“Good Business in a Bad Economy – How a Slow Economy Creates New Opportunities” was the theme of a webinar sponsored by the Tag & Label Manufacturers Institute (TLMI) this week, featuring up-to-the-minute economic perspectives and advice from Dr. Joe Webb, a well known economist in the printing industry. The webinar was produced by Label & Narrow Web.

Also appearing in the 70-minute webinar were four label industry professionals: converters Kathleen Alaimo of Syracuse Label & Surround Printing, and Frank Gerace of Multi-Color Corporation; and suppliers Dan O’Connell of UPM Raflatac and Dave McSherry of acpo ltd.

Webb said he sees signs of recovery from the recession, but cautioned that it will be “a slow trudge out of here.” Inflation might start to “peek through” as the economy improves, he said, adding that his prediction for the US GDP this year is -0.5 percent.

He recommends that companies “use the recession well” by focusing on customers and their needs. Companies need to have employees who are “consistently interested in training, who want to be a step ahead, who want to know what clients are doing.” He suggested that companies in the label industry take advantage of today’s slack labor market: “You probably have competitors with good employees. Keep an eye on that.”

And a good tip for those in the packaging industry, he said, is that “branding will come back as a major focus for companies. They will start to reinvest and update brands, concentrating on the way they look, are sold and displayed. This is good for packaging.”

Webb and the four label industry people fielded questions from the webinar audience on such topics as challenges during the recession, excess capacity, wages and salaries of employees, RFID, and emerging technologies.

TLMI members can view and listen to the webinar by visiting TLMI’s website: www.tlmi.com. Non-members can view and listen to the webinar by visiting nitesh_lnw.rodpub.com/webinars.