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profile ● ● ● Synergy
46 | April 2008 | www.printmediamag.co.uk
The Synergy ServiceSynergy is a flexible print management company, enjoying close relationships with clients to ensure peace of mind and a quality service, whatever your budget.
Many companies boast it,
not all practise it; but for
print management company
Synergy print Solutions, customer service
really is key.
Matt fillingham, managing director
of Synergy explains: “As a relatively small
print management company, we can
ensure that all our clients receive the
same high level of quality and service
that they deserve. our clients never have
to worry about their print needs being
placed on the back burner in favour of
more ‘important’ customers.”
Synergy, the Midlands based print
management company, was formed
10 years ago and describes itself as
a young, dynamic, flexible and hard
working company.
it prides itself in handling the smaller
print management contracts that larger
print management companies may
feel are too much effort for too small a
budget, offering unique flexibility and
building close relationships with clients.
With print spends anywhere
between £20,000 and £200,000 on
average, Synergy’s clients may not have
the highest print spend in the market,
but they can still expect to receive the
highest print quality. “We do not just
shop around looking for the cheapest
price, our first priority is the quality of the
work,” says fillingham, “then we work
closely with our clients and suppliers to
achieve the pricing levels they need. ”
Synergy guarantees clients a
proactive service that is flexible to each
unique and changing requirement. With
this understanding and quality assured,
clients are free to carry on with their
work, secure in the knowledge that their
print is in safe hands.
fillingham says: “How can you be
confident that you’re getting top quality
at optimum cost? How do make sure
you’re using the right printer, and the
right processes? And how do you know
when to ask the really hard questions
that are sometimes critically important?
“At Synergy we understand and
work every day with these kinds of
problems. We take the hassle out of print
management so our clients no longer
have to concern themselves with these
issues.”
Many of the clients Synergy
works with are marketing directors, or
managing directors who often have
a whole host of issues to concern
themselves with, not just print.
The British gymnastics Association faced the complex task
of organising, producing and mailing out membership packs,
featuring 12 different personalised and matched items. in
total there are 15 different variations of pack and over 180,000
members.
To help with this, the British gymnastics Association called
upon the services of Synergy to improve their processes,
including strict quality control to comply with data protection
requirements.
The packs included personalised membership cards glued onto
personalised letterheads, catalogues, magazines, badges, inserted labels
and leaflets. All needed to be collated, fulfilled and mailed out to an
agreed schedule.
As a result of Synergy’s quality service, The British gymnastics
Association enjoyed better control procedures that were developed and
adhered to over three years, with continual improvements, lower cost,
and a problem free service.
Case Study- The British Gymnastics Association
fillingham says: “in the industry
there are so many variables to
understand, handling print is a time
consuming process, so it can easily
become a full time job. Some companies
may not be able to give it all the time
and effort it deserves to ensure that the
best quality print is produced within the
correct timescales and that the budget is
spent wisely. We work as an extension of
their team, taking the hassle out of print
for them.”
Synergy enjoys long standing
relationships with its clients, many of
whom have been with the company since
day one. The company’s portfolio of
clients varies from local authorities and
membership organisations to mail order
companies and blue chip businesses.
The huge variety of projects covered
includes report and accounts, poS,
tourism literature, catalogues and direct
mail.
Synergy also offers a comprehensive
and professional design service, enabling
clients to enjoy the benefits of a one-stop
design and artwork service with greater
process control, better communication
and more competitive pricing.
Synergy.indd 1 11/4/08 17:24:21
www.printmediamag.co.uk | April 2008 | 47
profile ● ● ● Synergy
Synergy have proved to be of great benefit to British
gymnastics, from the efficiency of dealing with our
membership database to the quality and speed of meeting all
our printing requirements. Synergy gives the most valuable
asset to any print buyer- peace of mind.
British Gymnastics
Synergy has helped enormously in the development of a
house style, increased circulation and have always been
prompt, friendly and efficient.
National Primary Headteachers Association
We are more than delighted to be associated with Synergy
who have constantly offered the highest quality design,
responsive service, competitive fees and true best value. They
are a competent team who have proved to eminently flexible,
positive and extremely professional.
