In each 2013 issue of Graphic Arts Magazine, we will be interviewing an interesting member of the graphic communications industry and asking them for their opinions on a few important topics. Every month we will be interviewing someone who represents a different part of the industry (technology, paper and printing, for example) so stay tuned for each interesting viewpoint!
This month, we had the opportunity to speak with Stephen McWilliam, Partner and EVP of Avanti Systems for eight years.
What is your stance on offset vs. digital?
I’ve got customers that are 100% litho and they are doing incredibly well because focus is driving their profitability. However, they (like every printer) are under the same pressures, as runs getting shorter and the quality of digital printing is getting better. Therefore, it’s not a question of IF they need to move to digital, it’s a question of when.
Where do you stand in the ‘(our world is going) paperless’ debate?
The topic of us going paperless is similar to any conversation 10 years ago about the internet being a fad. It’s just not going to happen. I remember having these same ‘going paperless’ conversations in the mid 1980’s when I worked at IBM and 30 years later… my desk is still covered with paper!
What is one problem that the printing industry could have already solved but hasn’t?
Making themselves a commodity. There’s no reason to compete on price and a long time ago we could have figured out how to compete on value instead.
Only 8-10% of printers are profit leaders. What do you believe makes them different?
A profit leader is someone who knows their costs down to the penny and they wake up every morning trying to reduce unnecessary costs from their business. Automation, the right tools for the right people, and an overall entrepreneurial spirit to change is what’s required to be a profit leader.
What do you miss about the “good old days”?
Spare time to go golfing more. We are all working way too hard!
What keeps you up at night?
Genuinely trying to figure out ways to help my customers (100% of which are in the printing industry) to be more profitable. What can I be doing in my software to make them more profitable so they will say “yes” when I ask them to come golfing?
What makes you happy to come into the work in the morning?
I get really jazzed about solving those customer problems that keeps them off the golf course. I am a firm believer that there’s a better way to do just about everything.
If you know of an inspiring leader in their graphic communications industry whose viewpoints you would like to see featured in this column, please email diana@graphicartsmag.com.
For the record: Stephen McWilliam
