Leveraging Technology

Providing trade-shop finishing services to the printing industry can be a difficult proposition, even in the best of times. The services and capabilities offered to customers have to be provided in a way that beats competition and offers advantages to customers that can often perform the work in-house.

Schreiber Specialties (www.schreiberspecialties.com), located in Sussex, Wis., got its start in 1993 and today, provides capabilities including hot stamping, embossing, folding and gluing, diecutting, and UV coating. The company initially focused on the needs of commercial printers. This changed in 1997 when it bought a Kluge (www.kluge.biz) folder/gluer to supply pocket folders. According to John Becker, president of Schreiber Specialties, he quickly saw the opportunity to leverage this capability and venture into the packaging arena by supplying video boxes and disc packaging.

This move was indicative of a general trend throughout the industry for companies in the commercial printing arena to expand into packaging. For Schreiber, this proved to be a very good move. With the addition a Bobst (www.bobst.com) folder/gluer in 2001 and a state-of-the-art Bobst Masterfold folder/gluer installed in November of 2008, Becker says that about 50 percent of the company's business is now in packaging.

Service and quality

Schreiber operates out of a 30,000-sq. ft. facility with 42 employees and runs a 2-shift, 5-day operation to support its diverse customer base. Becker says the company focuses on providing superior service and quality. "We specialize on high-end applications and can cost-effectively meet our customers needs for either low- or high-volumes—from 5,000 pieces to 2.5 million," he says. "And we make sure we treat all our customers the same—big and small."

Schreiber manufactures a range of products using both paperboard and plastic substrates for markets including media (video and cassette sleeves and CD packaging), home fragrance, general retail, and point-of-purchase (POP) displays. About 90 percent of its business supports the local region, with some additional national and international business.

Becker believes the best way to be successful in any competitive environment is to use state-of-the-art technology, and he attributes much of Schreiber's success to this approach.

"We decided to buy the Bobst Masterfold because of its high degree of automation," he says. "It's more than just a folder/gluer, and with its productivity enhancements, we can now run upwards of 60,000 pieces per hour."

One key option that Becker decided to include with the Masterfold was the GyroBox, a module that turns the product 90 degrees and provides in-line, one-pass processing that otherwise would require a right angle machine or two passes. Deciding to incorporate the GyroBox was not an easy decision for Becker, because, as he said, "It's not a cheap add-on. I took a big chance with this because I could only identify one previous job that I would have had to turn down without this capability." But in the end, he believed it would pay off and it did. "We have been able to produce at least 15 new jobs since we installed the Masterfold last November because of the Gyro, and it has help us with our product diversification."

Riding it out

Becker says that the company is "doing pretty well" riding through the current recession. He attributes this to both its diversification and its focus on high-end, high-quality work.

"We have been able to sustain our business in these tough times and have actually been in a little bit of a growth mode," he says. "During the last two years we have increased our revenues by about $2 million and have been able to do this with fewer people."

During these difficult times, it is especially important for businesses to keep a close watch on their operating incomes and bottom lines. "We definitely stay in touch with our bankers and accountants more," says Becker. "There are more cash flow concerns as some customers are taking longer to make payments. We aren't having any problems getting loans, but it definitely takes longer and we have to answer a lot more questions."

Schreiber was able make a couple of significant equipment purchases last year just when the credit crunch was putting the clamps on worldwide financial systems. In addition to the Masterfold, Schreiber acquired a Bobst diecutting and foil stamping machine. "It took three weeks just to get a quote on the interest rate," says Becker.

When financing capital equipment, Becker primarily works with the equipment manufacturer to line up the financing. "I can negotiate better with the manufacturers versus bankers," he says. In the recent purchases, he believes the company will save in the neighborhood of $100,000 in total costs by going through the manufacturer versus directly to a bank.

Bright future

For now, Becker says Schreiber is leveraging the efficiency and productivity advantages of its state-of-the-art equipment to not only hold onto business, but to grow its volumes. He says that the company takes particular pride in winning some additional business from an existing customer that was being produced in China (about 30 percent of the customer's total need). "I believe we got this because of our quality and service," he says, "and our price isn't bad either."

In the future, Becker sees packaging applications as the company's biggest growth opportunity. "Packaging is always going to be there," he says. pP