Staffordshire Tourism
Thanks you for your help in producing our Annual report.
The finished product was excellent and has been very
well received both inside the trust and with our key
stakeholders. i was impressed from the word go with by
your professionalism, creative input, willingness to be flexible
and ability to hit deadlines – all achieved with a relaxed and
friendly approach which i admire.
Good Hope Hospital NHS Trust
Customer testimonials
Name: Matt fillingham
Tel: 01543 257257
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.synergy-print.co.uk
Contact
“We work with them on a daily basis
to be proactive and achieve the best
possible results.”
To ensure flexibility in its service
to clients, Synergy also makes certain
that all suppliers are similar in terms of
their equipment, working practises and
pricing structure. if there are ever any
problems with one supplier, Synergy is
able to move things between suppliers
if necessary, meaning that clients never
have to experience any printing setbacks.
explaining the benefits this provides,
fillingham says: ”if there are ever any
problems with one supplier, we can
easily move things to another approved
and trusted supplier without it generating
any issues, so our clients never have to
experience any printing setbacks,”
fillingham continues: “We are here
to absorb any questions or queries a
printer may have for a client, so that
they do not have to cope with any print
headaches. our customers know that
they can rely on us to manage their
print without having to bother them with
printer queries that we can handle for
them.”
The word is spreading in the print
buying community about the excellent
flexible service Synergy provides. The
company has recently embarked on a
marketing campaign highlighting the
many benefits of using Synergy.
for this campaign a new website
was launched to allow potential
customers to easily discover how Synergy
can improve the print buying process for
its clients. As a result, Synergy secured
over £150,000 of new business in the last
quarter of 2007 alone as a direct result of
enquiries generated through the website.
With the flexibility to meet every
individual requirement, Synergy offers
the unique ability to listen and adapt to
its clients’ needs. let Synergy handle
your print management and experience
the quality of its service for yourself.
fillingham explains: “Using one
company for both design and artwork
ensures the worry is taken out of the
clients’ hands from an even earlier
stage. if we work with a client from the
beginning we can ensure all stages of
the process are cost effective, while
maintaining accountability and ensuring
quality throughout”.
“This includes giving advice on all
aspects of the design and print process,
whether making sure the design is
environmentally friendly or suggesting
ways to reduce costs. it can be as simple
as shaving a few millimetres off the size
of the product.”
The environment is an ever growing
concern for many businesses, and
Synergy is finding this more particularly
with its local government customers.
The company offers a range of
environmentally friendly options,
including 100% or 50% recycled paper
which is fSC accredited, and additional
options including biodegradable
laminate, aqueous coatings and
vegetable based inks. Synergy also offers
fSC chain of custody through accredited
suppliers and the vast majority of its
work is now produced to this standard.
fillingham says: “fSC accreditation
is very important for the majority of
our clients and we have a core group
of suppliers which are used regularly,
plus numerous more for back up. All
our suppliers have iSo 9001 quality
certification in addition to our own
quality procedures and we regularly
monitor responsiveness, performance
and quality ourselves to ensure clients
can have confidence in our own service.”
Synergy are also accredited with
iSo 9001 quality assurance and their
own procedures fit perfectly with those
of their suppliers “We enjoy very good
relationships with our suppliers and
they support us in what we are trying to
achieve for our clients.” says fillingham,
Synergy.indd 2 11/4/08 17:24:37
Profile ● ● ● Polestar
34 | april 2008 | www.printmediamag.co.uk
Polestar Applied Solutions: improving print through technology solutionsUsing Polestar Applied Solutions’ technology not only helps to reduce costs but also offers added value to clients’ print management, publishing processes and cross media campaigns.
