About Inc.

Profectus provides products and consulting solutions designed to help printing and packaging organizations increase sales, grow their business, and improve overall financial performance.

Since 1993, Profectus has helped hundreds of printing and packaging companies strengthen every area of their operations — including sales, estimating, pricing, customer service, order entry, inventory management, production, costing, invoicing, accounting, software, and technology.

With over 30 years of firsthand experience working with hundreds of printing and packaging organizations, we bring deep industry insight and practical expertise to every engagement. This extensive exposure allows us to quickly identify root issues, uncover opportunities, and develop effective solutions — even for the most complex and challenging situations.

Craig L. Press

President & Founder, Profectus Inc.

Craig L. Press is one of the printing and packaging industry’s most respected business management consultants. With more than 40 years of hands-on experience across every major segment of the industry, he has helped hundreds of organizations throughout North America improve profitability, streamline operations, and make better financial and technology decisions.

Since founding Profectus Inc. in 1993, Craig has advised companies of all sizes—from small print shops to multi-plant enterprises with thousands of employees—across commercial print, digital/on-demand, packaging, flexographic, folding carton, labels, publication, book, signage, and trade services.

Craig is also widely recognized as a leading authority on printing industry software. With more than 45 years of experience in MIS design, development, and implementation, he has deep knowledge of virtually every major system. Early in his career, he developed some of the first MIS systems for the printing industry and continues to influence many of the features found in systems.

He has served as a consultant and speaker for major industry associations, including Printing Industries of America (PIA), NAPL, and other organizations. Thousands of print professionals have benefited from his seminars and workshops on estimating, costing, benchmarking, process improvement, and technology.

Craig has authored numerous industry articles and has provided litigation support in cases involving printing companies and vendors.

This combination of financial, operational, and technological mastery has made Craig a leading force in helping print businesses achieve stronger performance and sustained profitability.

Today, Craig leads Profectus Inc. and continues to develop innovative tools—including CostRatesAdvisor.com and PrintBusinessAdvisor.com—to help printing and packaging organizations gain clearer insights and stronger financial results.

About Cost Rates Advisor

For years our consultancy, Profectus Inc has used spreadsheets to calculate BHRs for our clients. Spreadsheets often required a lot of work every time you want to update rates or add another piece of equipment, even with creative Excel formulas and links.

Which is why we decided to develop the Cost Rates Advisor budgeted hourly rates software. It has forms and features that simplify the entry, importing, and updating of financial data needed to calculate BHRs. Cost Rates Advisor comes with built-in "best of breed" formulas, intelligence, and functionality for developing budgeted hourly cost rates.

Cost Rates Advisor gives shops a more accurate picture of their out-of-pocket manufacturing and overhead costs so they can strategically estimate and price jobs. Because Cost Rates Advisor is in the Cloud, you can easily access and update your rates anytime, from anywhere, with any PC, MAC, notebook, or tablet using a compatible web browser and internet.

About Print Business Advisor

For decades, the Printing Industries of America (PIA) financial ratio studies were the industry standard for benchmarking financial performance. Companies would purchase the printed reports and manually compare their numbers against industry benchmarks.

That all changed in 2018, when Profectus Inc. and PIA launched the PIA Performance Ratios (later renamed Print Business Advisor) —a fully automated, web-based financial analysis and benchmarking platform designed specifically for printing and packaging businesses.

The Print Business Advisor streamlines the entire process by using intelligent data entry, automation, and advanced analytics to generate a personalized Performance Analysis Report (PAR). Each report delivers deep insights into a company’s financial health—highlighting over 100 industry-specific ratios and KPIs across profitability, payroll, SG&A, cash flow, inventory, and asset utilization.

Whether you're trying to identify inefficiencies, improve profitability, or validate strategic decisions, Print Business Advisor gives you the data-driven insights to take your business to the next level.

30 Years Of Case Based Knowledge

The challenge for most printing organizations is that the ability to solve problems or improve the business is limited to the education and experience of its personnel and management. Companies can overcome this limitation by retaining a consultancy like Profectus, with a diversified case knowledgebase.

Case-based knowledge is becoming an increasingly imperative success factor for printing businesses. The idea is to solve new problems by implementing previous solutions to similar problems. The greater the knowledgebase, the more efficient and effective the problem resolution process.

Our consultants have extensive case knowledge base from years of exposure to hundreds of printing businesses & situations. We have contributed to the success of hundreds of printing and packaging industry organizations throughout North America. This wealth of knowledge perpetually grows with each new client and assignment. Giving us the insight to quickly see into a situation and produce solutions for even the most challenging situations.

Drive out inefficiencies...

"We hired Profectus to assist us in streamlining our workflow to fit in with the implementation of our new ERP system. They were able to provide us much insight and helped us to drive out many inefficiencies throughout this entire process. We could have never realized the same success without their assistance."

Gene, Operations Manager
Outlook Group,Neenah, WI
640 employees, 3 locations
Flexography, Sheetfed, Digital, Commercial, Packaging, Labels

Definition of "Profectus"

Our company name "Profectus" was derived from the Latin word for "Profit". Our organization's mission is to improve the efficiency, cost effectiveness, and profitability of our clients.

Profectus, n. [Latin. advance, progress, profit].

1. The residual value gained from business operations..

2. Acquisition beyond expenditure; excess of value received for producing, keeping, or selling, over cost; hence pecuniary gain in any transaction or occupation; as, a profit on the sale of goods..

3. Accession of good; valuable results; useful consequences; to be of service or advantage; benefit; avail; gain..