BINDERY-FINISHING DEALERS HAVE THEIR SAY . . .
"it's like a forum of machine dealers sitting in a room exchanging
worthy ideas for customer-retention and making money!"
Once upon a time in the printing industry, when a job came off the press it was stacked onto a cart and toted off to the bindery. That could have meant to another part of the building or to a separate facility altogether. The one constant was that it came from a print shop and needed to be finished in some form or another be it cut, folded, scored or bound. In today's print environment much of that original scenario has changed.
Rampant technology, customers' needs for more cost efficient methods, the changing face of bindery customers, a declining dollar, present dealers with an entirely new paradigm for selling, servicing and supplying their bindery-finishing customers.
Perhaps the most telling aspect of the "new" era in bindery sales is the customers themselves. Traditional printers are always looking for solutions that can save them money, get work done faster and keep them competitive. And dealers know the market, know what is available and have the ability to deliver.
"There has been a big evolution in the equipment," notes Roger Bland, President of Royce Photo Graphics in Salt Lake City, Utah. "Manufacturers have incorporated a tremendous level of automation into their machines which makes them easier to run. Knowledge and skill level are still invaluable, but now a knowledgeable journeyman can supervise a job that at one time required a highly trained operator."
Islip, NY based Tony Zuaro, President of Ahead Equipment sees the higher speeds of the new generation of machinery as a contributor to cost efficiency. "A lot of things have changed over the years in a variety of machinery, especially the high speeds," he points out. "You can change settings with the touch of a button and a manager can even monitor the job on a computer screen from his office."
"The biggest change in bindery to smaller dealers like me is the smaller based printers who have online finishing in-house," adds Michael Ray, owner of SEPS in Birmingham, Alabama. "In a typical print shop you would have a pre-press person, a press person, a finishing person and so on. With digital equipment print shop owners can cut people and save money."
"I see printers wanting to avoid the middle man and bring the work in house," said Nelson Stevens, President of Independent Machinery Co., Palatine, Illinois. "Having the bindery in-house enables them to have control... control of the time it takes to get a job out the door." And after all, he adds, "People are selling time and the customer is always out of time. Time is money."
The term in-house has taken on a new meaning in this technological age, as a wider variety of businesses bring their printing operations to the office and in many cases onto a desktop and away from the traditional print shop. Dealers need to carefully look at this as an opportunity to expand their market coverage.
Making that point clear, here is a statement made by Noel Cook, owner of Seattle based Binder Products: "You'd be surprised at how many different types of businesses use binding and laminating equipment. I have some 3,000 supply customers in businesses from department stores, the oil industry, trucking companies, airplanes you name it." Agreeing with that thought, Bill Reeve, owner of Bristol Products, Bristol, Rhode Island says his company focuses his entire business on binding and laminating and targets the in-house market. "The computer revolution and desktop publishing is better for the type of market I sell to," he noted. "Anytime something comes out of a color printer it needs to be bound in some way."
As SEPS' Ray puts it, "The new term for the bindery is paper handling. Once it comes out of whatever it was printed on it still needs to be handled be it cut, or folded or drilled or bound and it's basically the same machines that do the job: cutters, folders, drills and binders."
One thing that hasn't changed much, in spite of technological advances is that the typical life of bindery equipment is usually longer than in other areas of the print shop. Roger Bland at Royce says most of the equipment being sold today, even with automation, will see at least a ten year machine life. You can't say that for other technologies." And on the topic of machine life, Michael Ray at SEPS feels many companies are hanging on to equipment until it wears out. Ray continued with: "These longer intervals between equipment replacements, combined with competition from foreign manufacturers and the internet plus the overall state of the economy are all part of the challenges dealers face today.
SO....WHAT IS THE DEALER'S VALUE PROPOSITION?
Royce's Roger Bland sees his edge in the expertise and service he and his staff
bring to their customers. "We have to be more than distributors," he
stressed, "we have to be providers of value. And to be of value to our
customers we have to be willing to make a commitment to service and training.