Polestar has long been a name
synonymous with quality print,
and its Polestar applied solutions
division provides a single point of contact
for the company’s complete range of
services, delivering and managing clients’
printing and direct mail requirements.
a major focus of Polestar applied
solutions is to provide technology solutions
which have been proven to deliver real
competitive advantage through publishing
and procurement innovation.
applied solutions provides its
clients with the benefits associated with
centralising and simplifying their print
sourcing, procurement and management
processes. this can involve outsourcing
all or some of these processes and may
span all or some of the print portfolio -
from stationery through to brochures,
magazines, point of sale and direct mail.
explaining Polestar applied solutions’
print management ethos, Managing
Director tim smith says: “as a print
management business we manage all the
work for our customers. Whether this is
insourced with Polestar or outsourced, or
even if we are just used as a technology
provider, it’s all about delivering the right
mix and ensuring the customer benefits
from it.”
the type of clients Polestar applied
solutions offers its services to range from
retail and leisure, to travel and financial
services, including many blue chip
companies. smith says that the company
provides print across a broad range of
sectors wanting to communicate with
audiences of any size.
However, applied solutions is
challenging itself to provide much
more than just print procurement for its
customers.
smith explains: “for us, putting ink on
paper and direct mail is business as usual,
but it’s the extra value we can provide
on top of that which in turns allows our
customers to give extra value to their own
clients.”
so what does Polestar do to give a
little extra magic to its clients work? the
key to this, smith explains, is in Polestar’s
technology and development capabilities.
He says: “When we work with a client
we are not just trying to give them the
best value product, but we also help them
to improve their business process. this
is where we can help them through our
technology.”
Polestar applied solutions provides
access to a range of technology solutions
that is able to deliver real competitive
advantage through publishing and
procurement innovation. applied solutions
has three technological offerings in
particular that help its print management
clients make the most out of print.
HTTprint is Polestar’s online print
Polestar Applied solutions is able to take data and publish itacross multiple media types to maximise the value of customer communication
procurement application, “harnessed to
deliver minimised print costs and maximise
productivity”. it enables print buying
organisations to streamline and gain
improved control and visibility of their print
buying processes.
smith explains: “some customers
want the advantages associated with print
management while handling the process
themselves. this provides them with the
best of both worlds.”
increased efficiency of the entire
procurement process is provided with
Httprint, from print specification creation
through to competitive tendering or
contractual requisitioning.
as the software is entirely web based,
it avoids customers having to invest in
it infrastructure and software support. it
integrates with legacy procurement and
erP systems through XMl.
Polestar.indd 1 11/4/08 15:34:30
Polestar Applied Solutions: improving print through technology solutions
there are a whole host of benefits for
clients implementing Httprint. it can help
customers reduce print procurement costs
and eliminate duplication and it offers real
time viewing for timely decision making.
the print procurement process
is standardised using the software,
creating enhanced communication and
collaboration within the supply chain.
this in turn produces increased buying
leverage for the client, with greater visibility
and control over business processes,
allowing the customer to be more
environmentally friendly, cutting down on
paperwork and storage.
as a result, Httprint offers significant
savings for its clients. smith gives the
example of one client that reduced its unit
costs by 27% through using Httprint to
buy print more effectively.
the technology can also be linked
with Polestar applied solutions other
technological offering, HTTpublish , a
software solution that eases the strain
of publishing content, helping to get
information out to market quickly and
cheaply.
Httpublish is a browser based,
highly automated digital workflow system,
allowing publishing companies to gain
control of their commissioning, creative,
advertising and repro processes, saving
time, costs and resources.
Polestar applied solutions developed
Httpublish in collaboration with major
publishing clients to create an intuitive
solution that specifically meets publishers’
needs and offers wider business benefits.
it offers automated page assembly,
creating PDfs from adobe inDesign and
Quark XPress. file delivery, pre-flight
checks and reporting are all handled with
ease with real time tracking. it also features
ad copy chasing, ad e-vouchering, and
image library and archive management.
it is particularly suitable for companies
where the creation of a publication
requires the collaboration of various
departments, all needing continuous
visibility, as well as for those who require
multiple approvals, audit trails and quality
control.
www.printmediamag.co.uk | april 2008 | 35
Profile ● ● ● Polestar
Name: ian allan, Cross Media Business Director
Tel: 07909 536867
Email: [email protected]
Name: toma Habashi, technology solutions Manager
Tel: 07867 550003
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.polestar-group.com
Contact
Publishers can benefit in a myriad
of ways by implementing Httpublish ,
from significant cost savings through
streamlining and automating the
production process, along with improving
quality through automatic checking and
correction.
the final technological offering from
Polestar applied solutions is HTTprofile,
which Polestar applied solutions say is
“the UK’s fastest growing cross media
solution encompassing true cross media
through personalised emails, sMs
messaging, dynamic web pages and
customised print”.
