The challenge…
The challenge faced by Clinical Print Finishers will sound more than a little familiar to anyone involved in print. Whether a printer or finisher, the question of how to ensure a steady flow of work by offering something just a little bit different, is only getting more urgent. And, with trade finishers still disappearing at a fairly steady rate, this could even be said to be of more pressing concern to those on the finishing side of things.
Hence Clinical Print Finisher’s evolution as a business. The company started life as a traditional trade finisher in 1975. Owner Alvin Brown had been made redundant by another finishing company and so set up Senator Print Finishing with just a single folder.
As the company grew, it became clear that niche equaled cash. As a result, the pharmaceutical arm of the business became a separate entity in 1994. It superseded Senator entirely when the original company was sold in 2000.
Key to Clinical’s success over the years, then, has been it’s concentration not on standard trade finishing services, but on new and innovative areas, in particular miniature finishing. Examples of particularly innovative formats that the company offers are a fold-out pocket ‘Pakamap,’ and attached miniature pharmaceutical outserts and attached booklets and leaflets, produced on the company’s Longford ‘piggybacking’ line.
But of course offering new formats isn’t just a case of discovering or creating an appetite for a certain product, working out how to produce it, and then sitting back contented. Being the only company to offer a certain format is about constantly staying ahead of the pack.
Which is why key to Clinical Print Finishers’ success over the years has been keeping constantly well-informed about what other finishers are up to in slightly more exotic locales than Leicester.
The method…
Key to this is making the journey, fairly regularly, to visit non-UK print finishers, explains operations director Alan Pickles. The company is always sure to schedule in a visit to an overseas finisher when visiting trade shows abroad. These are topped up with reasonably frequent self-funded trips to manufacturer HQs and then successful trade finishers in the area.
"I’m not going to pretend that every six months we’re hearing something and jetting over James Bond-style, but we try and be aware of what’s going on by talking regularly to manufacturers and machine dealer reps, and to finishers in other countries," reports Pickles.
"Of the finishers we visit most regularly, one is in Chicago and one is in Austria," he continues. "Two or three of us will go to the GraphExpo every couple of years and we’ll visit Vijuk who are a big supplier of ours and we’ll also visit Rickard Bindery in Chicago. They’ve got lots of different innovations there where they’ve put pieces of equipment together to get different kinds of results."
Pickles explains that making the effort to actually visit other finishers is much more worthwhile than keeping in contact remotely, or than seeing kit in a slightly artificial showroom environment. "You learn things you wouldn’t learn from just going to the manufacturer’s showroom as you see machines working on live, problematic jobs," he says.
Kit vendors play a key role, however, in helping Clinical establish contact with their overseas counterparts. Maintaining strong relationships with both UK reps and resellers, and with contacts at vendor HQs abroad, is critical, says Pickles.
"We’ve got good relationships with our key machine manufacturers so it’s just networking. Networking before it was trendy," he says. "The reps from the various agencies and manufacturers do tend to jump ship quite frequently, so it’s keeping track of all these people and seeing who they’re working for and what’s going on," he adds.
Then it’s a case of indulging in a bit of old-fashioned networking at trade shows and overseas events. "It’s important to get out to the trade shows, meet people, develop some relationships then see if you can get yourself into somebody’s factory," says Pickles.
The result…
Pickles reports that there have been numerous instances where something seen at a finisher abroad has been of real value to Clinical.
The most successful of these perhaps, goes back to 2000. The company was visiting GraphExpo in Chicago and Rickard Bindery nearby. Here the company came across a new product not yet being offered in the UK and were able to get a sense of just how popular it might potentially be back home.
"It was a multi-folded patient information leaflet sealed with pealable glue. It had actually revolutionised the way that the packaging was processed and really sped up the packaging of leaflets in with the medicines," reports Pickles. "That took off like wildfire across North America, with literally hundreds of machines manufacturing these leaflets for the pharmaceutical industry."
So Pickles and his team jumped at the chance to be the first to introduce this in the UK. "We got no work for it for about 12 months, but then we sold it to one of our customers and that resulted in us eventually buying 12 machines over the next six or seven years," he says.
