Reading this fascinating Business Inspection article about ESP Colour made me think about the ongoing debate about the future shape of different types of printing companies.

ESP is firmly in what I would describe as the 'industrial printing' camp, just like German web offset printer WKS mentioned in this earlier blog. ESP provides another inspiring example of one of the 'printco of the future' business models.

Anyone without the mental arithmetic skills of, say, Carol Vorderman is likely to come away from a conversation with ESP managing director Anthony Thirlby with their head spinning. I certainly did. Thirlby is the personification of the mantra 'if you can't measure it, you can't manage it'. I also love the fact that ESP is focusing on producing a set range of formats that suit the company's set-up. If customers want something else then fine, they can have it as long as they pay the required premium. Too many companies, in my opinion, are chasing their tails producing work that is fiddly or inefficient without charging an appropriate premium for it.

This Business Inspection should also be required reading for anyone out there whose business systems are inadequate, leaving them  in the precarious position of not knowing whether they've made money, or not, until the end of the month.