Be Here Soon

Print - It’s everywhere! It’s on your coffee table; in your freezer; on the bumper of your car. It can be found on your walls, your doorstep, and on your clothes. It’s on your mail, in your wallet, and most often in your hands." The commercial printing industry is one of the largest industries in the United States. According to 2009 data from the Printing Industry of America, the printing industry employs 909,179 people among 33,565 establishments with annual sales totaling over $140.7 billion in annual shipments. While the industry accounts for a significant portion of the nations' total volume of goods and services, it also represents the largest conglomeration of small businesses in the domestic manufacturing sector. Seventy nine percent of the plants in the industry employ 19 people or less (PIA Report to Congress). Most firms in the industry serve local or regional markets, though some printers and many publishers reach national and international markets (USIO 1992). The industry is dominated by five separate and distinct processes, lithography, letterpress, flexography, gravure, and screen printing. However some of the newer plate-less technologies are beginning to take hold in the market. Based on 1997 sales figures lithography accounted 68.5% of the market; screen 9.0%; flexographic 6.4%; quick printing 5.7%; gravure 5.4%; letterpress 4.5%, and digital printing 0.6%. The market share is drastically changing as indicated by comparing 1990 sales figures with these current figures. In 1990 the market share was broken down to lithography 47%, gravure 19%; flexography 17%; letterpress 11%; and screen printing US Economic Census Report)