John on Print Procurement

Supplier Performance Scores

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:38:00 +0000

Your buyers may be having issues with your suppliers and you may not even know it. How do you know that you are getting what is expected from your suppliers? How do your suppliers know they are doing what is expected? I know, there is that annual...

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Marketings need to track print procurement costs

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:08:00 +0000

I was reading a recent article on whattheythink.com by Brian Wolfenden titled: The Future of Print in Marketing Communications. Brian raises a great point in the article; "Today's marketing professionals...They have to make sure that the campaign...

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Fuel Prices are impacting me now.

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:14:00 +0000

Yep it has happened... The $4.00 a gallon price was my tipping point. Instead of putting the $100.00 in my gas tank I opted to buy a Bicycle and will get pay back by riding my Bike to work for the next two weeks! Yep the cost of the bike will be...

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The Importance of Supplier Equipment Lists

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Fri, 09 May 2008 20:42:00 +0000

Patrick Henry blogged a great article recently on Print CEO about the importance of equipment lists to print buyers. I want to expound on this a bit in that not only is it important but as much information as you can provide about your services and...

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Cross-Wind® uses Flex to manage the project list

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:20:00 +0000

Good Morning, Often times users are not really concerned with what technology or programming language is being used on their system as long as it works. Well sometimes your computer is not "up" on the latest technology and so sometimes your system is...

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Fuel prices impacting print spend?

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:43:00 +0000

Appended: I apparently wrote this before the DOE announced the National average of $3.39 per gallon yesterday afternoon so the news gets better and better! The message is still the same just even more urgent than last week. According to the Department...

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Change is a GOOD thing?

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:58:00 +0000

Change The seasons change, styles change, presidents change, companies change, processes change. Everything changes, it is how we handle change that makes or breaks us. If you do not handle change well the the print industry is probably NOT the place...

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Cross-Wind® Project List New Release

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 22:00:00 +0000

Good Morning, The latest Cross-Wind enhancement release includes major changes to the Project List page. The Project List page now includes Drag and Drop capabilities within the project list and allows access to project information by highlighting a...

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Evaluating Supplier Responsiveness

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 23:04:00 +0000

Supplier Responsiveness is one of the key issues that management teams are always concerned with. "How do I know many suppliers are responding in a timely manner to my requests?" Some might ask "Why should I even be concerned with this?" If you are in...

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Staple Offer for Corporate Express REJECTED

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:53:00 +0000

According to the Associated Press Corporate Express management rejected the proposal within about 2 hours of the offer being made public. CE officials sited the proposal as significantly undervaluing Corporate Express and failing to reflect CE's value. ...

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Staples Makes Bid to Acquire Corporate Express

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 14:18:00 +0000

In an email to Staples associates dated 2/19/08, Ron Sargent Chairman and CEO of Staples, notified associates of the proposed offer made to Corporate Express. Below is the text of the email distributed yesterday. "Fellow Associates: Today we have...

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Is Data Reporting important to Print Buyers?

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 20:48:00 +0000

Is reporting important to Print Buyers? In my humble opinion it is the MOST important aspect of any Print Buyers job. Print Buyers are analyst's they are hired to be able to evaluate suppliers from a wide range of areas; quality, turn-around,...

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Is it time to consider PDF a threat?

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 21:18:00 +0000

As Joel Hruska points out in his article on ARS Technica, Adobe seems to not be doing themselves any favors once again. Printers should seriously consider the possible damage that could be caused to a 6 figure piece of equipment because of a $49.00...

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Has it all been said?

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:01:00 +0000

One of the interesting things about going to conference's is the opportunity to talk to people and explore the surroundings of a conference find restaurants nearby etc. A part of that interest comes in hearing the topics of the conference being...

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A Quick Note From Print Oasis 2008

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 14:52:00 +0000

Good Morning from Amelia Island FL. The weather has been incredible these past few days...Sunshine, Warmth, the Ocean Breeze! The conference is busy and active as usual with great speakers and LOT's of Exhibitor's. There are more exhibitor's at this...

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Print Oasis 2008 this weekend!

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:45:00 +0000

This weekend is Print Oasis 2008 being held at Amelia Island Plantation resort in Amelia Island Florida. The show begins Saturday and runs through Tuesday, with opportunities for Print Buyers and Suppliers to mingle and gain knowledge of the latest...

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New Customer Implementation for Cross-Wind

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 22:11:00 +0000

I am sitting in the Newark airport after leaving a new customer implementation that I have been on all week. It is Raining and flights are delayed so I thought this the perfect time to update the blog. I have spent Monday through today in the customers...

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Busy, Busy, Busy, Are you busy too?

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 17:36:00 +0000

Good Morning! Or is it afternoon I am not sure! It has been a very busy start to 2008 for me. I hope your 2008 is starting out with a bang as well. I was at the Corporate Express National Sales Meeting last week. What a great show! The Keynote...

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New Customer Implementation

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:53:00 +0000

I am doing a new customer implementation in December so I thought I would touch on some of the things that are involved with implementation of Cross-Wind. One of the very first questions I get asked is; "How long is this going to take?" knowing that...

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Cross-Wind® Supplier Training Session - November

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 13:28:00 +0000

The Monthly supplier training session is upon us. If you are a supplier to a Cross-Wind customer. you should have received your monthly notification of training this morning. The session lasts 1 hour and is a Live Meeting session combined with a...

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Good Morning from DMIA 2007

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 16:37:00 +0000

Good Morning from DMIA 2007 in Las Vegas! The exhibitor show starts tomorrow with a ribbon cutting ceremony at 12:15 PM The educational sessions begin today at noon. So far it is sunny and 75 in the valley. I will be setting up our booth this morning...

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CEO Confidence Declines Further

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 18:53:00 +0000

Oct. 5, 2007 -- The Conference Board Measure of CEO Confidence, which had declined to 45 in the second quarter of 2007, edged down to 44 in the third quarter. A reading of more than 50 points reflects more positive than negative responses. The survey...

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Are Reverse Auctions good for the Print Industry?

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 15:32:00 +0000

So the question has come up again; "does Cross-Wind do Reverse Auctions?" My biggest concern is why are buyers so infatuated with reverse auctions? I find it hard to believe that anyone in the print industry would even consider these. Have the lessons...

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Print Buyers International Announces Speaker Line-up for 2nd Annual Print Buyers Conference

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 16:25:00 +0000

Print Buyers International Press Release Print Buyers International today announced their speaker line-up for the upcoming 2nd Annual Print Buyers Conference on November 7th and 8th at the Westford Regency Inn & Conference Center...

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How Print Sales Reps Really Think

noreply@blogger.com (John Ganger) — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:18:00 +0000

I read this post on another blog and was SHOCKED by the comments made. I cannot believe a Sales Rep would really think this way! I am going to break this down by paragragh to respond and the whole post can be found at:...

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