Organization of Printing Services
There are several ways to categorize printing companies. One traditional way is by the kinds of services or products the companies deliver. With this view, printing organizations can be classified into eight distinct areas:

Commercial Printing
Commercial Printing is done by a company that is willing to take on nearly any sort of printing job. Commercial printers can be usually handle a large variety of printing jobs, regardless of sheet sizes, number of ink colors, length of run, or even binding requirements. Typical products produced in a commercial printing shop include small business cards, letterhead stationery, posters, and four – color glossy advertising sheets for mailing. If a commercial printer does not have all of the equipment or skilled staff to perform a whole job, parts of the job, such as die cutting, foil stamping, or binding, may be subcontracted to trade shops.

Trade Shops
Some companies provide services only to the printing trade. These are called trade shops. Not all commercial, special purpose, in – plant, publishing, or packaging companies can afford to own and operate all the equipment necessary to meet their total production requirements. For examples, a company might decide not to buy bindery equipment because only a small percentage of its work requires folding, collating, or binding. When the company receives a contract that requires binding, it sends it to a trade shop that specializes in binding.

Special Purpose Printing
Special purpose printing is defined by the limited type of jobs performed by a company. One printer might print only labels, The printer would purchase special equipment and accept orders for only labels. However, the printer would make labels to any size, shape, number of colors, length of run, or duplicate sales slips. Forms printing is an important area of the printing industry in terms of size and yearly sales. Yet another example of special purpose printing is called legal printing. Legal printers are concerned with reproducing pieces such as corporate stock offerings, insurance policies, or financial reports.

Quick Printing
Within the last several years, a quick printing sector of the printing industry has grown around the use of electrostatic printing. More commonly known as photocopying, or simply copying, the electrostatic process allows copies to be reproduced without the use of a traditional printing plate press. The exploration of quick print shops has revolutionized public access to the reproduction process. Most copy centers offer walk – in services that include copies up to 11 inches X 17 inches or larger, spot ( solid ) color, full – color images, binding, computer rental time, direct digital copies, and an array of supplier such as matching envelopes, binders, and presentation folders. In addition, many quick print shops offer access through the Internet for online ordering and document creation.

In - Plant Printing
In plant printing is defined as any printing operation that is owned by, and serves the need of, a single company or corporation. A business might manufacturer a variety of products that must each be packaged with an instruction sheet. Management could decide it is more convenient and cost efficient to set up its own shop to print the instruction sheets rather than to send the job to a commercial printer. The company would then also able to produce in – house forms, promotion pieces, company letterhead and stationery, time cards, and almost all of its printing needs.

Many in – plant printers use the lithographic process. Equipment manufacturers are currently marketing systems with a platemaker “in line” with a press, collator, and binder. With the systems approach, the in - plant printer can enter original copy such as typed form into an automatic direct image platemaking system, select the number of copies to be printed and the preferred binding method, and produce bound copies in a matter of minutes.

Publishing
Another category of printing services that we use nearly every day is publishing. Within this category are the thousands of companies that produce daily or weekly newspapers, and the even large group of companies that produce periodicals, such as Time and Newsweek, which sell to national market. Consider also the group of businesses that produces and markets books. The publisher of this book is a private company that produces textbooks. It is important to understand that printer do not usually make decisions to publish a book, CD, or magazine. Printer are rarely the publisher. Publisher, however, require the skilled of the printer to manufacture their products.

Package Printing
Hundreds of different containers we use every day are produced by package printing. The idea of impulse ( buying a product on the visual appeal of the package ) has skyrocketed the demand for high – quality, multi – color package that attract the consumer’s attention. Package printer decorate and form hundreds of millions of folded paperboard boxes, flexible packages, and corrugated boxes each year. Millions of printed plastic bags are use every day in grocery stores and companies that distribute or package food. Corrugated boxes and thin plastic film are both printed by flexography. Packaging, however, is not restricted to paper or plastic. Think of all the steel and aluminum soft drink and beer containers sold every day. These packages are produced by a special process called metal decorating.

Related Industries
The last category of services in printing industry is called related industries. The raw materials if the printer are such things as ink, paper, plates, chemicals, and many other supplies. Printers also use special purpose equipment, such as presses, paper cutters, platemakiers, cameras, and light tables, to produce their products. Companies that provide services to printers by either producing or selling these supplies and equipment are called related industries. Other businesses, such as consulting firms and advertising agencies that prepare designs for reproduction, might also perform a service, but they do not make or sell a physical products.