Most people could probably use at least a day without hearing about the economy. But the fact is, while the country has begun to recover, it is slow-paced. And members of the print industry, in particular, need to know what's in store because that ugly rumor (the one that calls print a dying breed) has been circulating for some time. End-users are looking for a stable source of supply.
Jumbo rolls can provide that sense of stability. According to Gerry Toscani, CEO of Westampton, New Jersey-based Paris Business Products, jumbo rolls continue to be among the company's fastest-growing product areas. "This difficult economic period has seen many organizations struggling to survive, with two of our major competitors going out of business. However, the printing and paper industry is still essentially strong, and we have already seen signs of improvement. Among the positive signals is the growth of jumbo rolls due to their cost efficiencies over many other paper products," he said.
He continued, "Many businesses that have high-speed, high-volume printers use jumbo rolls. Printer manufacturers such as Kodak, Xerox, Océ and IBM continue to evolve and improve efficiencies for large paper users. Markets that typically use jumbo rolls are large consumers of paper such as financial, healthcare and insurance, with most applications found in data processing companies, print service providers, billing and statement producers, fulfillment houses and in-plant print facilities."
Allen Simon, president of Monaca, Pennsylvania-based Datatel Resources is also finding success in this market, having produced jumbo rolls for more than 15 years. "The economy has forced us to continually position ourselves as a low-cost provider. However, the economy also has opened up opportunities for new business. ... There is plenty of print business out there. We strongly believe that we can provide a compelling proposal when teaming with our reseller partners to pursue new business," he asserted.
Toscani and Simon agreed it all begins and ends with excellent customer service. "The advantage to this business is the contractual nature," Simon stated. "If you provide a high level of service, provide exceptional quality and tangible processing savings to the customer, there can be a great deal of loyalty."
Toscani elaborated, "As a new distributor or reseller in this paper market, the most important advice is to make sure you partner with a reliable supplier. As the 'experts' in producing rolls, a converter can take the pressure off of the distributor. The distributor can then focus on finding end-users who need rolls and then bring on the converter to put the process into action."
Toscani went on to say that securing a new customer doesn't happen overnight. Time is required to demonstrate to a potential customer how a company's products and services will improve "production efficiencies, product quality and user satisfaction." Once assurance has been established, your company must work out the specific details and logistics of ongoing orders, followed by product training and test runs, he mentioned.
Toscani offered the following example. "One of our newest accounts is a large healthcare statements provider. Paris was able to work with one of its paper merchant customers in securing this business through the process mentioned above. Due to the success of the initial orders, the organization has now set up regular truckload orders for nationwide delivery," he said.
Simon encourages distributors to partner with Datatel early on in the process so the company can help them in the selling process. "It's not about the lowest '/M' price, but rather how we can demonstrate to the customer that we can provide a low-cost solution that is backed by a very high level of support," he said. "Jumbo roll orders are not one-time purchase orders, but rather a complete relationship between the end-user, distributor and manufacturer. To be successful, resources must be directed to customer visits, plant evaluations and full customer support when and wherever needed."
Both Datatel Resources and Paris Business Products are making great strides to back up the importance of quality service. Paris, who has been manufacturing jumbo rolls since the early 1990s, introduced a new program this year called Full Circle. Toscani commented while roll production wasn't new to Paris, he needed to have his employees believing in the company's goal to be a top jumbo roll converter. This required the company to increase its number of jumbo roll operators, add roll production equipment, boost staging and storage capacity and enhance training, customer service, sales and marketing efforts. "To date, we consider it a major success," he boasted.
Paris also builds trust with a needs assessment. Its field technicians arrive at a customer's location to review its equipment as well as its roll applications. "The 'circle' continues with ongoing service, quality control, on-time shipping and a desire to keep customers satisfied on every job," he noted.
In addition, Paris has turned to making substantial equipment investments to provide top-quality product for its customers. "Over the past two years, Paris has added three major color web presses and many other significant pieces of roll equipment. These include splicers, rewinders, wrappers, plate burners, labelers and other modular components," Toscani said.
Datatel purchased some new equipment and tweaked existing equipment. Simon shared, "Datatel reconfigured one of our presses so that we can produce 18x11" documents 2-wide at speeds of over 1,250 feet per minute. This capacity is more geared to the limited/low color print, tick mark and blank marketplace and has resulted in new contracts. Additionally, Datatel has invested in one of the most advanced CTP digital workflow systems which results in industry-leading timeframes for proofing to printing with full file integrity."
Furthermore, Simon believes Datatel's competitive advantage is a combination of wide web capabilities, which include "2-wide 18x11" capabilities on certain formats, interstage UV on all press sizes, in-line cameras and supplier partnerships with the highest-performing paper mills and grades."
Additionally, Simon said Datatel's jumbo roll contractual customers and their end-users have complete direct access to all Datatel decision-makers 24 hours per day.
Finally, both stressed one final reason for distributors to choose a competent manufacturer—jumbo rolls must be managed with extreme care. "The process of coordinating huge jumbo roll orders can be disastrous if not managed efficiently," Toscani urged. "Garbage in, garbage out."
Simon echoed these sentiments. "This is a product that requires much more of a supplier than simply running a product. There are no shortcuts in the workflow as the process to achieve optimal results may include multiple proofing, test runs, stack lean testing, construction alternatives and printing alternatives."
So again, we come "full circle." If handled properly, the opportunities for jumbo rolls are huge. "They will also test the ability of the manufacturer and distributor or re-seller to genuinely 'partner' together for a long-term sale," Simon said. "If successful, the results are as good or better than anything else in today's print market."