PrintingNews.com

Go overseas and ask almost anyone what they would like to see if they came to America, and the list is pretty short. Most want to see New York City, Disney World, the Grand Canyon, and Niagara Falls. It is telling that two of these are in the state of New York, although the differences between New York City and Niagara Falls are many. This brings up the diversity of New York—a characteristic that carries through to the printing industry of the Empire State.

Those who think of New York City and Niagara Falls when they hear the word New York are overlooking what lies between—and given the size of most European countries, at least, many people would be amazed that the distance from New York City to Buffalo is 420 miles, or roughly equal to the distance from London to Frankfurt. Even more astonishing is the length of the state, from Montauk Point to State Line, near Erie, Pa., it is more than 550 miles.

In addition to the metropolis of New York City, with more than 8.1 million people, the state is home to an incredible array of mountains, forests, rivers, and communities ranging from the largest to villages too small to merit a Post Office.

The fact that the New York population is spread over such a vast region, the varied industries occurring in the state, and the variety of natural and commercial resources, has spawned a print industry with some unusual attributes. With nearly half of the 17.6 million New Yorkers living in New York City, it stands to reason that roughly half of the printers would be there, but that is not the case. In 2007, Switchboard.com lists 4,008 printers in the state, only 1,303 of which are in New York City. While the huge metropolitan area is home to 46 percent of the New Yorkers, only 32.5 percent of its printers are there.

According to data from PIA/GATF affiliate the Printing and Imaging Association of New York State, the second most important printing area (in terms of establishments) in the state is Nassau and Suffolk Counties, followed by Buffalo, Rochester, Albany, and Syracuse.

Printing employment is a key element in the overall New York economy. The New York State Department of Labor estimates that in 2004, the New York print industry employed 24,660 workers. It foresees this declining slightly, to 23,530, by 2014, which will include 4,440 bindery workers, 600 bookbinders, 3,010 job printers, 3,980 prepress technicians, and 12,630 press operators. In an industry often said to be in decline, the outlook is reasonably promising in New York.

The Other Side

However, focusing on the statistics of printers in New York shows only part of the picture. Although Germany is widely regarded as the place where printing machinery is designed and manufactured, New York plays an important role in providing the latest printing technology worldwide. Rochester is home to two of the premier producers of production machinery—Kodak and Xerox Corp.

According to the latest form 10-K filed by Kodak, the company's Graphic Communications Group logged $3.63 billion in sales in 2006—a substantial contribution not only to the printing industry overall, but to the Rochester economy. Total Kodak 2006 sales were $13.3 billion; the Graphic Communications Group—which includes printing consumables, electrophotographic and inkjet printers, and other equipment, plus software—comprised more than 27 percent of the company's 2006 business.