While quite a few trade finishers have now followed suit, this has only driven Clinical to continually quest for the next bright idea as the introduction of the new leaflet was key to Clinical’s growth.
"Those pharmaceutical outserts have played a major part in building our business," he says. "We were first in that market so it gave us a lot of work and still gives us a lot of work. And without going to that finishers in the US that just wouldn’t have been on our radar."
Another successful trip abroad, was when Clinical caught wind of a new feeding system in Chicago, in 2011. "It’s quite a simple idea and we knew we could adapt that to a couple of our stitching lines which would really speed up the process," says Pickles.
"There are still only three in the UK and we’ve got two of them. It’s such a simple bit of kit, and not a massive investment – there should be dozens of them in the UK," he adds, declining to reveal the
model name of the feeder, for obvious reasons.
Pickles explains that this actually quite modest investment has boosted speed, and so profits, dramatically. "It allows us to be more competitive in what is an increasingly competitive environment. If you’re one step ahead of the game even if only slightly, that does give you a slight edge over other people," he says. "The benefits we’ve had with the feeding system is being able to offer better prices to our customers. It’s allowed us to win more business by being more competitive."
So for Clinical Print Finishers, regular company-funded overseas trips are certainly not just about sightseeing and topping up tans. Much more important is bringing innovative new ideas back to UK operations. In this way, Pickles and his colleagues are able to stay ahead of the crowd, and stay at the helm of a profitable enterprise.
CLINICAL PRINT FINISHERS
Vital statistics
Location Leicester
Inspection host Alan Pickles, operations director
Size Turnover is around £2m. 30 staff
Established 1975 with just one folding machine, when owner Alvin Brown was made redundant from another finishing company. Originally called Senator Print Finishers
Products Booklets, folded leaflets, multi-concertina folded leaflets, greeting cards, miniature folded leaflets, z-fold cards, pharmaceutical outserts, pharmaceutical tagserts
Kit About 50 machines in production, around 30 of which are from Herzog & Heymann. The company also has Heidelberg, MBO, MB and Bograma equipment
Key dates 1994: The pharmaceutical arm of Senator became a separate business called Clinical Print Finishing. Brown continued as owner and the business was located across the road from Senator. 2000: Senator was sold in a management buy-out. Senator was sold on again, and ceased trading three years ago. 2009: Clinical started branching back into more general trade finishing formats, such as A4 and A5, to complement its miniature and pharmaceutical offering
Inspection focus
International inspiration Introducing new technologies and products through foreign networking
DO IT YOURSELF
Following suit
Pickles says there’s no reason this strategy wouldn’t work as well for printers. Targeting your direct peers overseas shouldn’t be a problem, as you won’t be competing for the same work, he explains. "Certainly a UK-based finisher or printer is not going to be a threat to anyone in Europe or North America so there’s no reason why you can’t build a relationship and get technical knowledge and tips on how to overcome certain challenges," says Pickles, adding: "Without doubt printers can apply this strategy."
Potential pitfalls
While quite often a visit to an overseas peer will suggest a process, technique or application that can be lifted directly and exploited back in the UK, this won’t always be the case. "You can’t just think ‘Clinical is making X amount of money by doing Y, we’ll buy those machines and do that exact work’," warns Pickles.
Top tips for success
Think about which countries you’re targeting, the obvious ones being the US, Canada and Germany. "Whether we like it or not the Germans, for example, are generally more efficient. Certainly in the print industry they are developing a lot of the kit. The North Americans are also very slick about what they’re doing," says Pickles
What you do when you’re on a visit is as important as getting there in the first place. "When visiting printers, it’s about asking what they’re doing and what machines they’ve brought in. It’s asking the relevant questions," says Pickles
Return the favour to ensure a strong, ongoing relationship. But be careful about any sensitive information you don’t want to get back to those companies who are closer to home and so competitors. One way of guarding against this is getting people to sign a non-disclosure agreement, advises Pickles
Pickles’ top tip
"You have to network and talk to people to build these relationships. Then if people find a solution to a problematic job, they’re fairly quick to tell you about it because they’re proud of what they’ve done."
