American Printing: Attention to detail in all phases of business puts company in strong position
By George Linkletter
More than 1,000 commercial printers in the United States are likely to cease operation this year. American Printing, a division of Branch Graphics, Inc. of Rhode Island, won’t be one of them.

President and owner Paul Carroll says the health of his 35-year-old firm is superb, pointing out that the company has 55 employees who work two shifts, has quadruped sales in just the past four years, and may double sales again in the next three years.

Like most privately held firms, AmPrintRI, as it is known on the Internet, does not disclose financial results to outsiders. A recent half-day visit to the Rumford, R.I., facility, however, showed an organization bustling with activity and an immense level of energy.

It wasn’t always so. For the first 15 years or so, American Printing of Rhode Island was largely a printing brokerage firm. Founded by Carroll’s father Harry, who is now deceased, the firm grew steadily but not in any spectacular fashion.

Around the year 2000, Carroll began to focus all of his energies on the printing company and set out to achieve superior customer satisfaction.

“Just about everybody claims to provide great customer service,” he said during the tour, “but very few actually deliver on the promise. And the lack of good customer service creates disappointment for customers and costly churn for printers.”

If you ask Carroll what, exactly, he means by superior customer service, be prepared for a long conversation and lots of examples. There is no simple answer because he believes customers possess varying levels of expectations.

One example he gave centered on something as routine as answering the telephone. If you call the firm during working hours, 99 times out of 100 you will be connected immediately to someone who has been with company, knows the business, and can answer questions as well as connect you to the person you are looking for.

The task of answering the phone is rotated among staff, so no one burns out on it, and three people are always assigned to answer the calls in sequence. So if the first person is handling a lengthy call, the next incoming call cascades to whoever is second in line and so on.

Carroll believes that trying to save money via an automated answering system with elaborate prompts forces an inconvenience upon customers and sends exactly the wrong kind of message.

“Customers are the reason we exist,” he stressed. “We should react to their needs, and not vice versa.” Just as important, Carroll believes the emphasis on responding to telephone calls from customers helps form a foundation of delivering superior customer service across the organization.

The attentiveness works; at least it did for this writer, who found himself lost due to incomplete directions from a Web-based mapping service on his first visit to the facility.

A cell phone call immediately yielded a live person who provided accurate directions. Carroll is not above the need to respond promptly to customers either: he interrupted an interview at least six times to take or redirect calls or otherwise assure that various projects were on track.

“Our customers appreciate the extra level of attention,” he said. “Many have reduced staff in recent years to try to lower costs, but they haven’t reduced their workload. Our customers are trying to do more with less, and do it faster as well. They need vendors to be more proactive, to be more like partners. Anything we can do to help them helps us build stronger relationships.”

In Carroll’s eyes, providing superior customer service means being flexible as well as fast. And he credits his firm’s flexibility with helping achieve the recent sales growth.

“One of our customers, a grocery store chain, was having difficulty with a complex signage project that involved small quantities and extremely quick turnaround times,” he explained.

The project required multiple steps: printing on mylar, mounting on styrene, affixing brackets on the rear so it could be mounted on store shelving, and packing and shipping the assembled signs to multiple locations.

“We had very little experience producing such customized signs ready for interior display,” he continued. “We just saw an opportunity to solve a customer need and jumped in. And now we have a thriving business producing retail signage.”

Experience as a print broker
Carroll’s emphasis on superior customer service started when he was operating as a print broker, first with his father and later with his brother. It was an experience that also gave him invaluable insight into the printing marketplace.

On one hand, he saw up close the equipment, capabilities and service levels of virtually every printer in the Providence area. On the other hand, he saw the ongoing and emerging needs and expectations of customers. At heart, however, he was a salesman trying to build a business. And was he disappointed with printers who promised one thing and delivered another. Repeatedly disappointed.

“I could have remained a broker and made a fair income,” he said, “but my word is my bond and I did not like making commitments that I wasn’t sure I could back up.” So he bought his first press, an A.B. Dick machine, placed it in his brother’s basement, and started handling small printing and mailing jobs in-house.

Nearly 90 percent of the volume he handled was still brokered, but the in-house capability grew and he was able to expand and purchase a storefront building. The combined entity — print brokering and the small copy shop handling some two-color commercial printing — yielded a comfortable living.

The industry then started moving toward color and Carroll took something of a detour. He seized on the emerging craze in collectibles and launched an entrepreneurial venture producing trading cards that featured sports legends such as basketball great Larry Bird and baseball icon Ken Griffey Jr.

The venture was successful for a time, but when the craze subsided, Carroll was faced with a decision: rebuild the print brokering business, which had declined due to lack of attention; pursue additional entrepreneurial ventures; or create a stronger printing business. He chose printing.

“Brokering still had the problem, for me at least, of having to rely on those who may be unreliable. The entrepreneurial ventures were exciting, but they could end very suddenly, too. Print was a business that was essential and would last.”

