Trade printer
stays competitive by being lean, efficient and progressive Chances are you might not encounter the turkey permits complete with turkey tags; nevertheless, the majority of the printed materials are used to collect important information. “Everything we print has a purpose, from birth certificates in Massachusetts to hospital forms with integrated labels,” says president Jeff Linehan. “We can do the whole thing for the customer — from design to warehousing.” From Boston to Haverhill Before DBS moved into this 60,000-square-foot facility in Haverhill, it operated in the basement of a seven-story building on Summer Street in Boston. The founders, George and Mary Gormley, moved the company to Haverhill in 1975, and Jeff and his wife, Elaine, bought the company in 1998. The company has had years where annual growth exceeded 25 percent. Growth in 2006 topped 6 percent. DBS stays competitive by continuously improving its manufacturing operation as well.
Changing with the times “We started out as a forms manufacturer which, generally are multiple-part forms such as a bill of lading or a purchase order,” he said. “With new technology, everyone is adding laser printers and they’re looking for preprinted forms, so we had to take our presses and put sheeters on them so that we could produce cut single forms. We added roll stands to do 50-inch-diameter rolls. Retooling the presses allowed us to take on direct mail, such as cut sheet, and statement rendering on 50-inch rolls for check printing, for instance, that we didn’t previously do in the past.”
“Over the last few years, we’ve migrated into all sorts
of printing,” says Linehan. “We offer continuous forms,
cut sheets, direct mail, jumbo rolls, label integration, Substantial printing capability During its two and one-half shifts daily, the mid-size manufacturer with 62 employees operates 11 multi-color web presses, comprising two 22-inch three-color Harris presses, two variable-size six-color Didde presses, and seven other Didde presses. Two sheetfed commercial presses print jobs such as direct mail and die-cut products. DBS also runs a bindery department, which includes an automatic padder, a prepress department, and a 26,000-square-foot warehouse for storage and forms management. Last year the company bought new equipment so it could produce scratch pads. It also bought a Harris four-color press. “We usually buy a new press every year,” Linehan said. “The growth of our business right now seems to be in direct mail and commercial printing.” System boosts quality performance “We’ve eliminated mistakes, sped up the orders, reduced makereadies by ‘doing it right the first time’, and cut our waste about 7 percent a year. That’s huge,” Linehan enthuses. “It goes right to the bottom line,” he adds, “because if your business is growing at 3 to 4 percent a year and you’re surrounded by increases such as energy costs and health insurance, the only way you save is by becoming a lean manufacturer by cutting back on your energy costs, paper, and remakes.” ISO certification is an investment, says Linehan, and it takes time. The company applied for a grant and received it, which helped pay for the program. At first, following the ISO standards slowed down the processes until employees became familiar with checking and rechecking their work. Eventually the quality management system significantly increased production, improved efficiency, and reduced waste. The benefit of ISO, explains Linehan, is that it establishes a work standard so that everybody is on the same level and understands the importance of quality and “doing it right the first time.” One thing that has changed is now everybody involved in the production process has the right to stop a job if they see something wrong. Previously, only the managers could do that. The press department experienced the most rapid improvement. Now, two people verify steps on a checklist including inks, screens, size, and proofs on a light table. “We all win that way because the customer gets what they want the first time and we get the job printed properly,” states Linehan. In the order entry department, employees avoid mistakes by checking and verifying items such as purchase order number, shipping address, and plate changes. Working together with the customers on gathering the correct information streamlines the process. “ISO has been great because we grow the business in a controlled fashion without making mistakes,” Linehan says. “If you have a quality system that works then when you add new products, such as labels, it’s still ink on paper. It’s a different application but you still have the same quality standards. It’s worked out well.” Linehan believes that its customers will increasingly require their suppliers to be ISO certified, especially customers in the food and automotive markets and European companies. Improving doesn’t stop with receiving the ISO certification.
Every year ISO associates review the operation and every three years
the company must undergo Improved efficiency saves big money
and trees To further save on paper usage, the company uses more e-mail proofs, which also expedites turnaround times and cuts mailing costs. In fact, the state presented DBS with an environmental award for two
years because of its efforts in reducing waste. DBS received the Business
Environmental Purchasing and Sustainability Award for Fiscal Year 2005
from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which recognizes three businesses
for promoting In its concern for the environment, DBS has been involved in a service group, the Haverhill Exchange Club, for 14 years, and has been giving trees away to all first graders in Haverhill. It provides about 2,000 trees a year. “We buy paper, so as a company we give away trees,” states Linehan. Continuous improvement
Linehan says the biggest challenge it faces today is technology. “A lot of people used to buy preprinted forms; now they just print them on demand,” he reports. “Instead of ordering a statement form, like at the doctor’s office, they’re going to be ordering copy paper and printing it as needed. On-demand digital printing has affected the commercial market more than us, but it has affected us. “Our staff has been with us a long time, close to 30 years,” says Linehan. “They have been challenged by change and adapted well to it.” Being a member of PINE helps support the company in changing times. DBS, which has been a member for about 20 years, sends employees to training courses on OSHA, workman’s comp, health insurance issues, and technology, for example. To keep up in competitive times, DBS will continue looking externally at new products and internally at improving its processes. “We started with ISO, then we asked how we could do things better, and now we’re at a point where we can’t get any better,” says Linehan. “It’s good that we completed the ISO certification process four or five years ago because having a quality product is a given today. You have to have a good price, good customer service including shipping jobs on time, and a quality product. If you don’t have all of those things, you’re not in business. And having the ISO years ago helped us in today’s competitive printing market.” About the author: Nancy A. Hitchcock
is a freelance writer who writes extensively about the printing and
graphic communications industry. She can be reached at |
Whether
you’re registering a car or registering to vote, paying a parking
ticket or holding a college transcript, filling out job applications,
church forms, or graduation papers, the documents being handled might
have been printed at this full-service web and commercial printing company
in Haverhill, Mass.
“We’re
the largest independent trade printer in New England,” states
Linehan, who’s been with the company for more than 20 years. “One
of the benefits we’ve had here is that a lot of our competition
is gone now, so we picked up that business. There have been five or
six companies in the last seven years that are gone. We keep our costs
down. We stay competitive. We constantly reinvest in equipment and technology.
We have capabilities that no one else has to service this market. But
it keeps us on our toes looking for new products.”
By constantly
evolving, the company shifted from producing primarily continuous forms,
to now only about 35 percent of the business is producing continuous
forms. About 20 percent of the business constitutes financial printing
for banks and insurance companies, for example, about 20 percent is
direct mail, and the balance is specialty applications, such as speeding
tickets, and hospital and business forms with integrated labels.
At any
one time, DBS is working on between 400 and 500 orders —with run
lengths ranging from 2,500 to 10 million pieces. 
Henry
Foisey, prep and composition manager, who has been with the company
for 27 years, agrees: “We always had the quality, but ISO enhanced
it.”
Last year
DBS brought in a program called Process Improvement for Printers (PIP),
a waste reduction program, which was developed with Appleton Papers.
By cutting paper waste and increasing recycling, DBS saved more than
1,700 trees and recognized a savings of more than $82,289. The savings
is based on information posted on www.obelin. edu/recycle/facts.html
that states that one tree makes 16.67 reams of copy paper or 8,333.3
sheets. 
With a
customized system, called Graphicpro, employees track all the orders
in house. They scan a job jacket, which keeps track of the impressions
per hour, makeready, and waste, for example. When a customer calls and
wants to know where their job is in the manufacturing process, employees
can look on the computer and retrieve that information. 
.
