TOP 50 SUPPLIERS: Leading by Example
Running a business requires smarts, adaptability and a willingness to take risks. But a true test of leadership is finding a way to succeed during challenging times—just ask the chief executives who comprise this year’s Top 50 Supplier’s list. From shifting consumer habits to recessionary fallout, they’ve experienced it all, yet here they are, still standing. Their secret? A service-based approach.
For Ennis Inc., that means offering a diverse product selection with fast turn times. For 4over Inc., it’s about creating new programs based on customer feedback. For OneTouchPoint, it’s sharing insight and experience to help customers grow. And, for Western States Envelope & Label, listening is everything.
In the following section, we’ll take a closer look at the makings of this year’s four biggest earners. Find out what they had to say about their accomplishments, ongoing concerns and the future.
1. Ennis Inc.
Principal: Keith Walters, Chairman, CEO and President
Print+Promo (P+P): What was your company’s biggest accomplishment over the last year?
Keith Walters (KW): The addition of Kay Toledo Tag and SSP was a major acquisition for Ennis. With the addition of these two locations, we are now the largest producer of tags focusing on the reseller market. Although there was some overlap in customers, due to the niche specialties of these brands, there are many new customers that we were able to add.
We are also very proud of our financial strength. Ennis has the lowest debt-to-equity ratio in the industry, which should give our customers confidence when choosing us as a partner.
P+P: What is your company’s top priority for 2016?
KW: We plan to find additional acquisitions that fit our printing segment strategy. We are strong believers that print still has a strong hold on its place to convey information—whether that be transactional or marketing related. Ennis will continue to look for companies that complement our existing print businesses while giving our customers new products or new locations to sell from a company that they can trust.
P+P: What makes this industry so special? What does it get right?
KW: We have evolved to meet the ever-changing needs of our customers. When I came to Ennis 18 years ago, three- and four-week lead times were common. Customers demanded shorter turn times and smaller inventories. Today, lead times are dictated by the customer, and we’ve adjusted. In some cases, custom orders can be entered in the morning and are available for pickup or shipping that afternoon. “In today, out tomorrow” is a common phrase heard at the Ennis plants.
Unlike the major direct manufacturers, Ennis and the reseller market have focused on the small- to medium-sized customers. The transfer away from print has been much smaller for this group. While technology has taken business away from print suppliers, it has also generated new business opportunities, allowing us to become more efficient. Technology solutions for our sales team, plant operations and, ultimately, manufacturing have helped in many cases separate us from the competition.
P+P: What is the industry’s biggest struggle, and can it be fixed?
KW: Print is declining. The decline is slowing and in some product lines it has become almost flat. We are all having to deal with lower revenue from print sales, but those who say their customers aren’t buying print anymore just aren’t looking in the right places. The days of a “forms buyer” taking sales calls have long passed. Today, many of the products previously purchased by these specialists are now bought by someone who has this as a duty and not a job.
The struggle for Ennis is finding those distributors that appreciate that demand still exists for these products, are motivated to find new customers and, at the same time, see the revenue opportunities recurring print sales bring their businesses.
P+P: What is the key to becoming—and remaining—a top supplier?
KW: The same for any business that wants to be successful—finding customers, treating them right and staying relevant.
P+P: Is there anything you would like to add?
KW: We are proud of the hundreds of millions of dollars of forms that we produce each year, but we are so much more than forms. From tags and labels, presentation folders, specialty forms, secure documents [and] envelopes, to technology solutions, Ennis has the solutions that their customers need. We just need to keep promoting these capabilities to our customers and showing them the new things we are doing. Ennis has evolved dramatically over the last 18 years, and its conservative financial approach will keep it around for another 18-plus years.
2. 4over Inc.
Principal: Zarik Megerdichian, CEO
Print+Promo (P+P): What was your company’s biggest accomplishment over the last year?
Zarik Megerdichian (ZM): Our company’s biggest accomplishment this past year has been the 50 percent expansion of our national footprint. We’ve opened up brand new operations centers in Houston, Central Florida and San Jose. Before the end of the year, we will open up a new Seattle operations center as well. This strategy extends our reach into the local market where we can service increased demand for fast turnarounds in 12 locations across North America.
P+P: What is your company’s top priority for 2016?
ZM: For 2016, we plan to put more tools and solutions into the hands of our customers to help them perfect their profits and continue to grow thriving businesses. This year, we introduced a full-service EDDM solution that has been a big success. In addition, we introduced a tool called Con4rm that preflights the customers’ files for them, along with MyMarketing, which provides free marketing resources to customers. Each of these saves the customer significant amounts of time and frees them up to grow. We’ll be rolling out more exciting and innovative tools and solutions like these in 2016 that will transform how our customers run their operations. We take great pride in not only the quality of our print products, but in the leading-edge services we provide, thus fulfilling our vision to simplify and transform print.
P+P: What makes this industry so special? What does it get right?
ZM: This industry is special because of the significant impact that advancements in technology have on print workflow, quality and, ultimately, the delivery of print. Tactically, we focus on higher quality output, competitive prices and the steady delivery of new products to stay relevant to our customers. The industry’s constant evolutions and the progressive nature of companies like ours make print an exciting place to be.
In addition to the solutions already mentioned, we are developing a new solution called Liquid Press, a service that will change key components of the print-buying cycle and will delight our customers. This service is another one of many from 4over that will revolutionize the efficiency of a business and empower customers to grow.
