Prosis Print Management, the trading company behind the Ultra Wholesale printers, Print Hut, announced this week their biggest win on record since their incorportaion as a business in February 2007. The company fought off strong competition from national suppliers during the pitch that began earlier this month.
The campaign placed by a travel sector client will be commisioning PPML to produce around 3.75 Million brochures this winter for a launch expected around the last few weeks in December and early January. The 36 page brochure will be appearing in a list of national publications as inserts as well as a trade activity campaign targetting a huge network of national resellers and distributors and an extensive postal DM campaign.
Frank Golden continues; We are over the moon to have won this order, reconfirming that the organisation now has the depth of knowledge and credibility to turn heads in all markets from the micro business right through to the Uk's largest Plcs. 260 tonnes of paper are required for the commision as well as production capacity amounting to 15 days.

Well a little bit hard this week to pick out the winner. Lots of litho printing to choose from, varying in format and finish, so have looked at our wide format digital printing. The winner was some instore promotional work for a national retailer. What I particularly like about this piece is its shows how digital printing can now compete against traditional screen printing even on the longer runs.
Solid blacks historically always caused a headache for our production team, but over the years even this age old problem seems to have vanished to the speed of technological improvements and the increased output performance of modern injet heads. About 100 sets were produced on self adhesive vinyl with a series of 'micro' stickers on A5 sheets which are to be applied to the product casing. Quick turnround makes this piece even more impressive. Plastic was the preferred substrate for the main piece. Quite simply, if produced on self adhesive paper you only get one chance to postion the banner correctly. Plastic allows the user several chances without sticking perminantly

To make sure your Christmas post gets there on time, make a note of the following Christmas posting dates issued by Royal Mail. Plan and dont panic!!!!

Last recommended UK posting dates for Christmas:

Second Class: Friday 18th December 2009
First Class: Monday 21st December 2009
Monday 15 December Mailsort 3
Thursday 18 December Mailsort 2, Presstream 2, Walksort 2
Tuesday 23 December Special Delivery
Saturday 20 December Mailsort 1, Presstream 1 and Walksort 1
Friday 19 December Special Delivery with Saturday Guarantee

Well we made it over the first hurdle then and a big thanks to everybody, customers, staff and our ultra wholesale print suppliers. I said to myself it could be done within 3 years, when I realised I was TOTALLY unemployable,  but to be honest didnt know weather it would be done. Print Hut hit the 1MILLION pound of sales mark last month, 3 months ahead of schedule. Will be celebrating somehow, but for the immediate future its eyes down for the next goal. And just for you guys out there following a similar journey; I never wasted time writing a business plan, thats not to say I didnt have one though!!!

Here you go saw this in the print week magazine so I thought I would share with you all what I have always believed in. I recent study for the Outdoor Advertising Association has concluded that print is the most effective form of advertising there is;
It said that every pound spent on advertising, a retailer can expect 3.57 in sales from television, while my mate print brings home a whopping 6.23!!!
That begs the question why dont we all go out and spend 1000.00 on outdoor print media?
Up the printers - thats what I say!!
Frank Golden
Print Hut
Plenty of Print for Everyone
The Uk's Only Ultra Wholesale Printing Company
01480 216 331

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) has said two 24-hour nationwide postal strikes will start on Thursday 22 October.The union said it had no choice but to announce a strike after the Royal Mail rejected its latest set of proposals. On the first day, mail centre staff and drivers will strike. The next day it will be delivery and collection staff. Read Print Hut's reaction  http://www.printhut.co.uk/blog/2009/10/postal-strike-all-out-next-week.html

It would now seem absolutely inevitable that this Christmas we are going to see the Postal workers and the communications unions embarking on a series of nationwide strikes. Pressies will not arrive and Chrimbo cards are going to get stuck in an already messy postal pipeline still recovering from a spat of regional wild cat strikes, but how has it all led to this. Well guess what our old mate mandelson, just back after a few years in the political wilderness eating berries and nuts has a part to play you wont be too surprised to hear. So below is a breif explanation of where it has all gone wrong;


How did the dispute start?
In 2007 Royal Mail suggested a radical modernisation to update practices in sorting offices and delivery rounds, which involved more flexible working and computerised equipment to cut down manual labour. After a series of national strikes the CWU reached a deal with Royal Mail including a 6.7 per cent pay rise over two years. But the two sides now dispute what was agreed and the deal has unravelled. The unions are resisting job losses, pension cuts and more flexible working.

What does management want?
Royal Mail wants postal workers to cover for each other on holidays and when people are off sick, rather than having to hire agency staff. In the summer months they want workers to deliver on a couple of extra streets. They also want postmen and women to be able to swap between jobs where necessary so sorters can deliver or collect mail. Managers want to introduce more part-time employees and are investing £2 billion in new equipment in the next two years to sort mail more quickly, which will jeopardise jobs.
What does the union want?
It claims that it has not been fully consulted on changes and wants to negotiate a new agreement. The CWU is also demanding reassurances that there will be no compulsory redundancies and a binding ratio of full-time to part-time workers. They want “better rewards” if they agree to management demands and are resisting attempts to make postmen and women carry heavier workloads or walk more quickly along streets.

