04 Feb When you’re finished changing, you’re finished
One of printing’s founding fathers, Ben Franklin famously said, “When you’re finished changing, you’re finished.” The same words are as true today as they were when Franklin printed The New-England Courant, the first independent newspaper in the colonies.
Print communication has changed dramatically throughout its long history. The earliest known form of printing on paper was woodblock printing in China before 220 AD. Other printing milestones came in the 15th century when Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press and again in 1875 when offset printing made it’s debut. Since then, our industry has evolved tremendously and continues to change to include not just ink on paper, but 3D printing, printing on textiles, electronics, and a host of other substrates too lengthy to list.
It’s hard to believe, but twenty-five years ago, you probably didn’t have an email address, and now it’s hard to imagine life (or business) without email. Fifteen years ago, Facebook didn’t exist, and now 2.3 billion people and millions of businesses use it to communicate. With all the changes both in our industry and in the way people communicate, it’s important that our association continue to evolve to best serve the needs of our members.
For over two years, PIA has been in merger negotiations with the Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) to establish a new entity to better encompass the broader and more diverse face of the graphic communications industry and its many facets. On November 17th, the Board of Directors of PIA voted unanimously to support a merger with. While the merger won’t be official until May of 2020, many are asking what does this mean for PICA and it’s members? Here are a few of the highlights:
- We will have a newly combined industry-wide entity that will better represent the breadth of today’s graphic communications industry including: commercial printing, industrial printing, graphics, garment, textile, electronics and packaging.
- We will have leveraged resources to better invest in the future of the industry
- The ability to provide members with the most relevant information and tools to help their businesses succeed
I don’t know about you, but I’m excited about the possibilities of appealing to a new, larger base of members and expanding our network of peers from which we can all learn and grow. I think Ben Franklin would be proud of how far we’ve come, how far we’ll go and the fact that we’re continuing to change for the better.
