohio, responded that his firm currently spends $50 million annually and has successfully used reversed auctions on 1,300 reprint projects valued at $50 million over the last 18 months typically realizing 40% savings in their first effort.