Utilising this technology enables
marketing and creative organisations to
offer a unique and personalised marketing
campaign. this is achieved by Httprofile
delivering consistent communications
that are highly relevant and targeted to
each recipient. Customer acquisition and
customer loyalty can be improved because
of this, along with reducing lead times to
market and development.
explaining the benefits Httprofile
provides, smith says: “Using Httprofile
customers get to have much more one to
one communication with their customers.
Marketers can use the software to
track responses in real time and adjust
campaigns and messages accordingly.
“We enjoy working with customers
to ensure that they get the best value out
of their campaigns. a lot of them may be
used to producing DM or email messages
but they may not be so used to bringing
them together into total unified solutions.
this is where we are able to help.”
as with all of Polestar applied
solutions’ technological offerings,
Httprofile is highly scalable, meaning that
companies can adapt and develop their
software as their needs change.
smith says: “Httprofile helps our
clients to have a ‘conversation’ with their
customers, from the initial touchpoint
through to responding, through print,
online sMs and emails. each time they
implement one of these processes it
generates the next level of interaction
between them and the customer. We help
them to build up this process and really
understand how best to do this.”
Polestar applied solutions is
helping its clients communicate with
their customers in another effective way,
by producing personalised print and
personalised Urls.
Having invested over £250,000 in new
technology to implement this, smith says it
helps produce more targeted and relevant
communications, helping response rates
jump from 2% to 20%.
He explains: “this level of one to one
communication is still new to the market
generally. We are finding that there is a
lot of excitement over how to use this
successfully. rather than going for all of it
in one big bang, we offer a more gradual
process to really understand the customers’
needs and discover what works best and
help them to develop full cross-media and
transpromo campaigns.
“there is this idea that personalised
work can only be achieved on digital
presses with a high cost involved, but this
is not the case. it does not always have
to be four colour print, meaning it can be
produced on a variety of machines most
suited to the customers’ requirements and
budget.”
Polestar’s direct mail site has
traditionally been viewed as a producer of
large volumes. But now clients are able
to place their shorter run and one to one
campaigns with the group. With our direct
mail customers we traditionally have been
a producer of large volumes. But thanks to
our personalised print offering we can now
talk to them about smaller runs and one to
one pieces.
However Polestar applied solution’s
technology evolves, it’s clients can rest
assured that the company will ensure there
is the best technology available to satisfy
all their print procurement, publishing and
cross-media needs.
• www.polestar-group.com
Polestar.indd 2 11/4/08 15:34:36
FOR WILTSHIRE-BASED commercial waterless printer, Park Lane Press, adopting environmentally friendly practices has always been
standard policy. Not having to play catch-up now the environment is an issue on everyone’s mind has allowed Park Lane Press to keep its focus on providing quality. Phil Sudwell, Park Lane Press’ managing director, says: “We have around 30% of clients that use us for our environmental credentials, the rest of them come to us simply because we are good printers, without necessarily realising the additional environmental benefits we provide.”
Park Lane Press was a family run business formed 1991, as a friendly hands-on company with quality and environment at the heart of its values. When formed, it provided print to the trade. Over the years this has changed, and it now mainly produces design, marketing and advertising agency work as well as producing print for charities and blue chips. It says that in a single week it produces a range of printed items from direct mail pieces, brochures, corporate id items, folders and press packs. It also prints calendars, catalogues for art and furniture companies, greeting cards, corporate brochures and annual reports.
The decision to implement the environmentally friendly waterless printing process came as the solution to a practical problem. During its early years, the company found that the water in its location was of poor quality for printing, so eight years ago, when it moved to a new site with a new press, it began to look into the waterless printing process. Once Park Lane Press researched the process it decided to go ahead and make the move to waterless printing. The dampeners were removed from the presses and Park Lane Press taught itself the waterless printing method. “We persevered and mastered the technique,” says Sudwell.
