Web Corp.: Tested early, company president leads firm forward and onto growth path
By Eric Beard

Hillary Librot has acquired a gamut of experiences over the past six years as the owner of Web Corp., a mid-size non-heat set web printing company in Randolph, MA.

From despair to uncertainty to a steely determination, those experiences have helped her lead Web Corp. to prosperity and a bright future in the region’s rocky printing business. She’s proved it every day since her husband Howard died suddenly in 1997.

Librot, a former sales representative, has developed key traits as a business owner that has contributed to her success. She surrounds herself with good people, respects them, and empowers them with knowledge and information that aids them in their work. She also includes them in the due diligence when preparing to make a major decision that affects the future of the company — a luxury that may not exist at larger companies. She claims proudly that about two-thirds of the employees who were there when she was thrust into the leadership role in 1997 are still with the company today.

Regarding customers, Librot doesn’t fake it. She believes in being sincere; in not promising what you can’t deliver, but making sure she and her crew deliver what they promise while helping customers understand how they can maximize Web Corp.’s capabilities to meet their business objectives. As every business owner knows, customers are the life-blood of a company, and for Librot and her employees, customers are the reason they can come to work everyday.

Fighting fires as owner
Librot went from handling sales to running a company that survives on printing direct mail pieces for high-volume buyers, trade work from others printers, and orders from print brokers.

Today she remains the point person for sales, but said every company employee is a sales person, as they are always promoting Web Corp.’s strengths in their regular business contact with clients and prospective clients. “It’s how this company is run.”

Librot faced issues head-on in her first few months on the hot seat and made decisions in rapid succession that had more affect on day-to-day operations than long-term survival. There was little opportunity to look at — or over — the horizon. “The first year was dealing with one issue right after another.”

One item that required her immediate attention, however, was a lack of space. Web Corp. needed more room if it was to continue to serve its current client base and eventually grow. In 1998, she signed a lease for a 20,000 square-foot building in Randolph, MA that had enough space for its 90-foot long presses. Prior to the move, the company was in smaller quarters in Stoughton.

“We were cramped and our production was hampered by the crowding,” she said. “I thought if we could have more space, work might flow more smoothly.” She was right.

With that hurdle cleared, and Librot gaining confidence by the month, her sales instincts told her there was new business to capture in process-color work.

“The competitiveness that had come in with all the consolidation activity going on in 1998 and 1999 really scared me,” she said. “For a while I wondered, ‘Is there going to be a place for me?’ And I’ve learned that there is a place for a shop like mine and there will continue to be because the larger shops aren’t as fast and as flexible as we can be.”

With her confidence climbing from the clarity she gained on her niche market, Librot sensed her next major business decision arising.

It made my hand shake when I signed on the dotted line
With the daily brush fires were under control, Librot earned the time to ponder the company’s future. She saw a trend toward greater sophistication in the direct mail pieces buyers wanted. The jobs were calling for better color.

Direct mail packaging from most high volume print buyers in the 1980s typically called for a two-color letter, a four-page brochure, a No. 9 reply envelope and a No. 10 outside envelope. High volume users who buy direct mail printing today have more sophisticated packages than 20 years ago. They use more colors, different size pieces, all in an attempt to get the consumer’s attention. As a result, printers of direct mail pieces like Web Corp. have had to improve their capabilities to keep pace with print buyer demands.

“I had two cold web presses, both six-color, and we were getting maxed out on our capacities,” she said. “I had to get another press for greater production flexibility and for duplication work to help take the company to the next level. If I wanted to increase our volume of sales, increase my product line and make sure that I stayed technologically relevant to my clients, I had to upgrade equipment.”

An investment in electronic prepress got underway in 2000 with the purchase of one Mac G3 workstation and the Linotronic L330 two-up imagesetter and the Harlequin RIP. Librot also purchased an Enterprise 2000 computer order entry and inventory control system.

Last year, Web Corp upgraded again, this time to the Agfa Phoenix 2250 four-up imagesetter and an Agfa Apogee PDF RIP for improved workflow. Another work station was added.

Librot and her management team of General Manager Michael Figeruado, Administrative Manager Penny DeBassio, Pressroom Supervisor Doug Allen, and Prepress Supervisor Bob Munn spent time discussing the future.

“We asked a lot questions such as ‘Which way do we want to take the company? Do we want to stay a cold web shop? Do I want to venture into forms? Should we consider a UV (ultra violet) press?” Librot said.

“I knew we had to be able to offer four-color process printing and we couldn’t do that with our present equipment at the time. I knew we had to go to an eight-color press,” she said.

After conducting extensive research, Web Corp. soon purchased a new eight-color Didde web press to match the two six-color presses by the same manufacturer.

The eight-color was an investment that “has proven to be a value-added dimension for our customers.” Librot said because this new Didde press gave Web Corp. the ability to print full-color brochures, it has been the single most noteworthy benchmark in the company’s continued success.

“If I did not have that eight-color press on the floor, I would not be where I am today. That press has allowed us to capture more work from existing clients.

“I made the right decision for the right press, from the right company at the right time.”

Along with the Didde eight-color press came a new Epson 7000 digital color printer driven by a Best Color XL RIP. Signing the purchase agreements for all the equipment was not for the faint of heart.

“It made my hand shake when I signed on the dotted line,” Librot said. “We committed to more than $1 million in upgrades in a relatively short time.”

My goal is to keep my customers happy — and get that next job
“The implementation of all this equipment has streamlined the print process,” she said. It has allowed us to meet increasingly demanding turnaround schedules. Consequently, we have been able to expand our product line, garner new customers, and increase the services which we can present to our existing customers.”

She said quick turnaround times are one reason clients keep coming back to Web Corp. and new clients arrive. “We’re a company buyers come to when the jobs demand ridiculous turnarounds.”

Pricing has impacted business, but Librot has not sat idle. “There are things a printer can do to combat that. We watch inventory control very closely and stay on top of internal errors. Also we keep our estimates sharp.

“The answer to a print buyer on competitive pricing is ‘You give me the volume and I’ll give you the turn-around time. That works especially in direct mail because they need to get the job done and get it out.”

Librot said it took a while longer for the economic slowdown to hit Web Corp. Although she declined to reveal sales figures, she said business dropped off in November 2001, but because her biggest clients plan their print buys for the entire year, 2001 still closed as a good year.

High volume print buyers account for about 50 percent of Web Corp.’s annual sales while balance is split between trade work and orders from print brokers. “We know approximate volumes for the year from our high volume buyers,” she said. “That allows me to benchmark activity quarterly and monthly.”

Today the company is in a healthy position. There are 34 employees on the payroll, 21 in production, five in management, five administrative support and three shippers. The plant operates five days a week and runs two shifts per day.

Catching her breath and taking a break
Librot said despite the loss of her husband, she feels lucky. “I’m blessed to have great employees and great customers.

“When I had to take over the company my clients didn’t abandon me. They gave me and my workers a chance to show them what we could do,” she said. “And my employees were just as integral. They kept things going here.”

Librot has learned to get away from the plant, but admits it’s hard. She learned she needs to be in another time zone to give herself adequate distance from the shop. She’s no good when trying to take a local vacation. She finds herself gravitating toward work. Lately, she’s been trying to cut back on hours and make time for golf, a game she wants to improve. At the end of the day, it is a company that has become a big part of who Hillary Librot is and who she has become.

About the author: Eric Beard is a freelance writer based in Attleboro, MA. He can be reached at .