Although printing dates back to at least the Gutenberg press, circa the 1430s, and seems like old hat in a high-tech age, it still has plenty of life left in it. And despite the predictions when computers first got popular, we'll likely never become a paperless society. Evidence of printing's durability lies right in our own back yard.

From newspapers to sign companies to highly specialized graphic arts shops, printing has evolved and remains important to the economy. The business of graphic arts is recognized as the state and region's manufacturing leader.

"Printing is the number-one manufacturing economy in Florida," says Amanda Sandstrom, a spokeswoman for the Printing Association of Florida, based in Orlando. The ranking is based on 2002 data, she adds.

In Lee and Collier counties, printing leads the pack with 2,455 jobs out of 11,921 in the manufacturing sector, according to the Florida Research Economic Database (FRED). Those 1999 figures are the most current available.

Statewide, printing provides 88,700 jobs with median annual salaries ranging from $30,700 for desktop publishers to more than $63,000 for plant managers, state officials say. With $2.8 billion in annual payroll, 5,700 statewide businesses generate a whopping $10.6 billion in sales that feed Florida's growing economy.

Paradigm Shift

Part of printing's strength lies in sweeping changes. These advances have brought a once-messy, machine-age industry into the electronic age of a clean and high-tech digital graphic-arts business.

A significant contribution to printing's paradigm shift is today's copier, a digital device typically connected to a computer network. The process is efficient and speedy. "We have a one-color copier and two high-speed black-and-white copiers," says Jesse Hinson, general manager of Digital Alternatives in Naples. From any computer, he can print a booklet on the black-and-white copier, which paginates, folds the 11-by-17-inch sheet in half and staples or stitches it together. "That's far from yesterday's copier jobs that required hours of collating and stapling by employees," says Hinson.

The clean hands of today's offset pressmen don't need to handle jobs that arrive "image ready" on disk or are electronically transmitted to an online site, where special software transmits files directly to print plates. Other dynamic changes since the 1960s include anything from industry-related jargon and mastering the operation of high-tech computerized printing systems to adapting to lightning-fast job turnaround times-reduced from three weeks to an amazing 24 hours or less.

"Offset digital printing eliminated the need for cameras, consequently reducing job turnaround time," says Frank Romano, professor at Rochester Institute of Technology's College of Imaging Arts and Sciences and author of 39 books on the printing and publishing industry.

Romano, who teaches digital publishing and printing at the Rochester, N.Y., school, offers this message to printers.

"Stop calling yourself a printer. Refer to your business as an information service provider or a marketing solutions provider, because you no longer exclusively put print on paper," Romano says.

Repeat Business

Experts such as Romano believe the industry will remain vital for decades to come. Business and the consumer will demand it.

"Perhaps in 100 years there could be fewer printers, but not less need for print. Print will never disappear because of packaging, billboards, lighted signs, brochures, annual reports, catalogues and instructional manuals, just a few of the many uses of print that will keep it alive," says Romano.

The ubiquity of print is obvious in our daily lives. "We take for granted print on vinyl signs, potato-chip bags, bottled and canned drinks, greeting cards, wallpaper, mouse pads, hats, golf balls and much more," says Chris Price, vice president and general manager of Graphics of the Americas, a trade show for the printing industry held annually at the Miami Convention Center. "There are scores of applications for print, and many [potential customers] are unaware of new services offered by printers."

High-tech machines also have had a significant impact on the printing industry, both with regard to quality products and services, and efficiency. David Mathey, president of Nite Brite, a family-run company in Fort Myers, digitally prints colorful graphics resembling photographs onto vinyl that wraps around trucks in the Publix grocery fleet, as well as those of Rooms To Go. "New technology allows for brighter colors, better durability and sharper images that help a company in branding its image," says Mathey.

Mathey has managed to adapt to changes in printing technology by bringing onboard a younger generation of computer-savvy family members (printing is often a family business that involves several generations, he says). "Computers and sophisticated offset digital presses were beyond my capabilities," says Mathey. Fortunately, there is plenty of training available through equipment manufacturers and the Printing Association of Florida, he adds.