His first major equipment purchase was a two-color Hamada C248 Press. The storefront was too cramped for the unit so he relocated to space in an old mill.

Demand for the two-color press was exceptionally strong, and he was soon running four-color work on it. And that situation led indirectly to another key to his recent success: hire only the best people with the best attitudes that you can find.

Hiring only top-notch talent
Carroll asked several sales representatives who they considered to be the best operator of the equipment. He then approached the consensus favorite with a job offer. He was told, “thanks, but no thanks, I’m happy where I am.” So Carroll waited and kept the job offer open — for three years.

“I was struggling a little at the time, but I knew I needed a color expert on that machine so I just persevered until the time was right for him to join us.” During the interim, the soon-to-be pressman took another job requiring heavy national travel for on-press color approvals. The pressman soon discovered he preferred being at home with his family and signed on with Carroll. A year later Carroll promoted him to general manager.

That also was a key move for Carroll because it enabled him for the first time to relinquish the day-to-day tasks of running the business and focus instead on growing the business.

“At the time I was handling many of the daily tasks, such as cutting stock and processing the billing. I think it is good for senior managers to be involved, to show that all work is important, but I was too involved in managing the various printing jobs and not the entire printing business.”

Still, Carroll is not above pitching in to help out whenever it may be required. A case in point occurred on a memorable Friday evening when a customer’s representative picked up a color proof for approval at 5 p.m. Carroll received a call five hours later saying that the color corrections were needed right away.

Fortunately, the customer was a two-hour drive away, which allowed Carroll time to assemble the key people. The owner, the general manager, the prepress manager and the sales representative all came in at midnight to meet with the customer and perform the color corrections. The job printed on Saturday and was mounted and shipped on Monday. The effort resulted in a very satisfied customer and a six-figure contract for future work.

Shrewd equipment investments
A key equipment purchase was a hardly-used two-color Harris Press, which Carroll deployed as supplemental capacity. As a rule, Carroll shops exclusively for good, used equipment because the lower acquisition cost enables him to price his work aggressively and yet still generate a healthy profit.

“Many of my competitors say I am dirt cheap,” he laughs. “Maybe I am. But we all pay about the same for electricity and overhead. The key difference is my cost of financing, which is substantially lower. I can offer better compensation — which helps attract good people — and invest in other new technologies and still earn a good profit.”

The existing presses served perfectly well, but the firm was increasingly printing four-color work on the two-color equipment. So he upgraded to a used six-color Akiyama Press to bolster his capabilities and now has three presses on the floor. He also recently deployed a 98 UVX Colorspan Display Maker.

While he is cautious about big-ticket spending on printing presses, he is liberal with investments in new technology to boost productivity, reduce waste and expand capabilities.

He says his firm was one of the first to acquire a Presstek Dimension 400 platesetter. Not only has the firm processed direct to plate images for at least six years, but it mastered the process and can easily create 100 plates a day. The firm also tracks all projects via software that automates the entire production workflow and gives precise and up-to-the minute data on inventory, costs and expected completion.

Other notable acquisitions include automatic laminating equipment, a wide-format laminating machine, mounting equipment, new bindery and cutting equipment, and new wide format equipment. The firm also operates Xerox DocuTech and Doucolor equipment as well as Kodak copiers and a Secap tabbing and inkjet equipment.

The company occupies 25,000 square feet of space and is jammed to the walls. Carroll is looking for new space in the 75,000 square-foot range.

Looking at growth, but cautiously
The company chief is quick to point out that he wants to remain nimble and responsive and is cautious about growing too big too fast.

“Thirty years ago the industry was dominated by giant printers and large advertising agencies. The focus was on economies of scale, large runs and general or mass communication. Today, the giants are gone, the ad agencies have downsized and the focus is on short runs, targeted communications and multi-channel messaging.”

Carroll has developed a specialty serving vertical markets such as retail signage, yet he maintains a broad range of production capabilities and is constantly adding to them. For example, he regularly prints brochures, newsletters and sales collateral.

He also designs and prints a national monthly magazine for aircraft enthusiasts, still brokers print, handles inventory and warehousing for key customers, produces and fulfills direct mail, assembles and mails kits, duplicates CDs, offers design services, and even has an emerging video communications capability.

About the only thing he doesn’t offer is copywriting, but readily admits that could change. All it would take is a call from a client.

Few printers today anticipate a need to triple the size of their production facility. That’s a remarkably optimistic outlook, but American Printing has an enviable record of recent growth.

And Carroll’s book of business is remarkably balanced as well. Roughly 30 percent comes from Providence, 50 percent from Rhode Island and the remainder from across the U.S. Given the combination, it is more than likely that American Printing of Rhode Island will be around long after many others have faded from memory.

About the author: George Linkletter is a freelance writer who writes regularly about high volume printing. He can be reached by e-mail at or by calling 860-350-4043.