At the BPIF AGM last month, outgoing president Rupert Middleton talked about the need for printing to be recognised as the sort of 'advanced manufacturing' sector that government departments get excited about and are actively interested in.

To that end the federation has produced a brochure: Printing in the 21^st century - beyond advanced manufacturing. It contains nine case studies, and each vignette makes for an interesting read in its own way.

As it happens, Halstan (which just purchased the former Pindar cartography business), and Lettershop (mentioned in yesterday's blog in terms of the firm's innovation and expertise with inkjet technology) are among those featured. The others are ProCo (PrintWeek's reigning Company of the Year), Linney Group, Communisis, Newsprinters, GI Solutions, Denny Bros and Ryedale Group.

While it calls to mind the sort of perennial debate viz printing as manufacturing versus service industry, there's no getting away from the fact that printing things involves making stuff. I'm always a fan of things that remind people of just how clever and sophisticated this printing lark actually is, and I found many fascinating snippets in the publication about the advances being made by these businesses of very different sizes and shape.

It's good to know that the BPIF is propagating the information among those aforementioned government departments, too. Get hold of your own copy by calling 0845 250 7050 or download it from www.britishprint.com (it's number two on the rotating home page elements at the time of typing).