Buying the Right Equipment for the Best ROI

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Running a business requires smarts and the ability to make tough decisions. During these unprecedented times, investing in new equipment may not top an executive’s to-do list, but technology doesn’t wait for unknowns. Society will eventually reopen and customers will buy again, which will help to ease the current business paralysis.

That’s not to say all printers will follow the same approach. What works for a label printer may not make sense for a forms printer. To give you a clearer picture of the thought process, Print+Promo put together a report that features expert input from Tommy Gillis, managing partner of CFC Print & Mail, Grand Prairie, Texas; Tony Heinl, president of Repacorp Inc., Tipp City, Ohio; and John Guzzo, founder and CEO of Virtual Graphics, Easton, Pa. In this resource, these leading suppliers discuss the new equipment they acquired, the effects of this decision and how they stayed ahead of learning curves.

At CFC Print & Mail, Gillis wanted to further improve turnaround time to continue his company’s streak of 11 years of growth, but it was becoming difficult to maintain and find parts for his aging offset printing equipment. Additionally, filling offset operator roles was an obstacle as experienced workers neared retirement and younger workers lacked the skill set. At the time, 60 percent of the printer’s business was in the financial vertical, so finding the Canon ColorStream digital production inkjet that could handle security printing was critical.

“Suppliers struggled to understand check production and MICR [Magnetic Ink Character Recognition],” Gillis said in the customer case study.

Meanwhile, Virtual Graphics has invested in its development of RevealPrint color direct thermal labels to meet distributor demand. The chemical-free alternative to traditional direct thermal labels provides on-demand color for labels.

Also to provide customers more selling opportunities, Repacorp has purchased a number of new pieces of equipment over the past few years. For starters, the company installed RFID presses, shrink sleeve and flexible packaging equipment and wide-format printers.

“Our Arizona facility now has two wide-format presses with multi-drop technology that can produce textured graphics, braille and double-sided window graphics,” Heinl said. “The RFID equipment we purchased is proprietary, and it provides more in-line capabilities that greatly increase speed and output with more accuracy. Repacorp purchased new HP Indigo shrink sleeve and flexible packaging equipment to expand our resellers’ product line.”

After entering the flexible packaging market last year, Repacorp realized the need to convert pouches and print film structures, so it invested in additional equipment to form pouches with closures. The greater need came from, as with CFC Print & Mail, a shortage of workers available to fill manufacturing jobs—a need expected to grow over the next few years, Heinl said.

“This skill gap is caused by factors such as low unemployment, baby boomers retiring and what is known as a massive perception problem among young adults,” he said. “Having new presses can’t positively affect your ROI if you don’t have the people to run the equipment. Therefore, manufacturing, including Repacorp, is looking to new technology and equipment to fill the gap.”

Whether it is keeping up with trends or expanding product offerings, this resource discusses the thought process behind such a decision, including costs, benefits and trickle-down effects. Most importantly, it explores the pay off and ROI.

Download our free special report, "Buying the Right Equipment for the Best ROI," here.