DS Graphics acquires LVI Print Optimization
Lowell, Mass. firm makes cash offer to purchase former LaVigne Inc. out of bankruptcy
DS Graphics, a full service print, fulfillment and mailing services company in Lowell, Mass., with annual sales close to $30 million, has acquired LVI in Worcester, formerly known as LaVigne, Inc. (more)

Goss International ships 1,000th Sunday 3000 printing unit
Transcontinental installing new 32-page web press at facility in Mexico
The 1,000th Sunday 3000 printing unit left the Goss International factory in Durham, N.H., last month bound for Transcontinental’s Xochimilco plant in Mexico City. The unit will be part of the first Sunday 3000 web press in that country, a system that will produce magazines, catalogs, books and retail inserts at up to 100,000 impressions per hour. (more)

Awards of Excellence competition entry deadline approaches
Entry deadline is Wednesday, Sept. 16
Entry forms have been mailed for PINE’s Awards of Excellence competition, which was launched in 2007 to create a venue to showcase the quality of print production, reproduction and finishing services produced regularly by association members. (more)

Management Conference getaway to CT
A fresh perspective on challenges and opportunities facing printing and graphic communication industry leaders will be presented at PINE’s annual Northeast Regional Print Management Conference, scheduled for Oct. 3-6 at The Water’s Edge Resort in Westbrook, Conn. (more)

PIA launches green guide New member benefit helps printers go green
Printing Industries of America has unveiled The Green Guide for Graphic Communications: Growing and Profiting through Sustainability, a free, members-only online resource to help printers and packaging houses capitalize on their environmentally-responsible performance. (more)

3 PINE members are nationwide leaders in alternative energy
Three members of Printing Industries of New England were among 20 printing companies nationwide listed within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership as being among the largest purchasers of alternative energy sources. (more)

Lessons from GM’s Bob Lutz on marketing, selling and customers
By John Graham
This is about the three most important words in business today — marketing, selling, and most importantly, customers. The scenario is simple: customers have changed, while marketers and salespeople are struggling to figure out what’s happened — and happening.

Do you suffer from “Maybe-itis”?
By Landy Chase, MBA, CSP
Health bulletin for sales people: The dread disease Maybe-itis continues to be a major health hazard to the careers of many in the sales profession. If left untreated, Maybe-itis can be lethal to the career of a sales person. How does one expunge oneself this dread affliction?

Good G7 is not cheap; Cheap G7 is not good
By Ron Ellis
In the past few years G7 has proved to be a valuable tool for many. For others it has been merely a piece of marketing buzz that hasn’t changed their production process the way it could and should.

The family business: A never ending saga; think taxes, economics and human emotions
By Irving Blackman
The typical owner has one or more problems that the family can’t solve, nor can their professionals. The problems typically fall into one of three specific categories: taxes, economics or human. It is not uncommon for the same person or family to have a problem or problems that fall into two or all three categories.