Darin Painter, editor-in-chief of THE GREEN SHEET (Graphic Communications World) tells us...
we need to attract creative, skilled talent to thrive in the future. Today, fewer than 5,000 students are enrolled in two- and four-year graphic arts degree programs. Many four-year programs are revamping and rebranding, changing their names to reflect a more progressive industry and including classes with cross-media content such as PDF workflow and e-publishing.

Meanwhile, printing pros have a bevy of ways to encourage an emergent talent pool with more pertinent educational content, including supporting organizations such as PGSF, GAERF and the Electronic Document Systems Foundation (EDSF), and donating time and equipment to colleges and universities.

One group that deserves applause is Printing Industries of America, which included a Young Print Professional track for the first time in its Presidents Conference, held March 1-5.

It's a fascinating time to be in the print industry, and we need to attract creative, skilled talent to thrive in the future. Improving our industry's reputation is an objective of the first degree.

Publisher's Urgent Comment For Graphic Arts Dealers: What are you doing for the survival of your industry and your business? Send your comments to Darin Painter, dp@gcworld.biz.

Dealers Honor Kyocera Mita For Product Line And Distribution Excellence
Kyocera Mita America, Inc. has been honored with two performance awards from the Business Technology Association (BTA) in its annual survey to dealers. Kyocera received awards in the categories of Product Line and Distribution. This recognition comes as part of BTA's 2009 Channel Choice Awards, which surveyed independent office technology dealers throughout the United States. Kyocera earned distinction from their fellow peers for their dedication to supporting dealers wlith fair and equitable agreements, strong advertising support, and offering pricing models that are competitive and profitable for dealers.

FOR DEALERS IN TEXAS
this may be a selling opportunity for you . . .

Austin's largest commercial printing company, Ginny's Printing, (Austin, Texas), acquired a large part of the business assets of local commercial printer Pro Print from owners Leigh and Diana Petersen. The announcement was made in March by Michael Martin, president and CEO of Ginny's. "We have been steadily expanding our capabilities and capacity," said Martin. "This acquisition will add to our customer base and increase our commercial printing workforce."

The Petersens, who founded Pro Print in 1989, are retiring. Many of Pro Print's 10 employees will become employees of Ginny's.

Ginny's Printing, founded in 1971 now employs 200 people and operates a 110,000 square foot administrative and production facility in northeast Austin. It has 16 offset printing presses, one of the nation's largest fleets of Xerox Docutech black & white digital printers, an iGen3 and an iGen4 digital color printer, and other advanced equipment for pre-press, bindery and mailing. DC