What is your stance on offset vs. digital?
Both have their place in the market of course. However, it’s becoming not so much about one vs. the other anymore. Generally, customers are looking to get their jobs done with a certain expectation for quality, turnaround and price whether it’s offset or digital or inkjet! Printers must have both to survive and be profitable, so it’s up to us to deliver jobs that meet expectation based on their end use application.
What’s the one problem the printing industry could have solved but hasn’t?
The industry has an ongoing challenge of defending the relevance of print. With marketers looking to measure ROI on every dollar spent, staying part of the marketing mix continues to be a challenge for the industry. As digital channels converge with the traditional ones, it’s a tough problem to solve. We have to do our best to evolve and continue to bring new ideas to meet the changing needs of our customers.
Where do you stand in the ‘(our world is going) paperless’ debate?
If you’re reading this online, you’re wasting 2.4x more energy than what’s needed to produce the printed copy. So close down your browser and pick up that printed issue! I’m still amazed at the number of companies who use the “going paperless” angle as an excuse to be more “environmentally friendly”. Most forget that paper is a recyclable resource whereas all their electronic devices will contribute to our growing landfills. There will always be a need for paper and the tangible element it brings to communication. A paperless world is just not going to happen!
Only 8 to 10% of printers are profit leaders. What do you think makes them different?
As printers, we have a lot of challenges to overcome in a market that’s constantly shifting. Those who will rise to the top and stay there are the ones who have the ability to truly understand customers’ changing needs and evolve fast enough to meet them. This means building out not only the right product or service portfolio, but having operational efficiency to maximize throughput and control costs.
What keeps you up at night?
We’re continuously evolving at Kempenfelt it seems that every week we are working on something new and exciting! So as a marketer, I’m constantly looking for the most unique angle in which to market our product offering. Especially when it comes to the digital side of our business, where technology is driving most of the innovation, it can be hard to shut down all the ideas (the good, the bad and the ugly!) flying through your head at the end of the day.
What do you miss about the good old days?
For my generation, the good old days are now. We’re building business in a time where the possibilities are endless thanks to technological innovations coming at us at astronomical speeds. It certainly would help if the economy allowed for margins that most of the manufacturing industry enjoyed years ago – bigger expense accounts sure made building relationships easier! The challenge in today’s reality has become leveraging technology to get ahead of the competition by providing true value to our customers – something that our team at Kempenfelt has become pretty good at!
What makes you happy to come into work in the morning?
Not only do we have a great team of people working at Kempenfelt, but we have the best customers to work for. Knowing that most of my day will be spent bringing someone’s idea to life or helping to solve their business challenges makes it easy to stay motivated.
