Fedex Corporation

The Next FedEx? Logistics Could Be Amazon's Future
March 27, 2012

Many see a battle between Amazon and Apple looming in the future. ut I think the retailer’s main competitors will be men in shorts: logistics companies like UPS and FedEx.

Amazon is at a crossroads. The company garners billions a year in revenue from selling e-books, household items and vacuuming up rising retailers like Zappos. Retailing, though, can be a difficult single-digit margin business.

As a result, Amazon has invested heavily in its back-end systems to cut operational costs. It even leverages these capabilities for revenue. This month, it bought Kiva Systems, which makes robots for warehouses, for $775 million.

For 'Harry Potter' fans, an era is ending
July 11, 2011

Friday marks the end of an era. Some, like Warner Bros. executive Dan Fellman, compare its finality to the breakup of the Beatles.

When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, the eighth and presumably final film based on the phenom that has sold 450 million books and close to a billion movie tickets, opens this week in theaters from Lahore to Los Angeles, it will be twilight in the Potterverse.

A New and Powerful Book Industry Sector Is Born
June 7, 2010

Self-publishing and online services, e-books, and digital demand printing are joined into a new and powerful sector that is transforming the industry. For industry professionals whose career satisfactions and livelihoods are bonded to the future of the book, this new sector offers a wild ride and a venturesome future.

12 Profitable Book-Production Tips for Publishers and Printers
December 1, 2007

Book-production management is, in many respects, an act of faith. For some, faith in the universality of Murphy’s Law—if something can go wrong, it will. Or, faith that virtue is its own reward—if you do everything right, things will always come out right. Old hands come to realize that “trust but verify” is probably the most prudent maxim to apply in managing workflow. Without systems in place and proven procedures, we’d have to reinvent the wheel every time. But without an occasional revisit to the last batch of XBIT transactions or Job Definition Format (JDF) specifications sent through, that error in the PMS color

Are You the Weakest Link?
March 1, 2007

As I was preparing for this column, I came across the following statement in a brochure prepared by Strategos, strategic planning consultants, that I picked up at an event a few years ago: “What’s amazing is how often top management is surprised when dramatic external change happens. Why the surprise? Is it that the world is violently turbulent, changing in ways that simply cannot be anticipated? Perhaps. But we call them ‘inevitable surprises.’ Think about it. In retrospect, you could have anticipated most of the disruptions in your industry. You can build this capability into your organization. You can be prepared—before your competition.”

Courier Corp. Reports Higher Sales and Earnings in Q1
January 25, 2005

NORTH CHELMSFORD, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 20, 2005--Courier Corporation (Nasdaq: CRRC), one of America's leading book manufacturers and specialty publishers, today announced results for the quarter ending December 25, 2004, the first quarter of its 2005 fiscal year. Continuing its pattern of higher sales to the education market, the company reported $51.3 million in revenues for the quarter, up 10% from last year's first-quarter sales of $46.8 million. Net income for the quarter was $4.1 million or $.50 per diluted share, an increase of 6% over prior-year results of $3.9 million or $.48 per diluted share. Both of the company's operating segments reported increased sales. Book

Diary of Gold Ink 2001
July 1, 2001

In sitting down to write about this year's Gold Ink judging process, the oft-quoted "out of the mouths of babes" came to mind. This marked my first year of involvement in the contest, and I believe the phrase would provide an appropriate backdrop for a behind-the-scenes account of the process—from start to finish. Many of BookTech the Magazine's readers write to inquire about the adjudication process, so, here's an overview, in anticipation of announcing the 2001 winners in the next issue, and to give credit where it's due—to our staff and tireless judges. 04.02.01-05.08.01 Good things come in all packages At first, the entries

Coats and Many Colors
May 1, 2001

The same forces that dictate which clothing designer's spring line will garner the most retail attention—marketing, aesthetics and target audience—also influence seasonal buying trends. And while the debate withstands in determining the breadth of "good" literature based on either popularity or critical credibly, it's a fact that general reading audiences do judge books by their covers. As a result of the old adage, many book publishers and printers are developing ways of cornering consumers using unusual substrates and production methods to enhance design, of which fine art photography is a common thread. The following titles are among a few fresh examples of how

Dump That Paperwork
September 1, 2000

by Tatyana Sinioukov The graphic arts community has gotten very good at digitizing isolated points of the workflow process. Now it's time to connect the dots. Should publishers have electronic access to the printers' schedules -- and vice versa? How can they exchange files: FTP, EDI, Web sites or e-mail? Gone are the days of packing FedEx boxes and relying on just the hard media. That said, it takes communication and determination to ensure successful data-sharing between publishers and suppliers. "There are a lot of advantages to data-sharing," said Brenda Brown, manager, book engineering/preflight, Malloy Lithographing, Ann Arbor, Mich. "It takes some work and partnering to get to