Episode 26: Pete Larson on the Current Supply Chain Situation

In this episode we are joined by Pete Larson. Pete is the President and CEO of Bethany Press (https://www.bethanypress.com/), a printer based in Bloomington, Minnesota. He has been in the printing side of the publishing business for over 25 years, and has some interesting thoughts to share with us about the current supply chain issues that we are experiencing as an industry.

Pete looks back at changes that have been happening to book printing since the early 2000's, and traces some of the issues we are seeing now to overall trends and changes in printing processes and paper stock needs over the intervening years. The current issues we are seeing with paper availability is not only due to the supply chain disruptions from pandemic shutdowns, it is also due to how the industry was changing before the pandemic and where the trends in print book sales were heading.

This episode gives an interesting look behind the book printing curtain, and includes some thoughts about sustainability and recycled paper stock, as well.