Fort Dearborn Completes Acquisition of NCL Graphic Specialties

Schumann Printers has had the honor of working with Communication Arts for over a decade printing the go-to resource that showcases exceptional design, advertising, illustration, photography, interactive, and typography. Our partnership has been marked by unwavering commitment to quality and a shared dedication to graphic design excellence. We are thrilled for them to be recognized in Creative Boom's recent article titled, "Print's Not Dead: The Best Magazines for Graphic Design Inspiration."

As petrochemical companies and raw material suppliers regain their footing, they are beginning to gain clarity about the impact of hurricanes Harvey and Irma on the printing industry supply chain, though there are still many unknowns. According to Flint Group, who has been in continual conversation with affected suppliers, Gulf-area and Southeastern US suppliers are in a variety of recovery stages. Some are still assessing the damage and impact to their businesses. Others have begun to restart operations but at reduced capacity, causing a supply and demand imbalance. Many have made public announcements about continued forces majeures and supply allocations. Some transportation companies are imposing fuel surcharges due to very limited availability of carriers. Suppliers tell Flint Group they will be able to offer more tangible information about the impact of the storms once conditions stabilize further. Click Read More below for additional detail.

Questions surrounding the future of book printing drew a capacity crowd of 155 publishing professionals to the BMI (Book Manufacturers Institute) Book Manufacturing Mastered conference, held September 14 at Penguin Random House’s New York City headquarters. And though the book manufacturing sector was booming during the pandemic, economic conditions have softened and costs for most materials are continuing to go up. Still, speakers at the conference said book printers are generally in a good place, albeit with a host of challenges ahead of them.In addition to rising costs, topics discussed at the daylong conference included the renewed postpandemic threat of work moving off-shore, sustainability concerns, the shift from offset to digital printing, and labor shortages. “We’re basically where we were back in 2014,” said Marco Boer, v-p of IT Strategies, in the opening presentation. “We haven’t lost all that printed book volume that people were worried about when e-books came in, and so we all say this is okay. People are continuing to read and print, and that’s great.”