Waterless printing is an offset lithographic printing process that eliminates the need for water and a dampening system used in conventional printing. It uses a special silicone coated printing plate instead of a standard aluminium plate and usually has a means of temperature control on the press. Vegetable based inks are used in waterless printing, with the ink repelled from the non-image areas by the silicon, replacing the need for water, Sudwell says. Instead of the press operator balancing the delicate relationship between ink and water, all that waterless printing requires is a temperature range of transferring ink onto the substrate.
The presses Park Lane Press use for waterless printing include the six-colour Komori Lithrone 628 EM waterless press, and the four-colour Komori 428 EM waterless press, both of which include an
anilox coating system. They both handle a maximum sheet size of 520mm by 720mm, with a maximum image area of 510mm by 710mm. As neither of the presses requires water, Park Lane Press has found that the rubber rollers don’t become pitted and breakdown due to the fact that there is no water taken up into the ink chain, and therefore lasting a lot longer. In the eight years that Park Lane Press has used waterless printing, it has yet to change a single roller.
While waterless printing has provided benefits for Park Lane Press itself, it also allows printing to be produced with as little harm to the environment as possible. The most obvious environmental benefit of waterless printing is in the name: it does not require the use of water. Using waterless printing can result in a dramatic conservation of the world’s depleting water resources, the Waterless Printing Association (WPA) says. It gives the example of a Swiss waterless printer saving approximately 66,000 gallons of water in one year.
As waterless printing produces the correct colour faster than conventional printing, there is less paper and ink wasted, which in turn means that less fibre has to be used. This results in saved manufacturing and paper costs, as well as being beneficial to the environment. Conventional printing uses alcohol-based fount solutions, which waterless printing does away with. Waterless printing uses vegetable inks instead of solvent based ones, meaning that the amount of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released into the atmosphere are significantly reduced by as much as 85% to 95%, the WPA says.
Waterless printing is certainly beneficial to the environment, but that does not mean customers have to cope with a reduction in quality to accommodate this. Compared to conventional printing, the waterless process produces vastly improved
PROFILE
40 ▫ August 2007 ▫ www.printmag.co.uk
The very nature of waterless printer Park Lane Press is environmentally friendly. In recent years it has continued to enhance its environmental credentials while ensuring that its clients’ work remains high quality.
Park Lane Presswaters down its eco impact
ParkLane.indd 1ParkLane.indd 1 13/8/07 09:48:1313/8/07 09:48:13
www.printmag.co.uk ▫ August 2007 ▫ 41
colour enhancement. This is because without a dampening system, the process can print a far greater level of ink, providing colour consistency throughout the run, an increased depth of image and a closer match to Pantone colours.
It offers higher screen rulings, printing up to 300 lines per inch, which Park Lane Press says is almost double the resolution that the industry provides. This also allows for a larger range of colours to be produced in four colour printing, potentially an increase of 20%, according to the WPA. Overall, this creates brighter colours, subtler mid-tones and sharper images.
Waterless printing enables clients to produce work on paper stocks that standard litho printers cannot usually handle, as without the dampening system, many of the paper problems associated with offset printing are removed. Sudwell adds that the process is particularly good for uncoated papers. Faster make-readies are also possible using the waterless printing process.
There are many advantages to using waterless printing, both on an environmental level and from a client’s perspective. These benefits have led to its worldwide growth, especially in Japan, Scandinavia and the USA, but it has yet to make a significant impact in the UK. Sudwell says that while there is a wide mix of waterless presses, there are only a few
commercial printers in the UK who offer this service.
Explaining why this is, Sudwell says: “Waterless printing is still niche in the UK because there is no company which sells the entire package, the product and the training. Established printers are therefore less likely to want to spend the time retraining their staff in new skills and processes. With the growing environmental awareness, some printers may consider waterless printing, but this will take time. Start-up printers are the ones most likely to take the plunge, but with over-capacity in the market, there are few new companies emerging.”
