From left: O'Roke; Steven Himes, senior vice president at Normandy Group International, Dayton, Ohio; Richard Salamone, president at Normandy Group International; and DMIA Board Member Casey Campbell, president at Printegra, Peachtree City, Ga., enjoy cocktails at a reception.
From left: Socializing are Charles Casagrande, CEO at Strata-Tac, Batavia, Ill.; DMIA Board Member Phil Taylor, CEO at Taylor Business Products, North Wilkesboro, N.C.; Schmidt; and Thomas Yeager, vice president of marketing at Strata-Tac.
SIG Members Share Ideas
Members of DMIA's seven Special Interest Groups (SIGs) met during the Print Solutions Conference & Expo to discuss strategies for increasing business in specific markets.
Approximately 30 DMIA members attended the Fulfillment SIG session. Ernie Schell, president of Marketing Systems Analysis Inc., discussed the challenges of offering catalog fulfillment versus literature. Schell said one challenge companies offering catalog fulfillment face is lack of seamless integration among e-commerce, retail and supply-chain operations. Dan Bergren of Allied Associated Material Handling Industries Inc. spoke about issues at distribution centers and trends in warehouse storage mediums such as shelving. Earlier, DMIA members visited a fulfillment center run by CBI Corp., Lincolnshire, Ill. CBI's Cliff Bregstone, CFC, the Fulfillment SIG co-chairman, organized a tour for DMIA members to a customer's facility where CBI runs fulfillment operations. Attendees saw mailing, warehousing, printing and fulfillment operations during the 3-hour tour.
During DMIA's Promotional Products Special Interest Group meeting, distributors shared examples of successful applications and solutions they've sold. The case studies sparked discussion among about the use of overseas manufacturers. Distributors questioned how to minimize problems with delivery. Ron Natinsky, SAGE-Quick Technologies Inc., Dallas, suggested working with an importer to reduce the risk of getting late deliveries. Importers are familiar with U.S. Customs regulations, and their relationship with overseas manufacturer provides increases the odds that orders are shipped on time. A second conversation centered on training sales reps to sell promotional products. Attendees suggested going to local trade shows to meet with vendors one on one, buying training videos, reading trade journals and hiring an employee to sell promotional products exclusively.
The cocktail party sponsored by Appleton, Wis.-based supplier Appleton was a sock hop, complete with poodle skirts, blue jeans, motorcycle jackets, white socks and T-shirts, and a Wolfman Jack lookalike spinning hits from the '50s, '60s and '70s.
