Affiliates are Positioned to Support Local Printing Communities

Editor's Note: Printing News has reached out multiple times to PRINTING United Alliance for comment on this situation but did not received a response prior to going to print.

As it became clear that PRINTING United (SGIA at the time) was preparing to acquire the Printing Industries of America (PIA), many of us wondered how this would work out with the Affiliates – 21 regional associations, each of whom actually “own” their own membership and provide a variety of local services to their constituents. Over the years, there had been several attempts to merge PIA with other associations, but because of the different business models reflected in some of the national organizations and the local associations, among other reasons, those consolidations didn’t happen.

But in May of 2020, SGIA accomplished the merger with PIA, renaming the combined organization as PRINTING United Alliance. At the time, PRINTING United Alliance CEO Ford Bowers said, in an interview published in Printing News, “As we did prior to the merger, we will continue to provide the services and programs they [the Affiliates] are used to getting for their members as we work out how to integrate them into one entity. We’ll give them access to even more services in the coming months.”

But in the background, the Affiliates, likely a little gun-shy from previous attempts at mergers, formed an Operating Committee and began to work out how they could work together as a cohesive unit, yet still provide the local face their members have come to depend on.

Unfortunately, just short of a year after the merger, the agreements with PRINTING United Alliance fell apart, and all contracts with the Affiliates were cancelled. Since this began to take place, we have had several conversations with members of the Operating Committee to better understand how they plan to move forward. Most recently, we spoke with Joe Lyman of GLGA and chair of the Operating Committee; Melissa Jones of Graphic Arts Association and second vice chair of the Affiliate Operating Committee; Steve Bonoff of Printing Industries Midwest and chair of the Affiliate Services and Benefits Committee; and Jeff Stoudt of PICA and chair of the Affiliate Education Committee.

Joe Lyman

Lyman noted that the Affiliates signed an operating agreement with one another two years ago, and as a result have established an organization they feel will best serve their collective members. This includes establishment of several committees: membership, services and benefits, education, and promotions and public relations.

“We believe we will be able to work together from a position of strength to be able to collaborate, develop and distribute services to our members at a local level," he said.

The Affiliates are comprised of about 4,000 member companies which, according to Lyman, makes them, as a collaborative group, the largest organization in North America representing the print, packaging, tag and label, and general graphic arts industry.

Steve Bonoff

Bonoff, as chair of the Benefits and Services Committee, explained that the group had identified basic categories through surveys of members, including human resources.

“That’s one where we are spending a significant amount of time developing deliverables, programs and services that will be available to the membership," he said. "We also have environmental health and safety services as well as economic data. As we listen to our members, these are issues they have in operating their companies. And we are able to be very reactive now in developing programs that are specific to their needs. That is really the benefit of the affiliate structure.”

Bonoff also said that the Benefits and Services Committee now has a process where they are gathering information and making it available to all the Affiliates.

“For example, a couple of the Affiliates have contracted with an HR service, and there are many opportunities for other Affiliates to mirror those relationships,” he said.

The group also pointed out that these needs differ at quite a granular level, considering that each state, county, town and even regions within towns like Wards in Chicago, for example, have different laws, regulations and policies that affect these businesses, something that would be quite difficult to manage at a national level, but rather, makes sense to handle at a local or regional level.

“Listening to our members over the last year," Bonoff said, "I just give so much credit to those who have been charged with human resources, because they have had to work endless hours managing PPP and all of the different guidelines and the safety of their employees. It’s been a struggle, and they have done a magnificent job.”

Melissa Jones

"We have each other’s backs," Jones said. "We share services and benefits with each other very fluidly.”

She cited as an example the increased bond between the Graphic Arts Association, which has been around for 140 years, and the Printing Industries Alliance in New York and New Jersey, giving members of both associations access to even more services.

“Neither one of us are lacking; it’s just that together we offer a more comprehensive package that helps the smaller printers," she said. "We are not here to make a huge profit. I know these people’s families. I’ve had dinner with many of them. They know they can call me on the weekend or at night. We need to have some profits to keep the lights on, of course, but we are really here to help them.”

In terms of education, Stoudt explained that for several years now, the Affiliates have been working together to bring resources to the members.

“I’ve been working on education within the PIA structure since 1995,” he said, “and there has always been a collaborative effort among the Affiliates to share those resources. I see no reason why this won’t go further and be more active in the future.”

Jeff Stoudt 

As part of this effort, the group created two brands, the Digital Technology Council and Profit Matters. This includes mostly virtual training offered to all members at no cost, and even to non-members for a very reasonable cost of $39.

In addition, Stoudt said that the group is working to attract young people to the industry. For example, many of the Affiliates participate in the Graphic Communications Workforce Coalition, as well as the Print is Everywhere industry awareness program that is being shared with members and educators to help attract new talent to the industry.

“The changes in the industry and associations have allowed us, because we are communicating more effectively, to be able to share the benefits of the programs we individually and/or collaboratively develop across the network," Bonoff said. "If we find something that’s effective in our region, we are always sharing that with other regions. So while it seems like a smaller association may not have all the needed resources, they really do now because we are sharing so much more effectively with each other.”

To help streamline this effort, the group is building a portal at www.printindustries.org that acts as a clearinghouse and resource center for all members across the Affiliates structure, in addition to their individual web presence.

Will there would be any ongoing relationship between the Affiliates and PRINTING United Alliance?

“We are decentralized for a reason because we are closest to the customer, but we hope there will be a relationship going forward," Lyman said. "We’d like to work with them on things like legislation on a national level, color management – I think they do some things very well. But in the same respect, at the local and state level, there are legislation and regulations at the local level that are important to our members. All of us have different sales and use taxes, manufacturing tax credits, etc. We have to have some command and control, but also local autonomy to address these things.”

“I know people say you are only as strong as your weakest link," Jones said. "But for us, that is simply not true. We are as strong as our strongest link, and we absolutely won’t see any of the Affiliates fail. We won’t. We have each other’s backs and our members’ backs.”

Editor’s Note: To view the full conversation, visit https://whattheythink.com/video/105064-affiliates-printing-united-alliance-part-ways-affiliates-bullish-about-future/