QPL grows by providing customers
with solutions Derby started his own printing company in 1985, after working at Xerox for 11 years. “I modeled the company after a lot of the franchises, but I didn’t want to be a franchise,” says Derby. “At that time, the segment of the industry I was getting into was quick printing, so I picked the name Quick Print. But over the years we’ve expanded into new areas, so we call ourselves QPL, Inc. because we do a lot more than quick printing. At the same time, we haven’t forgotten our roots.” QPL works with many local businesses such as technology companies, health care firms, real estate establishments, and banks, to find solutions that satisfy their many requirements. The mid-sized printer with 10 employees and sales around $1.8 million to $2 million learned to say yes to customers’ requests. At first, QPL might need to contract out the work, and then when it makes sense, he brings the services in-house. It’s a method that’s working for him. Derby reports: “I see our business growing at about 10 to 15 percent this year.” Accelerating with digital print To speed up many of the short-run four-color jobs, in February 2007 QPL installed a Konica Minolta bizhub PRO C6500 Digital Color Printing System, which features 65 ppm printing and copying. “From one to 1,000 is very economical on the Konica Minolta,” says Derby. “It’s a real work horse and provides the quality we need. The meter clicks were a lot less than on some machines. It was almost a no brainer.”
The Konica Minolta has been popular for printing Christmas cards on 80lb. Finch Opaque or 100lb. Cougar Opaque, also mailers, postcards, die-cut brochures and invitations. “The quality of four-color business cards off the Konica is great,” says Derby, “and it handles collateral pieces on 100 lb. gloss cover or 100 lb. gloss text very well.” For one hotel, QPL printed 400 promotional Hershey candy wrappers on the digital system. Not only did the pieces picture the hotel, but also the space typical for candy bar ingredients listed the hotel’s many features. For a local bank, QPL created variable data testimonials. The Konica Minolta printed 11 versions of a marketing piece — 200 of each testimonial on 6x6-inch cards. And for a real estate customer, the company produces four-color presentation folders economically on its digital and offset devices. The outside folders are printed offset, then because information frequently changes on the inside marketing pieces, such as postcards and product sheets, those materials are printed on the digital system. “We can offer them the economies of digital printing for the shorter runs and we can also offer them the economies of traditional commercial printing for their longer runs. You mix the two together to provide the best solution for the customer. We might print 5,000 postcards for all of their customers; however, we can do a variable data piece and print 250 to 500 with a person’s name printed in several places on the mailing piece. It has more impact and it gets better results.” “The inside pieces can be done in rounds of 50 or 100 sets as the information changes,” he continues. “The specs can change for the real estate company to what they are offering customers in their houses. So now instead of throwing out a lot of pieces, we can change that information and pictures and print them digitally in short runs.” To automate the finishing, a Duplo DC-645 Digital Finisher slits, cuts, and creases the printed materials in a single pass. A new Duplo collator and booklet maker also adds more capabilities to the digital workflow. “As we go more and more digital, we needed equipment that would meet the demands of our customers,” says Derby. “We also have a machine for laminating covers to give the shine that customers are used to seeing.” New DI press offers longer runs QPL cleared out its old platemaker, light table and other outdate equipment to make room for the press with its 10’7”x8’8”x5’6” footprint. Derby estimates a 24 to 36-month return on the capital investment. “We looked at other options,” says
Derby, “but for us the DI was a great purchase because it sets
itself up automatically and starts printing Accommodating customers Today about 15 percent of the business is large-format printing — producing products such as banners and trade show graphics on a Hewlett-Packard 5500, an HP DesignJet 130nr, an Epson 7000, and an Epson 4880. Artists are beginning to turn to QPL for Giclée prints, which the company prints on canvas on the HP 5500. About five years ago, when it became too costly to continuously send out for laminating and mounting, QPL invested in those services. QPL also offers warehousing and fulfillment. “We’re looking for ways to save customers money,” says the owner. “If they’re looking for an environmental solution, you need to have one. We’re going after the niches and marketing of short-run quality printing.” Promotional products opens doors
