Print 17 Announces 44 Must See ‘Ems

It’s not a major surprise, really, that our 38th annual ranking of the largest printing industry companies in the U.S. and Canada, as ranked by annual sales, is now the 2021 Printing Impressions 300 — and not the Printing Impressions 350 that appeared in 2020. After all, the majority of the graphic arts businesses on our venerable list reported their calendar 2020 annual sales as their most recent fiscal year, with calendar 2019 representing their previous year sales. Given the onslaught, and subsequent shutdowns, of many segments of the U.S. economy beginning in March 2020 due to COVID-19, it’s understandable that CEOs of commercial printing companies were not racing to report their annual sales numbers. And, although the printing industry was ultimately deemed “essential,” many of the vertical markets that these primarily privately-held printing businesses serve were not. Combine that with all the business uncertainty among marketers, brand owners, retailers, and other print buyers, it’s no surprise that many companies appearing on our 2021 list in this issue reported double-digit annual revenue drops.

The Great Lakes Graphics Association (GLGA) is proud to announce the recipients of its third annual Women in Print Excellence Award. The Women in Print Excellence Awards supports GLGA’s ongoing quest to recognize the contributions of women in the Midwest print, graphic arts, finishing and print packaging community as well as those women who support the print industry in a vendor or supplier capacity. Any woman working directly in print or in a vendor role supporting print who was in good standing with her company in Illinois, Indiana or Wisconsin was eligible to be nominated. The nominations were reviewed by a panel of female print professionals outside of the Midwest, who selected one recipient per state.

Sun Chemical has further enhanced its online troubleshooting guide by adding potential solutions to common pressroom challenges in coldset and metal package printing processes. After choosing the printing process, the mobile-friendly website uses both photos and defect terms (dot gain, pinholes, feathering, comets, etc.) to help the press worker, while in the pressroom, identify which technical problem they are facing. They can either read the solution provided by Sun Chemical to resolve their particular challenge using their smartphone or can use a print function tool for a clean review of the problems/solutions on paper—whatever option is most convenient for them. Sun Chemical’s troubleshooting website has translations in Italian, Spanish and Turkish and can be accessed easily from Sun Chemical’s Ink + Pressroom section of its website.