Rhapsody in Green
Cincinnati-based Prograde—a provider of print management, integrated marketing, fulfillment and e-commerce solutions—was recently awarded the Forest Stewardship Council’s (FSC) chain-of-custody (COC) certification by Scientific Certification Systems, Emeryville, Calif. The certification is valid through Dec. 2012, and is the first of Prograde’s several planned initiatives to support sustainability and green printing efforts in the marketplace.
“We are relatively early on in the process,” said Dave Carlin, vice president and chief sales officer. “We started looking into FSC certification in October and made the decision to go ahead with the process in late November. It wasn’t a case of a large client telling us we needed to do it,” he continued. “We saw the market moving in this direction and knew clients would eventually request it, so we decided to be proactive. We saw an opportunity to do our share for the environment, [as well as] support our customers’ efforts, and weave this into our sales process for business development.”
In choosing a certification firm, Carlin explained Scientific Certification Systems was already working with another company Prograde respected. Prior to the physical site audit, the agency outlined measures necessary to be awarded certification, such as implementing procedures for keeping FSC-certified stock separate and ensuring documentation pertaining to FSC orders—including product labeling, packing slips and invoices—is specifically managed to confirm COC from start to finish.
“It wasn’t hard to implement the various requirements. Our warehousing system was pretty much ready to go. The challenge for us was making sure our computer system was set up to support the effort,” said Carlin. “For instance, FSC-certified products are billed differently, so product codes and data related to the items must be handled in a particular way. You don’t want to ... get FSC certified and feel good about it, and suddenly find yourself doing all sorts of manual offline transactions. You have to be able to keep track of the activity.”
The process took approximately one month to complete, and Carlin estimated Prograde spent $5,000 on obtaining the certification. In addition, Prograde is establishing a recycling effort, including installing a special recycling dumpster to separate office materials, and he said the company is contemplating purchasing renewable energy credits, as well.
“We’ve also identified who in our supply chain is and isn’t FSC certified,” mentioned Carlin. “We have had dialogue with certain key vendors who are going to be certified within the next three to six months. Beyond that, the industry is getting into other green initiatives, [such as] green inks and design [strategies]. There is so much going on [in the green movement]. It’s important to stay on top [of developments] and participate in the areas we believe will be beneficial to our clients and ourselves.”
Carlin noted that while some industry professionals know exactly what COC means, others are not quite clear. “We’ll ask some vendors if [their companies] are certified to produce projects and they’ll say: ‘No, but the paper we use is certified.’ They don’t understand that when you take on a paper sheet that’s FSC certified from the mill, there is a break in the COC if their companies are not FSC certified. But, they are beginning to catch on. We must be able to work with FSC-certified print manufacturers in order to commit to the COC and guarantee [that it] has not been broken.”
One FSC-certified job Prograde provides for a large nationwide client involves a corporate stationery identity program. “It’s basically an online ordering application that’s used by the employees across the country [to request] shell items, such as business cards, envelopes and letterhead[s],” noted Carlin. “The stock is FSC certified and we make sure the COC is not broken. Eventually, marketing collateral printed with the FSC logo will be added.”
Prograde has updated its website and created a press release informing clients about its FSC-certified status, but the company is not yet engaged in aggressive marketing. “With the help of a public relations firm, we’re preparing [an article] for the ‘Greater Cincinnati Inquirer’ regarding Prograde [in general]. Once that hits, we will begin actively promoting the FSC information,” explained Carlin. “We’re [launching] a direct marketing campaign toward the end of April to certain key clients and prospects to generate awareness.”
Carlin did share the information with one of his larger accounts recently, and while the clients extolled the virtues of FSC certification in one breath, they expressed concern over increased costs in the next.
“In some cases, it might cost a little more. Some customers actually ask for two quotes—one for a FSC-certified project and one not certified. We try to make sure there is no cost difference so it’s easy for customers to say: ‘Okay, lets go; we think it’s great you’re trying to lead the charge here,’” he said. “The mills are realizing that in order to compete, they are going to have to make all of their sheets FSC certified. I think that will pretty much be the end of it, and there will no longer be an impact on cost. If there is, it [will be an] artificial cost since it really isn’t costing them anything additional to produce an FSC-certified sheet.”
Like everything else, surmised Carlin, there will be leaders, those who sit back and wait and those who will never get involved with green initiatives. “Eventually, I think this FSC buzz will become so commonplace that we won’t have an advantage over [other distributorships],” he added. “But, it will be interesting to see how long it takes for some of the companies sitting back to jump on the bandwagon.”
For more information, visit www.prograde.com or call (513) 942-9202.
- People:
- Dave Carlin
- Places:
- Cincinnati
- Emeryville, Calif.