2021 Top Suppliers: What the Pandemic Taught Ennis Inc.

As part of Print+Promo Marketing's 2021 Top Suppliers list, we asked some of the top-ranked suppliers about how they fared during the first year of the pandemic, their thoughts on the industry, their future plans and more.

Check out our conversation with Keith S. Walters of Ennis Inc., the No. 3 company on our 2021 Top Suppliers list, below. Or, download the full 2021 Top Suppliers resource for the complete interviews, detailed stats and analysis for the Top 65, and results for our 2021 Supplier Excellence Awards.

Ennis Inc. – No. 3
2020 sales: $357.9 million
Midlothian, Texas
2,096 employees, 54 locations
Established in 1909

Keith S. Walters

The only print-centric supplier in our top three, Ennis Inc. finished the year with $357.9 million in total sales. Like many on PPM’s 2021 Top Suppliers list, Ennis Inc. felt the effects of the pandemic with an 18.35% drop in revenue compared to its 2019 figures. But for company Chairman, CEO and President Keith S. Walters, keeping the doors open and the presses running for hardworking employees and, by extension, customers — without government assistance — was a proud moment.

“We’ve been saying it for years that our systems and processes allow us to succeed in this industry,” he noted. “One of the lessons we learned through the pandemic was that our beliefs were confirmed, and we were doing things the right way. Although we had to make adjustments in our business, our systems and processes showed us the adjustments that we needed to make so we were prepared and not delayed in making the correct decisions.”

Outlook: Ennis Inc. roared into 2021, welcoming two new printers to its family of brands — with both deals serving a specific need. According to Walters, acquiring Roanoke, Virginia-based InfoSeal would expand and strengthen Ennis Inc.’s line of pressure sealers, a market that is gaining attention thanks to its many uses, including promotional direct mail. He said the AmeriPrint deal was a strategic purchase that would give Ennis Inc. better access to the Chicago area. Acquisitions will remain a central part of the company’s growth strategy going forward, Walters added.

For the most recent quarter, Ennis Inc. saw a “nice bounce back” from the pandemic slowdown of last year; however, it’ll be a while before businesses can chip away at the extensive problems plaguing the industry. Like his peers, Walters has had to navigate the tight labor market and lagging paper lead times. Right now, he’s most concerned about freight issues.

“Not only the freight to deliver the finished product, but the freight that goes into delivering the raw materials to our suppliers and then our suppliers delivering to us,” Walters said. “The cost of freight is making all of the components of a product increase. This is the highest inflation we have seen since [President] Carter.”