PINE membership grows by 20, including 10 printing firms
Twenty companies, including 10 commercial printing operations in three New England states, have joined Printing Industries of New England over the summer as a host of companies begin to seek ways to improve profitability for their operations.

“The impressions I receive from new members is that they desire at least one of the particular cost saving services that PINE offers along with the abundant industry information that we disseminate,” said Joe Venti, director of membership services at PINE, the largest trade association in New England to serve printing and graphic communications companies. The new members push the association’s membership ranks to more than 430 companies.

“The current membership expansion has been a one on one campaign over the last few months that has begun to reap dividends. Also, we have just launched a new membership drive to reach deeper into our five-state service area,” Venti said. “Our goal is to make sure every print and graphics communication firm across our service area knows about us, the services we offer, and how we can help them improve profitability.”

PINE’s membership — which is counted by the number of companies that belong to the association — has begun to climb in recent months after more than a year of dips, which association president Jim Tepper attributed more to a difficult economy for printers than anything else.

“We’re seeing robust activity in our group buying programs including a towel wiping program where members reap below-market prices,” he said. “And we’ve seen increases from the numbers from our national affiliate equipment sales program with Xerox.”

Xerox has had a long-standing program with PINE’s national affiliate trade association, Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (PIA/GATF). Xerox offers below market prices on equipment sold to members of PIA/GATF affiliate associations such as PINE. The trade association receives a quarterly dividend from digital equipment manufacturer based on sales from that quarter.

“The numbers going up tell us more and more of our members are choosing Xerox products and that they’re either acquiring digital technologies for the first time — or in many cases — they’re upgrading existing digital equipment,” Tepper said.

PINE was one of the leaders among the 28 regional PIA/GATF affiliates over the summer in terms of net new membership increases. The new PINE members are:

Commercial printing companies
Excelsior Printing Company, North Adams, Mass.
LaPlume and Sons Printing, Inc., Lawrence, Mass.
Sir Speedy Printing, Inc., Braintree, Mass.
PrintSource, East Providence, R.I.
Navo Systems, Inc., Norwood, Mass.
Pompy Press, Inc., East Thetford, Vt.
Vantage Direct Marketing, Boston
Zip Type Printing Services, Newburyport, Mass.
Frasco Printing, Inc., Waltham, Mass.
Lee Print & Design, Lee, Mass.

Design and marketing firms
Alterio Associates, Medford, Mass.
Ferrante & Associates, Inc., Weston, Mass.
New York Life Investment Management, Norwood, Mass.

Print Broker
Paradigm Graphics, Burlington, Mass.

Industry suppliers
Presstek, Inc., Hudson, N.H., equipment and plate manufacturer
NexPress Solutions, Inc., Wakefield, R.I., digital press manufacturer
Renz America Co., Inc., Agawam, Mass., bindery equipment manufacturer
DRAABE, Lexington, Mass., waste treatment and dehumidifier
products
Action Bearing Co., Boston, press equipment
D & P Media for Print, Inc., Lawrence, Mass., prepress equipment.