Market direction decision

Suttle Press chooses new equipment to meet customer needs and extends the business to the direct mail market. In order to cater to the market, any company needs to make some decisions, and Suttle Press is no exception. The commercial printer in Wisconsin State, with assets of 10 million U.S. dollars, has found a chance to win in the competition and has occupied a large share of the direct mail printing market. According to statistics, the value of the direct mail market is 2,000. Millions of dollars. The company's manager, John, is an experienced and thoughtful person who has positioned his company to better meet the needs of his clients. Mr. John introduced: “We have a good customer who needs to insert a business newsletter into the telephone bill. At first we printed it on a sheet-fed press. It starts with about 400,000 prints. It was not long afterwards that as the use of mobile phones increased, the number of prints rose to one million, now 1.8 million, and the number of prints is still growing." Although Mr. John is very satisfied with this business, He realized that there were too many prints and the sheetfed printing equipment could not afford it. Once the number of prints reaches one million, the production cost becomes very high. In addition to printing, post-processing operations such as cutting and folding also have a large number of problems. So he considered designing a new solution to meet the needs of customers. So they turned their vision to five sets of ColorTech cylinder presses equipped with Vijuk parallel folding machines by Didde Web Press. Now the company only needs a continuous process to complete the three processes of printing, cutting and folding. Even if 1.8 million sheets are printed, the continuous printing of 57 hours of operation can guarantee that the finished product is finished. Then just pack the product away. This device surpasses any sheet-fed printing equipment and makes the company more competitive in the market. The manager of the company said that the selection of opportunities and the enthusiasm for immediate implementation is one of the principles of the company's operations: "We face challenges, seek opportunities, and act immediately. Every company can purchase equipment, but how to make full use of purchased equipment, How to use it to satisfy customers is the difference between successful companies and other companies.” Suttle Press’s use of equipment is one of the factors that makes the company famous in the market. For example, waterless printing, back in 1993, they decided to take advantage of this new technology. Mr. John recalled: “In the beginning, we wanted to get higher saturation, better color consistency, and all the qualities related to waterless. But after six years, we wouldn’t even consider giving up waterless printing because It is much simpler: training waterless printing operators is easier; printing preparation time is faster, product consistency is better, waterless printing technology is used, product quality is higher, stability is good, and printing failures are greatly reduced. "As long as they are four-color printing, they basically use waterless printing. The company now has two dual-color devices and two six-color devices of the same brand, providing greater flexibility for printing production. All printers have the same rollers, blankets and plates. So even if there is a very urgent two-color printing error, and it happens that the two-color printing press has arrangements, then you can print on the six-color printing equipment. Since the consistency of the printing press allows the printing industry to operate on a two-color machine, it goes to a six-color machine. In addition, the control of the console is also common, so that the schedule can be easily arranged, and the press operator can also switch from one device to another. However, the success of Suttle Press not only attributed to the choice of equipment, but also make decisions based on the needs of customers when making choices. One of Suttle Press's largest customers is the company's parent company, Telephone and Data Systems. Inc (TDS). But even as their affiliates, Suttle Press cannot guarantee a stable business from this telecommunications giant. Mr. John emphasized: “We are not an in-house printing company. TDS company does not provide us with any convenience. Everything is won by us.” In the past three years, TDS’s mobile phone business has risen by 40%. Therefore, the printing company does not want to lose this customer. Managers believe that when customers move at a certain pace, the company will develop with them. Due to the latest developments in the telecommunications industry, Suttle Press has also found new opportunities for roller printing systems and online folding machines. The standard cylinder printing system uses a slotted folder, which is much less functional than the Vijuk folder purchased by Suttle. The folding unit is mounted on the caster and is connected to the transfer end of the press. Suttle Press's folding machine handles two 8.5 x 11 streams from the drum cutter. The parallel folding mechanism can fold two paper streams separately on the production line, which greatly improves the productivity of the printing department. Suttle Press requires that the folding machine has the features of easy preparation and easy connection with the printing press. The hooked design of the transfer unit makes it easy to interchange the transfer units. In order to increase the flexibility of production, it is also possible to purchase a variable speed vertical stack conveyor and a set of chute transfer machines. The origami machine assembled in September 1997 showed high productivity. "The biggest problem we face is that press operators will not use folding machines," Mr. John said. "So we had to ask the staff of the binding department. Go to the printing department to explain the working principle of the folding machine.” After a simple training, the printing mechanics no longer need the help of binding experts, and they can control the folding machine with ease. Another great advantage of online folding machines is their ease of operation, which makes it unnecessary for the printing department to increase staff. Now, a printing team usually has a printer operator and two assistants. In the printing and binding online equipment group, only one printer operator and two assistants are needed. The main reason why two assistants are needed is because the finished products go offline too quickly and they need to be quickly packed. This is not to say that the two assistants cannot boot, but they cannot keep up with the speed at which the product leaves the folder. Roughly speaking, the speed of folding can reach 32,000 pieces per hour. Of course, if there are two 8.5 x 11 lines side by side, it can reach 64,000 pieces per hour. This makes the company more competitive than off-press sheet-fed printing plants. Direct mail is a promising market for Suttle Press. The company has fixed customers that have just expanded into this area. They see the direct mail market as a new opportunity for the development of the company. They can post and complete tasks within the company. These services are inextricably linked to direct mail. This responsible attitude towards customers is also one of the differences between Suttle Press and its competitors. The company tries its best to make everything it does to benefit customers. The customer does not want to know the details, only the overall process is correct. The company hopes to attract more customers' attention, so it pays attention to details, and customers do not have to call every morning to check the progress of the project. The final product is to satisfy all bosses. This is exactly what the company is trying to do. Quality is the key to the survival of Suttle Press. Quality is not an independent training program, it is not a pamphlet that can be distributed, and it is not someone who can join the seminar. It is exactly what you have to do because it is the only way to proceed with production. The foundation of quality problems is to understand and meet the needs of customers. This strong power makes Suttle Press Company convinced that it will have a huge market of interest.