It's in the Mail

Printer Dave Wacker, of a long-time Naples graphic arts business, joined his dad in 1987 when the company was known as Naples Tech. Since then it has undergone two name changes-Naples Graphics and most recently, Intech Printing & Direct Mail-that reflect new offset digital technology and services.

"Graphic arts used to be synonymous with printing. Today it encompasses direct-mail services and order fulfillment. That means we fill orders, warehouse and even handle call-center routing activity," says Wacker, who is now president and CEO. He adds that the sluggish national economy over the last three years led printers to consider offering ancillary services.

Intech has taken the plunge into the newest trend in direct mail: variable-data printing. The technology not only provides an alternative to online marketing (currently limited by spamming legislation). It also offers a more effective way to send direct mail to potential customers on a potentially limitless number of products and services, according to Wacker.

The technology uses computers' ability to customize each piece, even of a huge mailing, with individual names or photos. Car dealers use massive pieces of variable-data direct mail, Wacker says: "A few are known to incorporate photos of showroom visitors test-driving cars. When the potential customer gets a direct-mail follow-up piece, they don't see strangers driving cars, they see their own image. It gets better response rates because it's more personalized."

Direct mail provided a catalyst for growth at Direct Impressions in Cape Coral. CEO Bob Boye has been in that specialty since 1985, having owned and operated Advanced Mailing Services. Boye joined forces with Steve Delaney, who became the company's president. The two grew and expanded the well-known mail-house business into a leader in the graphic-arts and direct-mail industry in Southwest Florida.

"By 1992, we needed to let people know we were a graphic-arts company involved in direct mail because we mail 60 percent of what we print," says Delaney.

The company employs 36 people, a number that has remained constant during the past few years. Technology advances have allowed Direct Impressions and others in the industry to produce more product without the need for more help, Boye says. The print industry here is strong, he says, because there are no unions locally to set higher wages. That keeps Southwest Florida companies competitive with those in other states-particularly in direct mail.

Direct Impressions prints everything from brochures to magazines, and is an owner of one of three $2.8 million Heidelberg presses in Florida. Each year, every Lee County homeowner receives at least one Direct Impressions' variable-data direct-mail piece. "We print and mail about 500,000 two-color tax notices at a time for the county appraiser's office," Delaney says.

Direct mail's popularity has benefited from the federal government's recent imposition of do-not-call lists that have prompted telemarketing dollars to be redirected to direct mail, Delaney says. "Our industry took a bit of a hit when the Internet came on strong," he says. "Companies that decided to eliminate printed brochures and put graphics and information on a Web site soon discovered they needed to create a reason for visiting the site. Now we've returned to printing brochures that encourage people to check out a Web site."

It's about the Paper

With all of the technology and new-fangled methods that make printing a lasting power, the physical product can't be overlooked.

Marta Lautin-Mitruska, vice president of regional marketing for WCI Communities in Bonita Springs, painstakingly considers the materials that will receive the ink and graphics. "The importance of paper selection in collateral materials is often underestimated," she says. "This has been particularly true for our new community, Tuscany Reserve, where we selected papers that resembled leather as well as silk for an exclusive box-like portfolio presentation that needed to convey privacy and limited-edition homes."

Print surely has been around a long time, largely because there are certain properties consumers appreciate.

Gulf Coast Media publisher Sharon Van Rite publishes thousands of colorful visitor-service magazines for the chambers of commerce in Collier and Lee counties. Though it's been 12 years since her Gulf Coast magazine folded, Van Rite recently received a business-reply postcard from a woman in Ashland, Mass., requesting information on advertisers and a subscription to the magazine.

"People like having something to hold onto, and those who enjoy reading will always be stimulated by print," Van Rite says. "It's a comfort zone that not everyone is ready to leave. Visit a Barnes & Noble bookstore on a Saturday night and you'll be convinced there is nothing dead about print."