Many UK printers may not be taking advantage of the benefits of waterless printing, but Park Lane Press has found that the number of clients converting to waterless printing is growing. Sudwell credits this to clients wanting to be more environmentally friendly. He says that many clients ask for Park Lane Press’ waterless printing logo on their product to prove that they are using environmentally friendly processes.
The core of Park Lane Press may be built on an environmentally friendly waterless process, but it does not only use this to claim an awareness of environmental matters. It also influences the company’s purchasing decisions.
Park Lane Press has recently installed a Canon imagePRESS C7000VP digital press which prints at 70 pages per minute on 300gsm paper. It has a 10,000 sheet capacity and can print on sizes ranging from A5 to 13 inches by 19.2 inches. Sudwell explains: “We only wanted to move to digital once we felt it could match the quality of our other presses. We felt this press was the right one for the job, especially as the only waste it produces are the plastic toner cartridges, which can be recycled. Canon also has a very good environmental policy within its business which we feel corresponds with our own views.”
For five years Park Lane Press has held ISO 14001 accreditation, and in the past year it also been awarded both FSC Chain of Custody certification (SGS-COC-003257), and the EMAS standard UK-000152, which requires a company to publish an environmental report available for public scrutiny. Sudwell says only around four UK printers have this accreditation. Park Lane Press also uses a carbon neutral fleet, with all the company’s energy coming from natural renewable sources. Its house paper is Howard Smith’s Regency Satin FSC-certified stock, and it encourages clients to use FSC paper wherever possible.
Park Lane Press is continuing to improve its environmental practice. In the coming months it plans to become more
involved with local community projects. Over the next five years Park Lane Press is also aiming to achieve a 10% reduction in its energy consumption, along with decreasing its landfill waste, diesel and hazardous products by 10%.
Park Lane Press is looking to the future to ensure it continues to be as environmentally friendly as possible, while still maintaining its high standards of quality. However this strategy is nothing new for the company, as Sudwell explains: “We have achieved so much to ensure that we are environmentally friendly in the last eight years, but we have never shouted about it. For us, the emphasis has always been on quality and the environment.”
PROFILE
CONTACT DETAILSAddress: Unit 11, Leafield Way, Leafield Industrial Estate, Corsham, Wilts SN13 9SWTel: 01225 815010Email: [email protected]: www.parklanepress.co.uk
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VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF life, so say many, and this is certainly the ethos at Independent Paper.
The paper merchant prides itself on going further than the average paper company and delivering more than just paper for its clients. By offering its customers wider services and more choice, it can ensure that the client receives exactly what it needs in the most beneficial way, it believes.
Paul Cassidy, marketing and purchas-ing manager for Independent Paper, says: “Independent Paper provides something different for its customers. As there are a lot of mergers in the paper industry, paper buyers are left with less and less options to choose from.
“We do not believe that customers want a narrow band of options, but a wider selection to ensure that they get the product and service most suitable for them. This is what we offer.”
Independent Paper started life in 1993, in South East London. Now under the control of Denmaur Papers, which has also acquired Media Paper Management, Independent Paper branched out to the Midlands and North, and 18 months ago the company moved into a purpose built distribution site in Leicester.
Large colour printers are Independent Paper’s main clientele, says Cassidy, and the company can boast that its team of staff are paper experts, with a great deal of experience in the industry. “Many of our customers are quite long standing, and there are always more wanting to join the party,” he adds.
Providing choice for its customers is the name of the game for Independent
Paper, as Cassidy explains: “We are solu-tion providers for our market segment. We believe that we can find most paper stocks our clients need.
“If a client is looking for something unusual or a specific type of paper we are confident that we can source it for them. We achieve this through industry experi-ence and good contacts with European and worldwide mills.”
Through its close relationships with customers, Independent Paper is more than aware of what its printer clients need, and can therefore cater to their requirements. This in turn influences the company’s stock paper ranges, ensuring that Independent Paper has the most relevant papers for its customers.
Independent Paper was one of the first paper merchants to have Cutstar ranges in stock, having done so for around three years, giving a 24 hour service to customers. This is, Cassidy says, because “Cutstar stock delivered next day, or quicker occasionally, is vital for our customers as it supports their sheet-fed requirements.”
