Growth-drive printing company embraces "just-in-time" technology When he took over the 25-year-old, over-the-counter quick print shop from his father seven years ago, Don DeHart thought that the "just-in-time" concept offered a perfect solution to many of the drawbacks of the traditional printing business. Products from long offset print runs often sat in DeHart's expensive and damp warehouse, and up to 25 percent of inventory had to be thrown away because it was out of date or hadn't been used. After examining these issues, the younger DeHart embraced the notion of print on demand because it offered customers faster turnaround times, lower costs and a great deal of flexibility. When it came time for improvement, instead of investing in new small offset presses, DeHart jettisoned the ones in the shop and purchased a Xerox DocuTech. The investment paid off - in spades. Exciting Times During DeHart's seven years at the helm, sales skyrocketed 800 percent from $1.5 million to $11 million. The number of employees grew from 15 to 60, and the firm's three major accounts grew to include major Silicon Valley firms, such as Hewlett Packard, Sun Microsystems, Apple Computer, Oracle and Aspect Communications. "This is one of the most exciting times to be involved in the printing industry," said DeHart. "All indications in the printing industry point to an explosion in the growth of digital-based printing." Today, Dehart's Printing Services Corp. in Santa, Calif., prints electronically, 24 hours a day, seven days a week in a 20,000-sq. ft. facility. Seven salespeople and seven customer service reps handle printing, packaging and distribution for information technology companies that understand the value of print-on-demand services. DeHart's company has been ranked as one of the top ten printers for the past three consecutive years by the San Jose Business Journal. Coinciding with the company's growth has been an increase in its equipment cache. The single DocuTech has grown to five DocuTechs, a Xerox DocuColor 40, a Heidelberg Quickmaster DI and an IBM InfoPrint 4000. A Roll Systems BookMaster cuts, trims and stacks pages off the InfoPrint web, allowing it to print 464 pages a minute. This digital printing equipment is supported by complete bindery and distribution services, including fulfillment and international shipping, as well as support for major computer platforms, page description languages and software applications. Because Silicon Valley firms are doing so well today, DeHart's finds lots of work but also lots of competition from its peers. Companies from other industries, commercial printers who need to offer print-on-demand alternatives, service companies and even single-press, storefront shops are increasingly crowding into the documentation market. Some companies are serving only one or two customers, but they have solid financial backing. "When running up against large companies, we look for opportunities that make more sense for us," said DeHart. "We look at things like company size, run length, sophistication of the customer, their budget and what value-added services we can bring to them." Success comes when customers are looking for more than just a printing company. Such companies want a partner that will be flexible and creative in fulfilling a complete documentation strategy. They need help with their preflight requirements, hardware and software compatibility, and strong customer support. DeHart's works with its customers with widely varying criteria to bring them customized solutions. For example, the ability to handle localized software manuals in German, Spanish, Portuguese and Japanese often gives DeHart's a competitive advantage. Document management systems, electronic archives, fulfillment services and electronic file transmissions are also proving effective in staying competitive. DeHart finds more companies transmitting their jobs electronically. Today only 10- to 20 percent of jobs are transmitted electronically to their FTP site, but those jobs represent 40- to 50 percent of DeHart's volume. "As people grow more familiar with the Internet, these figures will grow," said DeHart. "As links become faster, it will become easier to submit files electronically." A useful tool Because Silicon Valley is the apex of high technology, printers serving the area are almost expected to have a Web site, because technology-driven companies prefer to do business with similar companies. In addition to helping customers with remote file transmission and educating them about digital printing capabilities, DeHart's finds the company Web site (www.deharts.com) is useful to potential customers who need information on such things as preparing files for electronic submission, PostScripting files, bindery options, downloading drivers, obtaining quotes and linking to other sites that contain answers to technical questions. As customer demand grows, DeHart's foresees operating a public Web site and a password-protected site for customers. With the latter, customers will be able to order directly thorough the site, submit complete delivery information and track delivery through links to the UPS and FedEx sites. The commercial possibilities of the site are ever expanding. "Soon we'll be making transactions with electronic commerce where print jobs are ordered and paid for on the Web," said DeHart. "You can do it now, but not many people are, simply because they don't understand it well enough." Although technology has clearly been a boon to company growth, it also represents a tremendous demand. According to DeHart, one of the biggest challenges is to develop a strategy that keeps up with changes in technology. History has proven that going with one of the first DocuTechs seven years ago was a good decision. Choosing the IBM InfoPrint 4000 web printer also proved prudent. But what about the next step? As DeHart looks forward to digital color becoming an important platform, should he choose the DocuColor 70, the Chromapress, the Indigo or a Heidelberg DI? And what about the many choices of Rips which one to choose? Although it is a challenge to sort out the correct answers, DeHart is confident that print on demand will continue to grow. Research indicates it will represent 20 percent of the $107.5 billion commercial printing market by the year 2000, with a 15 percent growth rate - five times that of commercial printing. Yet with all this investment in technology DeHart acknowledges that what truly matters is that customers are concerned with - results. "Our customers are more concerned with their individual requirements for quality, timeliness of delivery, accuracy and cost than with how their products are produced," said DeHart. Such an understanding could well keep Dehart's sales climbing through the next seven years. By Don Monkerud, "Printing Journal," December 1997 Don Monkerud, a freelance writer in Aptos, Calif., can be reached at monkerud@scruznet.com