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And the Winner is …. There were familiar faces and some new ones in the winner's circle in 2000. The overall Best of Show Award (Sponsored by Graphic Equipment Southwest) went to Buchanan Visual Communications for a stunning piece produced for Stone Capital. "Whereas a multitude of entries provoked lengthy exchanges from the judges, when it came to selecting 'The Best of Show,' the judges were instantly unanimous in selecting this piece," stated Glenn Petry, GAC - Indianapolis, and the competition's lead judge. Runner-ups for Best of Show included: 1st Runner-up (Heidelberg USA)- Page/International Communications (Houston) with outstanding use of metallic inks and spot UV varnish; 2nd and 3rd Runner-up (Heartland Imaging and Kodak/Polychrome respectively) were won by Houston's Bayside Printing with two different entries. What made this special for Bayside, is that they were a Division II company competing against the 'big boys.' Two other PIA-Texas companies reached the 'Best of Show' level and won Honorable Mentions - Heritage Press (UT Statement Book) and Color Dynamics (Aspen Highlands Village Project). Several companies won multiple Best of Category awards in the competition, including Williamson Printing Corporation (22), Dallas; Hudson Printing & Graphic Design (8), Longview; Buchanan Visual Communications (6), Dallas; Authentic Press (4), Fort Worth; ColorDynamics (4), Allen; Exxon Mobil (4), Houston; Grover Printing (4), Houston; Heritage Press (4), Dallas; IntegraColor (4), Mesquite; and Spinner Printing Co. (4), Addison.
Division Winners were as follows: Division I (Companies with less than
10 employees) Division II (Companies with more than
11 but less than 50 employees) Division III (Companies with more than
50 employees) A variety of special recognitions were also given for best
entry from a city or best use. Winning entries were: "We really want to thank the support of our sponsors," said Printing Industries of the Gulf Coast's Ken Piercy. "Without their active participation, we would not be able to make this competition as special as it has become over the past 10 years." The 2000 Texas Graphic Excellence Awards Competition Sponsors were: Balcones Recycling, BESCO, Bradner National/Alto Paper, Graphic Equipment Southwest, Heartland Imaging/ABV, Heidelberg USA, Kodak/Polychrome, Pitman Company, PRISCO, Unisource, Westvaco, Xerox, and Xpedx,. A publication recognizing the winning entries will be mailed to the entire membership of PIGC and PIA-Texas as well as several thousand print buyers in May.
PIA-Texas' E-Commerce Briefing a Success On hand were several of the major "dot com" companies who in brief presentations outlined their services and how they would interface with the print provider. Included as presenters were: Noosh, Impress, MediaFlex, BCT, PrintNation, and Collabria. The assurance that print buyers will absorb the additional cost of the e-hub's service was not readily accepted by the audience. Sales professionals were concerned about the degradation of customer loyalty. One printer shared a sad story. His $2 million customer, part of a national company with corporate offices out-of-state, will no longer be able to do business with him. Corporate signed with one of the e-hubs and didn't "invite" any Texas printers to participate. By the end of the day, most seemed to agree that the print provider must make the first move. The printer needs to contact his customer before one of the e-hubs. An action plan simply stated - survey their customer's needs and determine how to add value while making a profit. Fifth Annual Golf Tournament "We are targeting $100,000 as our goal for this year," says Terry Allen, this year's tournament chairman. Allen is president of Fort Worth's Service Info Systems, Inc. "Last year we were slightly below that target, but we were still able to net over $50,000 for scholarships." Williamson Printing's Tony LaLumia is this year's co-chair and will chair the 2001 tournament. For the past two years, the tournament has drawn over 200 golfers from all over the state. The fellowship and the first-class facilities are as much a draw as the purpose of the tournament. Since its inception, the Foundation has given more than $100,000 in scholarships to deserving students and EDP participants. As of press time, the following companies had signed up to participate: Heidelberg USA, Padgett Printing Corporation, BRW Paper, Buchanan Visual Communications, Unisource, ColorDynamics, Williamson Printing Corporation, Moody Printing & Mail Marketing, AGFA, BESCO, Fuji, Global Group, Hart Graphics, Pitman, Printing Research, Westvaco, Konica, Accel, Baldwin Graphics, H.E.A.T Energy, McCord Printing, Utica National Insurance, Adams Printing & Packaging, Clampitt Paper, PRISCO. G.A.I.N. Goes On-line in July G.A.I.N. may be used by anyone who has access to the World Wide Web via the Internet. PIA/GATF members will have full access and nonmembers will be allowed restricted access. Member benefits include access to industry experts in a multitude of categories through the Ultimate Industry Hotline, a credit exchange through local affiliates, and on-line communications with peer groups. All users will be able to access a comprehensive industry training calendar and be able to register on-line for PIA and GATF meetings; buy one of over 300 publications offered by PIA and GATF; take on-line surveys that track industry trends; and quickly find suppliers for the