The Glasgow-based company had a large customer based in Hinckley, Leicestershire, so, rather than make the customer send work to Scotland, Frip moved its headquarters to Hinckley.

Before it is retrospectively awarded a customer service of the year award, it should be pointed out that the decision to move was not based solely on this customer.

The company was formed 40 years ago as a hot-foil stamping and embossing company predominantly working with the Whisky industry, hence its location. By the early 90s, the whisky trade was going through a downturn and work was beginning to dry up. Group managing director Leslie Gibson decided to move the company to a more convenient location.

"The business was suffering because of the recession and we had to do something," he says. "It was a brave decision to move 320 miles, but the Nottingham area was a print hotbed and we had a big customer in Hinckley. We recognised the customer’s needs so we upped sticks and moved."

But the growth did not stop there. Gibson, who took over as the head of the company from his father, who originally started the company in 1970, decided that Frip needed to have a number of locations in order to serve a larger customer base. Today it has sites in Glasgow, Manchester, Redditch, Croydon and its Hinckley headquarters, as well as its Metalpaper division, which is based at Reading.

Five years ago, Gibson took things further when he decided to expand the company’s offerings into entirely new sectors. Now, Frip offers an array of services to rival any finisher in the country, including gloss and silk lamination, overall UV varnishing and scented varnishing among many others.

"We recognised that we needed to offer added value to our customers and couldn’t rely on one product," says Gibson. "We needed to develop our product range. We weren’t providing the complete package.

"I travel a lot and if I see something innovative that can be offered to the market I will look to partner with companies abroad. We have sent a lot of staff overseas to learn about specific products."

Family oriented
Despite Gibson senior’s retirement 15-years ago, the company retains a very family-oriented feel. Gibson worked at the company in his youth, before becoming an accountant and returning a month after current group sales director Shaun Morris started in 1989. Both remain at the company more than 20 years on, but they are far from alone – when Frip moved to Hinckley it brought eight staff down with it and five of them remain in place, with another still with the company in Manchester. The first employee brought on board by Gibson senior, Tom McRoberts, is still there 40 years down the line and is now its technical director.

Like all specialist finishing companies, Frip’s biggest challenge now is marketing its potential to the end-user. Many finishers claim that they want to get around the printer and into designers, agencies and print buyers because printers are afraid of telling their customers what a finisher has to offer.

Collaborative working
However, Frip has a different way of looking at the situation, it wants to work alongside the printer in order to enhance its services. Morris says: "We can differentiate what a printer has to offer. Printers have the relationship with the customers, so we work in conjunction with them. We do get asked what is available by end users, but usually that is through their chosen printers. So we work with our printers and enable them to offer something different.

"There is a degree of education about what is possible, explaining to printers that there are bigger margins for them if they do things a certain way."

Gibson’s latest development is to offer a "responsible solution" to its clients. He wants Frip to be able to meet customer demands on sustainability, biodegradability and recyclability at every price point.

With its many locations across the UK coupled with a will to please, either through the willingness to move hundreds of miles if need be or, more likely, its huge range of services, Frip Finishing looks well placed to grow when the industry gets back on its feet. Let’s just hope, for the sake of their staff, there are no particularly large printers in Lands End in need of an overly local touch.

---

FRIP FACT FILE
Managing director Leslie Gibson
Sales director Shaun Morris
Headquarters Hinckley
Locations Hinckley, Glasgow, Manchester, Redditch and Croydon
Formed 1970
Turnover £5.7m
Staff 85