Printed Products Stay the Course
Mirroring the national economy, the industry enjoyed mild improvement this year.
The printed products industry got another shake-up this year with the acquisition of Crabar/GBF by Ennis, jumping total sales for Ennis to more than $328 million.
But, that was not enough to hold on to the top spot. The former PrintXcel brands, now called Quality Park, reported total sales of $414 million to take over the No. 1 position.
Overall sales for the Top 100 Suppliers of more than $2.83 billion were slightly higher than last year's total of $2.78 billion. This total was comprised of $1.09 billion in forms (38.4 percent), $600 million in labels and tags (21.2 percent), $191 million in commercial printing (6.7 percent), $162 million in promotional products (5.7 percent), $118 million in direct mail (4.1 percent) and $674 million in other products (23.9 percent). The Other Products category is mainly comprised of plastic cards, services and office supplies.
The total number of employees reported by the Top 100 this year was 19,268, a decrease of 92. The total number of locations dropped by 10 to 356.
Productivity, as measured by sales per employee, increased to $147,031, compared to $143,733 reported last year. Sales per location increased to $8 million from last year's $7.6 million.
Top 10 Suppliers
The overall Top 10 Suppliers generated $1.39 billion in total sales and employed 8,946 people at 189 locations. This represents 49.1 percent of the overall Top 100 sales, 46.4 percent of total employees and 53.1 percent of total locations.
In terms of productivity, the Top 10 generated $155,153 in sales per employee this year, compared to $141,833 last year. For sales per location, the Top 10 generated $7.3 million vs. $6.6 million one year ago.
How the Leaders Fared
The Top 10 forms suppliers reported sales of $636.3 million, compared to $721.7 million last year. The Top 10 label and tag suppliers sold $358.6 million, compared to $347.7 million one year ago. The Top 10 commercial printers claimed revenue of $144.9 million, compared to $126.3 million last year. And, the Top 10 direct mail suppliers generated revenue of $86.2, slightly up from $86 million one year ago.
Operations
Business activity increased this year among the Top 100 Suppliers, as 72 percent expanded manufacturing capabilities, compared to 56 percent last year; 11 percent purchased or acquired facilities, compared to 14 percent last year; and 4 percent built new facilities, compared to 3 percent last year. Only 5 percent of the Top 100 companies sold or closed facilities. Among the Top 100 Suppliers, 64 percent added new product lines, while only 8 percent eliminated product lines.
Layoffs declined this year, with 22 percent of the Top 100 Suppliers reporting layoffs over the past year. On the other hand, 53 percent of the Top 100 Suppliers added employees in production, 43 percent added salespeople, and 23 percent added administrators. For capital investment in new equipment purchases this year, 14 percent of the Top 100 Suppliers budgeted up to $50,000, 3 percent budgeted up to $100,000, 27 percent allocated up to $250,000, 14 percent slotted up to $500,000, 16 percent reserved up to $1 million, and 12 percent budgeted more than $1 million.
Distributor Services
This year, as part of the Top 100 survey, suppliers were asked some questions about the services they provide for distributors. Most suppliers (82 percent) are willing to make sales calls with distributors. Even more suppliers (88 percent) provide plant tours for distributors with potential clients. In addition, 58 percent of suppliers offer seminars designed to help distributors market supplier products, and 70 percent have created marketing materials that distributors can leave with their clients.
Profitability
Most of the Top 100 Suppliers are privately held companies, not required to publicly disclose their profits. However, as always, we can look at Ennis, a publicly held independent supplier, to generate an idea of the overall picture.
Ennis reported net earnings of 6.9 percent for its latest fiscal year, an improvement of 0.6 percent over the previous year. The company's sales increased by 7.7 percent, even before the Crabar/GBF acquisition is taken into account.
Economists continue to predict a gradual improvement in the U.S. economy. Although Ennis' record cannot be universally applied across the industry, hopefully, it is an indicator that improvement and profitability are continuing.
By Bill Drennan & Heather Beachy
Note: All numbers used for this analysis are based on the sales totals provided by the suppliers listed in BFL&S' Top 100 chart. All of the suppliers included in the chart indicated that significant portions of their products are sold through the independent distributor channel.
- Places:
- Quality Park