equipment and consumables they need. Links to all the web sites of industry suppliers and manufacturers will be structured to make the data easily searchable, regardless of the type of information being sought. A variety of services will be directed by local affiliates, but accessible through the G.A.I.N. interface. PrintAccess, which up to now has only been utilized by less than 1/3 of the PIA affiliates, will host information about all 14,000 PIA members. Yet, buyers of print searching the database will automatically be forwarded to printing firms within their local area. A potentially powerful service will be PIA's Ultimate Industry Hotline. Initially this will be an on-line tool permitting members to post questions on any printing related topic. For the time being, these questions will be forwarded to the member's local affiliate. The goal is to create a knowledge database so that in the future members will be able to find the answers to their questions with a few clicks of a mouse button. Credit exchange will also go on-line in the summer. Up to now over 200 PIA-Texas member companies have exchanged information regarding slow-pays and no-pays. PIA-Texas polls the members every six weeks and then compiles the reported information and reports it to the participating companies. With G.A.I.N. this service will go on-line and in a real-time basis. Members will be provided with a unique password and then will input their information through a web browser. Within minutes the data will be updated and available to participating companies. Since this service will be provided for all PIA affiliates, participating companies will be able to search the entire database for information. Thus, if a member is starting to do business with a company in Indiana, they will be able to make a quick search in the database to see if any printers in Indiana have reported the company. Additional information about G.A.I.N. will be sent to all
PIA-Texas members this coming summer. New Faces Over the past six months PIA-Texas has added two staff members replacing longtime employees. Dodie Royals joined the staff in late '99 to take over the office management responsibilities for the Association. Although new to the Association business, Royals is no stranger to the printing industry. She and her husband George Royals ran their own printing company for 17 years prior to selling their business last year. Dodie's tasks include directing the Association's member services team as well as handling a variety of bookkeeping and administration duties. "Dodie is a very welcome addition to our staff and brings a high level of energy as well as a strong understanding of business issues," stated Joe Polanco, PIA-Texas' executive director. The newest addition to staff is Debbie 'O.Z.' Ozendes. O.Z. is a well-known face in the industry having spent 10 years as a sales rep in the trade bindery business before joining PIA-Texas as the Director of Membership this past January. "O.Z. is a very dynamic person and has a true love for our industry," said Polanco. "Her responsibilities will include promoting the Association services and products to the membership as well as recruiting new members for the industry. Given the rapidly changing face of our Texas printing industry, she's going to be a very busy person." Ozendes, who will be working out of the Dallas office, will also be the new San Antonio coordinator replacing long-time executive secretary Bill Huddleston who retires this month.
Huddleston to Retire San Antonio staffer Bill Huddleston will be retiring after 15 years as the Printing Industry of San Antonio's (PISA) executive secretary. Huddleston joined the PIA-Texas San Antonio chapter in 1985 replacing longtime secretary Fount Rambie. Bill had recently retired from the government and was looking for a part-time position, and he found a home with PISA. PISA was originally founded in 1895 making it one of the oldest trade organizations in the state. Since joining the San Antonio chapter, Bill has been instrumental in increasing the size of membership to nearly 100 companies. Although the job originally called for 20 hours of work a week, quite often Bill was working a lot more hours helping the San Antonio board and the Association headquarters in Dallas. "Bill was instrumental in many of the highly successful management meetings we held in San Antonio," said PIA-Texas executive director Joe Polanco. "It was Bill's knowledge of San Antonio and his personal contacts that allowed us to produce highly unique programs for the membership." "Although Bill will be retiring, he really won't be gone," states Mason Smith, president of the San Antonio chapter. "Bill has agreed to stay active in the chapter and assist with our meetings and continue to serve as the industry liaison on a variety of educational committees here in San Antonio." Huddleston will be spending time traveling with his wife Loretta and visiting family across the state. Although there will no longer be an 'official' office in San Antonio, PIA-Texas staff in Dallas will be taking on the variety of tasks that Bill accomplished over the years. "With our toll-free numbers, web site, fax capabilities, and the 'company airplane,' we can provide a level of service that would have been impossible five years ago," stated Joe Polanco. "O.Z. Ozendes along with Peggy Stone in our office will be our key contacts for the San Antonio membership, and with Bill still serving on the educational committees, we will be well covered." |