Is there any chance of stopping the national strike?
Further negotiations between the Royal Mail and the Communication Workers Union take place today but it seems unlikely that either side is ready to move much. The prospect of a series of strikes over the winter will be highly damaging for Labour so ministers will be pushing for an early settlement.

What is the future for the Royal Mail?
Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, who has declined to intervene in the dispute so far, recently shelved his proposal to privatise 30 per cent of the Royal Mail. This followed a backlash from Labour backbenchers and failure to find a buyer. The Tories have yet to spell out their plans but it is widely expected that they will push for total or partial privatisation of Royal Mail to help to sort out the mess.


What do Print Hut think;
Simples; Now that part deregulation has had the desired effect of increasing competition, reducing postal costs for bulk mailers and increasing consumer choice, the government should now go the whole hog and totally deregulate the entire UK postal market.

Robert Horne have notified Print Hut that they intend to increase paper costs by between 5 and 7% depending on the mill supplier. The increase has be 'blamed on' several factors; firstly their need to see greater returns and the continued weekness of the pound in Europe. The increase is expected to take effect immediately and no later than the 2nd November 2009. It will effect both coated and uncaoted stock. Read Print Hut's reaction and thoughts on http://www.printhut.co.uk/blog/2009/10/robert-horne-paper-increases-by-5-to-7.html

Never really goes away the issue of print's impact on the environment and really we just have to accept that there is one and something that we aren't necessarily proud of; over the years various policies and procedures have been put into the national output with varying success. The majority of these iniatives are designed to be driven by the outputter ie, printing companies owners. This is where you as an owner apply for an accreditation, hand over a fee and invest a shed load of time and resources to gain the certificate. What I would like to see is the government turn up and grade the manufacturer between say 1 and 10. This ranking would then be published and reviewed annually. Simple!!!

I like to remind myself regularly about the printing industry and what exactly it represents in the Uk, thus giving me a sense of purpose and position. So have scratched around and found these which appear to be fairly up to date.... have a read....
Facts and figures » Essential facts on the UK printing industry

The printing, packaging and graphics communications industry is part of the UK's fifth largest manufacturing industry by turnover and second largest by value added.
The value of sales by companies in the printing industry is around £14.5 billion (total sales of businesses classified to SIC 22.2, printing and service activities related to printing, plus part of SIC 21.2, for printed packaging) and an approximate Gross Value Added of £7 billion. Sales of advertising literature and books, brochures and leaflets dominate the figures.
The UK printing industry utilises around 140,000 employees in about 10,500 companies, which are spread throughout the UK. 75% of companies employ less than 10 people and account for 20% of industry turnover whilst 0.5% of companies employ more than 250 and account for 25% of industry turnover.
The industry is currently in a period of consolidation; over the last five years employee numbers have fallen by around 20% and the number of companies by 15%.
Net capital expenditure (acquisitions) within the printing industry exceeded £500 million in 2007.
Printed products make a positive contribution to the UK trade balance. In 2002 the printing sector's contribution was £438 million, that improved to almost £609 million in 2003 and £619 million in 2004 before falling back to £543 million in 2005, £429 million in 2006 and £415 million in 2007.
The structure of the industry reflects the diversity of its products and fragmented nature of its markets.
Only about 450 firms employ more than 50 people. Almost 90% of firms in the industry employ fewer than 20 employees, whilst the largest 400 firms account for 45% of all employees.
Printing companies can be found in practically every town throughout the UK. Although London and the south-east of England has the greatest concentration Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Birmingham and Bristol are all home to a significant amount of printers.
It is an important medium for education, entertainment and information.
It serves all parts of the economy - central and local government, financial services, retailing, distribution, travel and tourism and manufacturing industry.
Demand for its products is largely derived from the level of activity in the economy at large and as such the industry is regarded by many as a bellwether for the economy.

Its not always the best piece of print that gets highlighted, as this week's item graphically demonstrates; Sometimes print manufacturing operations do not always go to plan for a whole multitude of reasons and episodes. However, what separates the good from the bad and ugly is weather the fault in print production is an ordinary oversight or an extra ordinary series of events. This weeks printed item is the match day programme for Peterborough United home match against Notts Forest. Beautifully presented A5 or that new handbag size that no longer fits snuggly in the football thugs harrision jacket inside breast pocket, but is a marriage made in heaven  for the glove box of the latest Range Rover Series; a positive sign of the times, I am not quite sure!!! On closer inspection we see a perfect bound document (or PUR for those clever sods out there!) with 98 pages of text with 4 pages of cover. The print quality is of the top order with the three knife trimmer working well with good page finishing across all sections. HOWEVER!!, why did I of all people get the duff copy. Where page 1 should be I had page 19, backed up not with page 20, which would make some sense, but with page 4. Page 5 appearing after page 4 was then backed up with page 22. And the mystery continued with a similar  theme, until we reached  the third page 19, when the pagination settled down and we go on a roll all the way through to the end. Not going to expose the printer, but am totally baffled about the back ups. You know what I think is that a reprint was ordered by the production manager after pagination error was found and a few copies made their way through to London Road. Had posh finished off Notts Forest 10-1 for example then maybe this may have found its way onto ebay. Sadly that wasn't the case, indeed couldn't have been further from the truth. 2-1 down at 90 minutes.