The Man and His Machines
Education and equipment provide the keys to success for Dick Kuntz and GBF Graphics.
There are quite a few photos of Dick Kuntz in the BFL&S archives. Over the years, several articles have documented the achievements and contributions of the president of GBF Graphics, Skokie, Ill., in an industry he clearly loves being a part of.
He first appeared on the cover of the February 1977 issue, when the magazine—then called Business Forms Reporter—launched what has become an annual tribute to the manufacturer of the year.
At that time, the company, formerly known as General Business Forms, was celebrating its 25th anniversary, and Kuntz had recently earned his CFC—one of the few manufacturers to do so.
Kuntz considers the certified forms consultant program one of the National Business Forms Association's (NBFA) most valuable contributions to the industry. A long-time supporter of the NBFA, he was first selected as a member of its manufacturers' board in 1970, and eventually was named its president in 1975.
Kuntz has relied heavily on industry associations as well as the knowledge and experience of their members to grow and develop in the field. Said Kuntz, "I've always been interested in listening to what others had to say."
In return, he has given back a hundredfold by volunteering to serve on committees and often speaking at seminars in the United States and abroad. In the mid '70s, Kuntz contributed significantly as a co-originator and instructor in "Operation Rainbow", a school for distributors—which included tours of his plant—to aid them in selling more color in forms. In addition, Kuntz always makes it a point to attend trade shows, which he said are great places to network and discover what the competition is up to.
He has attended DRUPA in Germany for the past 30 years, IPEX in England and IGAS in Japan. In fact, it was at a trade show in 1957 where he first saw—and purchased—a 17x13˝ Puglisi-Dutro prototype rotary offset press, thus establishing a reputation for being the first with the latest in production equipment. Even though the price tag was out of sight for his small business, Kuntz made a deal right then and there.
"That's what has kept GBF on the leading edge of technology," he said.
In the Beginning
Kuntz was introduced to the industry at a young age while assisting in his parents' printing shop. Chicago was quite a melting pot back in those days, and his parents ran a small classified ad agency for foreign language newspapers.
Kuntz tells the story of when representatives from an ad agency came for a photo shoot and were intrigued by an old hand-fed multigraph press now on display in GBF's corporate headquarters. "I told them that I didn't learn how to spell in school, I learned setting type for that machine," he said.
As an 18-year-old army soldier overseas, Kuntz would send pictures of B52 bombers home so his parents could turn them into postcards which he sold to other soldiers. Said Kuntz, "I guess the business has always been in my blood.
In 1951, Kuntz established his own company with a multigraph and a multilith press, occupying the third floor of a three-story Chicago office building. The company specialized in printing and direct mail.
A distributor's request to print 1,000 copies each of four different business forms with a carbon insert took the company in a new direction. A tipping machine was added, and the forms business developed. It soon became obvious that larger and faster equipment was needed as well as additional space.
"Besides," recalled wife Gerry Kuntz, "the doctor on the floor below was having difficulty listening to his patients' heartbeats while our equipment was running."
The company's second home was the second floor of a loft building. Kuntz and company were now fully committed to forms, with direct mail taking a back seat. It was around this time that Kuntz spotted the Puglisi-Dutro at a trade show.
Gerry recalled how impressed her husband was with this prototype press.
"It printed high-quality offset in one color, added a marginal word and consecutive numbers in red ink and—wonder of wonders—attached a carbon and sheeted it to 17x113⁄4˝ in one operation. This was the height of automation! He had to have it," she said.
A year later more equipment was added, including a second rotary press, an eight-station collator and a 17x19˝ Western Gear Dart high-speed press.
By 1967 the company was in the continuous forms market and eventually purchased the first business forms press in the United States specifically designed for the computer letter market. In 1978, a Goebel variable size perfector press was added—also the first in the United States. Kuntz then decided to tackle the ink jet printing challenge.
The company installed two label presses in 1988 just as forms growth started to slow. This was followed in 1990 by the installation of an Electropress, offering the very latest in high-quality, two-sided personalization done online.
Kuntz acknowledged that it's difficult and expensive for manufacturers to anticipate new markets and make the necessary equipment purchases. "I've been snookered by a salesman's sizzle on occasion," he said, "purchasing equipment only to get one order for that particular product."
Still, Kuntz held fast to his belief that growing his operation meant embracing technology. It was this spirit and vision that prompted Scitex to make GBF the beta site for its Versamark laser printer, which, together with the 3600 ink jets, gave the company a wide range of personalization capabilities.
It's no wonder that under Kuntz' leadership, GBF has always managed to place among the top 10 of BFL&S' Top 100 Manufacturers ranking.
Onward and Upward
In 2001, the Princeton plant was awarded ISO 9002 certification. That same year, Kuntz not only celebrated 50 years of industry service, but he was named Chairman of the Printing Industry of Illinois/Indiana Association, an organization he's been active in for many years.
According to Kuntz, his proudest moments and greatest sources of inspiration have been the recognition he's received from industry colleagues.
"It was a real thrill to be inducted into the Rochester In-stitute of Technology's hall of fame in 1986," Kuntz continued. "My picture is right up there be-side Harry Quadracci's, president and founder of Quad/Graphics. He's worth billions and I'm peanuts compared to him, but there I am."
Then there was the Lifetime Achievement Award he received in 1998 during Document Management World, another proud moment he fondly recalled.
Kuntz credits the tremendous support of family as well as loyal employees and customers for his success through the years. His daughter Lisa Hopson is the CFO of GBF Graphics, and his son-in-law, Randall Hopson, manages Emergency Business Forms—a company Kuntz founded in 1965 to handle short-run, quick turnaround orders for unit sets.
Kuntz went on to say that the ongoing decrease in forms usage and the current economic situation account for some of the most difficult and discouraging times in his career. In addition, he said, direct mail has had to face the challenge of recent anthrax scares. Overall, he noted, direct mail volume is down by about half.
"These are certainly difficult times for printers," he continued. "They are almost being forced to establish their own direct sales force and eliminate the middle man, since many distributors are turning to imprinted ad specialties to compensate for the reduction in traditional product areas."
Kuntz advised people entering the market today to be prepared to embrace the technology and the equipment that will help them stand out by offering newer specialized products and services.
"The new presses are very advanced pieces of equipment that involve tremendous upfront costs, but eventually they yield lots of saving and less waste," he observed.
In the future, Kuntz plans to restructure the company to meet current market conditions, which will necessitate keeping up with technology while scaling down in other areas. "The new presses are faster for higher output and are very automated," said Kuntz. "This makes them easier to run with fewer people."
By Maggie DeWitt