Outsourced Products Pad Printers' Portfolio

One quiet but very active segment of the industry consists of specialists that solely produce printed materials on an outsourced or "bought-out" basis. These suppliers are important because they vastly extend a given printer's offerings to its clientele, enabling it to take care of a customer's need for printed premiums, labels, bank checks, envelopes, wedding invitations, and so on, without having to have the capability itself.

The outsourced-materials companies range from small, family-owned operations to very large corporations that specialize in a particular product that small and mid-size printers can't or don't want to produce themselves.

These outsource specialists should not be confused with trade printers, which mainly offer production services to commercial printers, not finished products.

A supplier of outsourced printed material is simply different from the rest of the printing industry. The most obvious difference is its specialization in a particular product or service.

Typically, these suppliers set up their operations to produce a particular item in the most efficient manner and ship it to their clients. While many cater to their local market, others find that their niche is unique and can be marketed nationally.

Envelope Mart, located in Elyria, Ohio, just west of Cleveland, supplies both envelope and letterhead products exclusively to printers. The 40-employee business, established in 1975 by Bob Thompson, operates in a newly expanded 80,000-square-foot facility. Thompson's three sons have now joined him in the business.

"I used to be a printing salesman," says Thompson, "but when one of my clients said that printing was so easy, even I could do it, I took that as a dare and I started my own business. So here I am, producing a million envelopes a day."

Envelope Mart produces both regular and specialty envelopes in quantities from 500 to five million. It also prints letterhead to match the envelopes.

Its latest development is the envmart.com Web site, which clients can use to check on their orders, inquiring about stock inventory, when the job is to be printed, or when the job was shipped.

Says Thompson, "Customers are asking for more color because they want their envelopes to stand out and be opened, so, actually, satisfying our customers' customer is our ultimate goal."

He adds, "We've always had plenty of competitors, but our business grows 10% to 15% each year; even this year we'll be up by 5%. I guess part of the reason is that small copy shops and offset printers just don't want to buy presses like ours just so they can print envelopes."

Thermographed wedding invitations and cards are a favorite offering of small shops and retail printers, although few are set up to produce this kind of work. One imprinter and thermography specialist, based in Chicago, is NuArt, which serves a national clientele.

NuArt employs 300 people and operates a variety of sheetfed offset presses, utilizing digital proofing to speed turnaround to an average of 48 hours.

"One fascinating aspect of our business is that our clients are becoming much more decisive," reports Dolores Milam, sales and marketing manager for NuArt. "They know exactly how they want their holiday cards to look and want to add their logo and multiple colors to make them stand out. It's very challenging for us to meet their needs."

Another outsourced-materials specialist is Universal Tag, Inc., Dudley, Mass., which has produced custom tags and tickets since 1927. Tag offerings include all the standard formats, up to 12x12" in size.

Universal Tag's specialized presses can print up to two colors on each side of the tags in a single pass, or up to four colors. The company also offers thermal transfer and direct thermal versions of tags.

Auxiliary capabilities include diecutting, scoring, perforating, hole punching and hole reinforcing, consecutive numbering, line-hole punching for pinfeed tags, and adding transfer tapes to tags, all accomplished in a single pass.

Universal is also equipped with flexographic equipment to produce custom-printed labels in up to five colors. Labels can be shipped in rolls or fanfolded into boxes. The firm offers standard label stock, plus gold and silver foil, vinyl, and fluorescent substrates.

One of the large manufacturers of outsourced products is Carlson Craft, which operates five divisions and employs 2,000 people in its facility in North Mankato, Minn.

"We're always being asked to add new services," says Jo Nickels, an account manager for Carlson Craft. "What sets us apart is that we specialize in diecutting, embossing, and hot stamping, all techniques that a small to medium-size shop would not normally offer, plus we print small quantities on demand."

Carlson Craft, which built its business on wedding invitations and business stationery, continues to add new products to its portfolio, such as printing personalized sleeves for three-set golf balls and emblazoning multicolor post cards with thermography.

New products also come out of Carlson Craft's bindery and folder division, which specializes in presentation folders.

"We find that customers want more colors and shorter runs," says Nickels. "Four years ago, we installed a computer-to-plate system to streamline the process and achieve higher quality."