Service, Support & Saving Money

There are plenty of barriers for small- and medium-sized offset ink manufacturers who wish to grow their businesses and compete for national accounts. To offer favorable pricing and have technical service readily available throughout North America for the largest printers poses serious challenges for regional companies, regardless of ink quality.

However, a group of ink-supplier entrepreneurs is working together to surmount these obstacles. The Print Suppliers Group (PSG), a consortium of 15 regional ink manufacturers and distributors formed with eyes toward combining purchasing power, is making inroads into some national accounts.

With a combined $60 million in sales and a presence throughout the U.S. and Canada, PSG has the potential to be an industry force. Its formation in 2006 was spurred by a group of six smaller ink firms which wanted to share improve their negotiating leverage—bargaining together meant getting a better price. Shared technology is an additional benefit, as PSG members already have developed new generations of environmentally preferred ink systems, allowing printers to expend less ink and get sharper dots and quicker start-up.

“We had seen the Independent Carton Group,” says Dennis Curtin, PSG president and VP of Press Color Inks, describing a similar consortium. “We started making national deals and saved some money.”

Bill Curtin, Press Color president and first president of PSG, adds, “Everybody complains about Wal-Mart and that it will ruin small business, but every town has an Ace or True Value. If we want to compete in the ink industry, we have to do something about it.”

PSG has added four new members in the past six months, including Great Western Ink, a sheetfed ink specialist headquartered in Portland, OR, and concentrated in the Pacific Northwest. “There is potential as a purchasing consortium,” says Keith Voigt, Great Western president and PSG secretary. “There is also the potential for national sales as well as sharing knowledge.”

One of the keys to PSG is that members aren't overlapping their territories. Dennis Curtin talked of one example where a national printer asked Press Color for a sample. “We sent them the ink and then gave the account to American Printing Ink,” he explains. “People need local service, and for us, this is a win-win situation.”

“There is very little competition among the group,” Voigt adds. “We are trying not to add members who would be in direct competition.”

Dennis Curtin says he expects the PSG brand to compete for more national accounts. “My main goal is to launch the national brand with the Print Suppliers Group logo,” he notes. “We all need a competitive edge and a national presence, which will allow us to serve customers with multiple locations.”