It's a long term commitment to deliver, inform and support customers' need to
know the minute new technology is launched. That's what we try to do and I'm
convinced there are a lot of dealers across the nation who try to do
that."
AND THEN THERE'S THE INTERNET
Expansion of territory via the internet is a tool that is working for many
dealers across the country and Tony Zuaro (Ahead Equipment), is no exception.
Despite the struggling dollar, his small Long Island dealership has expanded
world wide by selling over the internet. "I have customers in Mexico who
tell us that prices are through the roof there," he pointed out.
"Even with the fluctuating dollar, buying from us is still cheaper for
them."
Bristol Products' Reeve, whose primary territory is the northeastern United States, has a simple approach, "If you send me a purchase order, I will honor it no matter where the customer is," he says.
For Noel Cook, (Binder Products) whose primary business is in mechanical binding and laminating, he was strong on the point that nothing beats face to face selling. "We don't have a lot of competition locally," he commented, "but we do on the internet. Most people buying a bindery-finishing machine want to see it, touch it, try it. We take it to them. You can't do that on the internet."
"Internet is ok, but! When printers need to do coil bound books for example, we need to demonstrate how it's done. If coil binding is new to them, even a live-demo doesn't get the idea across too quickly. Nonetheless, we go out and show them how its better and we let them try it on a few jobs."
Michael Ray has an entire philosophy about the internet and how it affects the sale of supplies. "We're moving away from paper work overall," he offers. "As people get more acclimated to the mouse and the monitor they expect to view information in a different way. Ray sees his business moving towards customer ID's, shopping carts and Pay Pal. It won't take long before new customers get to understand how and to enjoy the ease of online purchasing. He concluded with: "In the internet age, the customer doesn't like to be sold....he wants to buy what he needs." DC
SIDEBAR TO EDUCATIONAL FOCUS by Nelson Stevens
Nelson Stevens is a savvy business owner. As president of Independent
Machinery Co. in Palatine, Illinois for 27 years he's seen his share of
economic ups and downs. During that time he has serviced a territory that
covers all of north America with finishing and die cutting equipment and
supplies. In a recent interview he offered some views on the present economy
and it's effects on his portion of the industry.
ON FOREIGN EQUIPMENT:
"The European equipment which fathered a lot of today's machinery is
beginning to be priced out of the market because of the exchange rate."
ON THE PRESENT ECONOMIC STATE:
"It's been terrible. We're waiting for the second half of the year to see
if the government's economic stimulus program will help. Basically how it works
is, if you bought a $500,000 machine, $250,000 of that purchase could be
expensed this year. The remaining $250,000 would be depreciated to half, which
leaves $125,000. That $125,000 gets treated normally at regular depreciation
over seven years. So in this example the customer could write off a total of
$393,000 or 78% for equipment purchased in 2008. This showed up three months
ago from the government to stimulate the economy."
ON CHINESE IMPORTS:
"The European equipment suppliers are on borrowed time. I say that because
the Chinese are coming very fast. It's yet to be seen how good these Chinese
machines are. By and large people are very suspicious. Here's why....a printer
goes to a show and looks at top of the line equipment he knows will do the job
he needs. Then on the show floor he trips over a shiny piece of equipment from
China priced at far less than the ones he already looked at. Being ill informed
he buys this cheaper machine and then later, after he's discovered its
shortcomings, tries to sell it and finds there's no after market for this
equipment."
ON CULTURAL DIFFERENCES WHEN DEALING OVERSEAS:
"This is interesting and kind of humorous too. The Latin folks enjoy life,
so sometimes they have a little "mañana" in their culture.
They make a good product, but in my opinion, are sometimes not real quick on
the draw. We had a machine made by an Italian manufacturer and had an emergency
call for a part needed over-night. Turns out the entire country's businesses
shut down for two weeks and everyone goes to the beach for vacation. So here we
were, needing a part the next day and we couldn't get in touch with
anyone." DC