ProCo

Source: Manufacturing Digital

Date :10/12/2007 11:09:35

Having moved all of its facilities to one site, print company ProCo is looking to strengthen supplier relationships and is now concentrating on building its brand

Written by Lucy Mowatt and produced by Rahim Ali

In 1993, The Production Company was established. The Sheffield based business initially set out as a high-quality litho outfit, which supplied to local agencies. Jon Bailey, ProCo’s Sales and Marketing Director, explains that it soon earned a reputation for “doing the jobs that no one else wanted to; when there was a complex project, people would call The Production Company. It got a reputation for being a ‘can-do’ company.”

The business developed, expanding across three sites, with three specialist capabilities; The Production Company, Pro-Imaging and Production Direct, the mailing arm of the company. Then, approximately three years ago, the Sheffield Council Northern ring road scheme commenced, with the new road surrounding one of the facilities. This spurred the business to assess its situation and decide whether it should change sites; it decided to move all three divisions to one 50,000 sq ft site, involving a £3 million investment.

Jon Bailey says: “We’d been experiencing difficulties in the mentality of the three different sites and the different service levels; customers had multiple contact points with varying levels of service and speeds of reaction. As such, we took the opportunity to become an integrated provider of marketing tools.”

He continues by explaining some of the other advantages of moving: “We’ve always worked to ISO 9001 standards; it’s always been our focus. When we moved to the new buildings one of the things we did was keep workflow in mind. We wanted to streamline our manufacturing processes and maintain competitiveness.” It has helped the company to minimise wastage, in terms of time and materials. ProCo have also implemented lean techniques and everything is broken down and recycled, so that waste management is controlled.

Chain of Custody

The move to the new facilities also helped with another of the company’s objectives: gaining the ISO 14001 certificate. Jon Bailey explains that ProCo hopes to achieve the certificate in 2008. “Every buying decision within our business – whether it’s buying tyres for our vans, ink or light bulbs – every decision has an environmental question asked about it.”

There has also been a focus upon simple things, like switching off electrical appliances (which saved the company in the region of £1000 last year) and getting people involved. ProCo has employed a new member of staff with the sole responsibility of making sure every department minimises its environmental impact. They also make sure that the company works within the Chain of Custody standards, as certificated by the FSC and PEFC. These guarantee that the paper materials can be traced back to recycled and ethical sources. This not only means peace of mind for ProCo, but also their customers, who have growing concerns about the origins of paper.

Making its name

There has been a focus upon rebranding too. ProCo has been working with Sheffield-based company, Iris Associates to raise awareness of the company in the market. As with a number of other partnerships, the businesses have worked together since the beginning. As such, Jon Bailey says, “We have a unique method of account management, and unique relationships so really, part of the branding exercise was to tie everything in. As always, Iris offered us support and so credit must really go to them for the branding!”

This may be aided by the investments the business has made in new technology. An additional digital press was purchased, along with three new B2 litho presses, finishing equipment and IT hardware from Agfa, Sandersons and Press-sense. “Our business model is very much to continue to invest. We believe in bringing the best technology to people, as well as cost savings, manufacturing and the best service.”

These investments have resulted in increased focus upon the web-to-print activity within the business. Jon Bailey explains that ProCo “dabbled” with the idea for a couple of years but struggled to implement it. He says: “Two years on, I think we have got our heads around it and realised what we need to do! We re-invested in a new system, Press-sense Iway, and we developed a new road map for implementation. Since then it’s really taken off.” This is supported by the fact that the company has gained 12 new customers for 2008 because of this expertise.

There has been further investment in another digital press, which the company has been putting through its paces for a number of months. The installation of this equipment ensured that ProCo was a European beta site for Hewlett Packard for the second time. This has strengthened the already close partnership between the two companies. Jon Bailey says that the relationship “...is built on a unique understanding of digital processes; what variable data can do and the power of digital print technology.” ProCo gets to see HP’s new technology up to six months before it is released and also works with its software labs in Bristol.

People and Print

ProCo’s workforce is not threatened by this new technology though. The 96 employees are open to new capabilities and are encouraged to understand and get involved. “A conventional printer bringing in a digital environment may well be threatened by the new technology. But here, from day one, everybody embraced it, and understood it’s importance to the business.”

Jon Bailey explains why: “One of the things we do is open the business up to everybody, so we let all staff know if we’re doing well or if we’re doing badly! We share our figures, whether we’re hitting targets, and also make everybody aware of PR stories.” This means that people are aware of what is happening in every sense.

There is a comprehensive induction plan in place at ProCo as well, which ensures that all new recruits know the business’ ways of working and a HR policy that ensures everyone is developing at the right rate and hitting the right Key Performance Indicators. Mr. Bailey explains: “We have a really good retention rate; even the casual staff want to stay on for as long as possible.” There are also bonus and award schemes available for those that excel, because “people make the difference between a good business and an exceptional business.”

The majority of the company’s employees come from the local area, which ProCo is proud of. “Even as situations change and our focus becomes national, there are things that we cling onto with both hands and we make sure that we don’t forget where we have come from. We’re proud of being in Sheffield.”

As a result, the company helps local charities and encourages business development. ProCo is the main print sponsor of the local Chamber of Commerce and is also involved with charities like Whirlow Farm. “It’s great,” Jon enthuses. “We’re part of a group of 480 companies that support schools in the area every year, so that kids can go to the farm and camp out for a few days, things like that.”

For the future, the company plans to focus on making its processes more efficient and maximising its £8.5 million turnover. This will be characterised by ongoing investments and improvements, while taking on highly skilled people and looking for new solutions.