P+P: What is the industry’s biggest struggle, and can it be fixed?
ZM: The No. 1 struggle for this industry, as we see it, is the investment cost, and the amount of time required to stay current with print technology and operational advances. Managing multiple employees, purchasing expensive print equipment, [doing] maintenance, [making] debt payments—all of these are daunting and can slow growth. Running a business is risky. Our answer to this dichotomy is an effective outsourcing solution. By leveraging the experience and assets of companies like 4over, customers can scale up their growth without assuming the risk of capital expenses. This gives them the freedom to either delay investment until the market materializes, or to continue outsourcing to 4over.
P+P: What is the key to becoming—and remaining—a top supplier?
ZM: The keys to becoming—and remaining—a top supplier lie in the efficiency and creativity of a company, in addition to the ability to anticipate customer needs. 4over demonstrates efficiency and creativity by introducing services like EDDM Full Service, Con4rm and MyMarketing into the market. These services enable customers to perfect their profits, and grow their businesses quickly and effectively with no additional investment. We are continuously evaluating our workflow solutions and strategies based on the customer feedback and market trends that we witness. We make sure that we’re continuously developing new products, an optimal user experience and breakthrough solutions that speak to these trends, so that we’re always two steps ahead of the curve.
3. OneTouchPoint
Principal: Chris Illman, President
Print+Promo (P+P): What was your company’s biggest accomplishment over the last year?
Chris Illman (CI): 2015 is a huge year for us. We believe there is a real market need for marketing execution providers who provide personalized, flexible, responsive service with national strength and scale. In response to the opportunity, we have strengthened our leadership team, expanded the depth of our marketing services offering and continued to invest in innovative equipment, like the Canon [Océ VarioPrint] i300 inkjet color device. All of these things allow us to deepen our strategic partnerships, while reducing time to market, lowering costs and expanding our single-source capabilities.
P+P: What is your company’s top priority for 2016?
CI: Our top priority is helping companies use our services to grow their business. We want to make communicating easier, more efficient and more effective. With so many channels, clients and prospects are being bombarded. Companies have to create meaningful interactions to stand apart. Print and promotional items do just that, and when the pieces are part of a comprehensive program and not just a one-off, it truly can transform relationships and behavior.
P+P: What makes this industry so special? What does it get right?
CI: Our services provide tangible products that employees, customers and prospects want to hold on [to] and keep, which is unique in a disposable culture.
P+P: What is the industry’s biggest struggle, and can it be fixed?
CI: Awareness—I think it is quality versus quantity. Although print and promo have higher costs than digital channels, they frequently have a higher return-on-marketing investment. The quality of leads, [and] the ability to retain customers and compel action are driven more often from print and promo. I think a lot of companies look at how many people they reach—not how many people they are converting—which causes them to miss sales opportunities.
P+P: What is the key to becoming—and remaining—a top supplier?
CI: Service and insight. We are committed to our clients’ happiness and success, and we work hard to offer our experience and suggestions. We aren’t just order takers; we truly see ourselves as being a client partner, invested in their success and actively working to make their business stronger.
P+P: Is there anything you would like to add?
CI: We are excited about how the industry continues to evolve. We feel like the increasing migration to personalization, the demand for single-source solutions and the increasing need to integrate the customer experience across touch point are right in our wheelhouse, and we are looking forward to continued growth.
4. Western States Envelope & Label
Principal: Mark Lemberger, CEO and President
Print+Promo (P+P): What was your company’s biggest accomplishment over the last year?
Mark Lemberger (ML): Last year, we successfully completed a number of major initiatives designed to improve our ability to service our customers’ needs and improve their ability to grow their own businesses. The most notable projects included the conversion of several of our envelope-manufacturing facilities over to focused factory environments to improve efficiencies and response times. We also added a new state-of-the-art, stock-order picking module at our Butler, Wisconsin-based envelope facility. This new picking module has significantly expanded the window in which we can fill and ship stock orders the same day as ordered by our customers.
P+P: What is your company’s top priority for 2016?
ML: Our top priority for 2016 is to continue to expand our production capacity to handle the increased volumes of business we have experienced with our successful, growing customers. Our continuous improvement efforts combined with additional equipment, people and improved processes will also help us to maintain and improve upon all of our performance metrics.
P+P: What makes this industry so special? What does it get right?
ML: Our industry is populated with many smart people who are willing to work hard to achieve success. Over the course of time, each of us develops a mutual respect for anyone who makes a living in this industry, and we learn to find and rely upon trusted partners who can help us to build our businesses to the next level of success.
P+P: What is the industry’s biggest struggle, and can it be fixed?
ML: Periods of declining volume and overcapacity within our industry sometimes contribute to a commodity mindset among sellers and buyers alike. We need to do a better job of stressing the value of what we do and we need to make full use of new technology to build higher value into the products we provide. More personalization, shorter time to market, and the addition of innovative features to improve the utility and desirability of our products are ways in which this can be accomplished.
P+P: What is the key to becoming—and remaining—a top supplier?
ML: Focus on your customers. Listen to them. Learn their business. Your value comes in providing products and ideas geared toward your customers’ success. Your own success will be a function of how well you are able to help them succeed.
P+P: Is there anything you would like to add?
ML: I would like to tell everyone that [we are] positioned better than ever to be the best possible envelope and label partner you could select to help you grow your business in 2016.