When a large customer of global human capital management software with major U.S. operations based in Chelmsford and Billerica, planned a race car themed event in Las Vegas with Mario Andretti as a guest, they asked QPL to provide the promotional products. QPL filled race car-shaped coolers with race car tire key tags, checkered flag polo shirts, and baseball caps — all imprinted with the company logo. In addition, huge Nascar baskets filled with items such as cookies in the shape of race cars, were given out at the event. “Most people don’t know what they want so we help with ideas,” explains Lori Corey, ad specialty sales consultant. “It’s a challenge to get exactly what they want in the right color and help figure out where to put the logo. That’s the fun part about my job. We’ve made actual sandals as invitations and sea shells as an invitation sent in a box. Calendars are a great giveaway at the end of the year — we print many of those here.” Another customer ordered 200 marble bricks for an awards ceremony. The bricks were laser engraved with people’s names as the award. “The marble brick awards were gorgeous,” says Corey. “That project was the best — they ordered about 150 items that included duffel bags, golf shirts, jackets, posters, and water bottles.” Gaining new customers “Over the years we’ve seen that
companies might be loyal to their printer and we can’t get in
the door,” says Derby. “But, because they’re not as
loyal to the promotional products person, we’re able to get our
foot in the door with One customer who had been working with a large
printer for years, needed products that the medical company could hand
out at mall shows and schools, which
As more companies pursue measures that protect the environment, QPL promotes its use of vegetable-based inks and environmentally friendly paper. “We’re printing things like 100 percent recycled post-it notes,” says Derby. “We’re trying to stick to our niche and providing as many solutions to our customers as possible so they don’t have to go somewhere else. Customers don’t leave because of price, they leave because they think you don’t care.” One example of how QPL was rewarded for its attentive service was with a customer that produces specialty breads. “We got a call from one of our contacts
at another company that was recently hired by them. We were asked it
we would come in and help them with all of their As a result, the company no longer had any corporate support or any marketing. “We worked with their marketing people to develop a logo, initial collateral, and marketing pieces,” says Derby. “And as their budgets and needs grew we could provide them with all the traditional marketing materials. It started out with a couple of rounds of 500 business cards and letterhead and now it has grown to $250,000 to $300,000 worth of business. And that’s in the course of one year. When brokers want sell sheets or catalogs to order food, the order comes through their Web site to us. We do the printing and fulfillment. Next, we’re providing them with a few hundred thousand four-color bread bags for their bread.” Derby concludes: “Staying healthy, staying busy and surviving means providing solutions for your customer.”
Nancy Hitckcock is a freelance writer who writes about the printing
and graphic arts industries. She can be reached at |
However,
while maintaining a focus on short-run two and four-color printing,
the company has diversified to provide customers with all the solutions
they require. For QPL, Inc. and The Image Group, offering promotional
products has grown to comprise about 50 percent of his business. “We
diversified as customers asked us to do more,” reports Derby.
“Now about 50 percent of our business is promotional products.
It has allowed us to survive in a difficult time for printers.”
The
PrintShop Mail application by Objective Lune enables the company to
produce personalized printing. Many customers have printed marketing
pieces with the recipients’ names sprinkled throughout the pieces
to achieve higher response rates.
“We
purchased the DI because we’re doing a lot of four-color work,”
says Derby. “One customer has lots of coupons and fact sheets,
and the new press will allow us to do them faster and more efficiently.
It will also allow us to produce 
The
main items that customers order include customized computer-based products
such as USB sticks, mouse pads, and computer brushes. People often order
from 100 to 1,000 giveaway items, such as pens and coffee mugs for trade
shows and events. One customer, a petroleum company, ordered foam stress
relievers in the shape of a petroleum truck imprinted with their company
name. 
To
make the best decisions about which direction to take the company, Derby
stays informed about the industry. “We keep abreast of the marketplace
and technology, and attend the various seminars that Printing Industries
of New England offers and other trade shows, and read articles on what’s
working,” says Derby. “QPL has been a member of PINE for
about two years. I love getting the newsletter because it talks about
issues that I’m really concerned with: variable data pricing,
OSHA, and environmental issues, for example. At one of the shows or
seminars I saw the Presstek machine up and running and now we’ve
purchased one. We learned about magnetic inks to print bank forms. From
PINE you can get real, truthful information. Also, we just hired a new
customer service representative through PINE’s Web site.”
.