Independent Paper has two standard stock ranges for its clients, UPM Fine and Amadeus available in both sheets and reels.
According to Cassidy, UPM Fine is a popular product for the company. Independent Paper is the only UK stockist of UPM Fine, and has seen an increase in interest for the product since it became FSC accredited in January 2008.
While UPM Fine may be a hit for Independent Paper’s clients, the company lives up to its mission to provide alter-natives for its clients, offering another standard stock, Amadeus.
Described by Cassidy as Independent Paper’s flagship stock, Amadeus is a high quality, triple coated paper, available in 90gsm to 400gsm in sheets and 90gsm to 200gsm in Cutstar reels. It gained PEFC accreditation in May 2008, meaning that all Amadeus sheet and Cutstar reels are PEFC accredited.
Cassidy says: “The Amadeus grade is extremely popular with printers for its excellent ink lift and runnability. The PEFC accreditation for the grade gives it a mark of environmental strength to add to its qualities.”
Amadeus is produced at Burgo’s Ardennes mill in Belgium, which has ISO 14001 and EMAS accreditations, and the PEFC pulp is sourced within a 200km radius of the mill.
Explaining why Amadeus is PEFC, and not FSC certified, Cassidy says: “The paper could have been FSC certified, but to do so, the manufacturer would have had to source FSC pulp from across the world. So by choosing to be PEFC accred-ited instead, pulp is not being trekked far to go to the mill, meaning that the paper is both PEFC accredited and has a low carbon footprint.”
Independent Paper is also due to launch an extension to the Amadeus brand in September. The paper will be called Amadeus 3R, part of the 3R paper range, which is exclusive to Independent Paper, Denmaur and Media Paper Management.
The 3R collection consists of papers that are recycled, part recycled or certi-fied sustainable by both FSC and PEFC. The Amadeus 3R paper is FSC certified and contains a minimum of 50% recy-cled fibre.
Paper merchant Independent Paper offers its customers an alternative to the larger consolidated paper merchants and works with its clients as solution providers for all their paper needs.
profile
24 ▫ August 2008 ▫ www.printmag.co.uk
individual service
INDEPENDENT
independent paper.indd 1 18/8/08 18:07:25
Ensuring that its new paper stocks are environmentally friendly is just one part of Independent Paper’s commitment to increase its green credentials.
The company has been awarded both PEFC and FSC Chain of Custody certification, and it is currently planning to make all its paper stocks FSC or PEFC accredited by the end of the year. It is also evaluating its CSR policy for further improvements.
Independent Paper may ensure that its company and services are as environ-mentally friendly as possible, but it is not the sort of company to keep this knowl-edge to itself. Instead, it helps its clients’ be as green as they can be, by providing a PEFC and FSC advisory service.
The service was introduced by Independent Paper soon after its own FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody certification in September 2007. It offers clients infor-mation and advice about how to obtain FSC and/or PEFC accreditation.
This includes help on the best way clients can organise their paper purchas-ing to be within audit guidelines. “This has helped us maintain good relationships with our clients,” Cassidy says.
Offering an advice service is just one part of Independent Paper’s policy to be a solutions provider for its customers. Cassidy explains: “We build up a rap-port with our clients so that we form partnerships with them and are able to offer them solutions to any problems that they may have.”
By building up strong relationships, Independent Paper is able to offer its customers more than a simple paper order and delivery service, as Cassidy says: “We have the right mix of products, the
right mill support and the right contacts to solve pretty much all our customers’ problems.
“In this economic downturn we can help them find the best solution so that customers do not waste time and money looking for impossible things.”
So Independent Paper goes beyond the usual remit of paper delivery and instead offers to help customers over-come any paper related issues they may be experiencing. This can include issues such as trying to source a particular type of paper or having the paper delivered at a specific time.
As printers may need paper as quickly as possible, Cassidy says that Independent Paper utilises its vehicles as much as it can, by offering a number of evening drop offs as well as daytime deliveries. “Flexibility in distribution is necessary for a modern printer’s needs,” he adds.
Just as Independent Paper tailors its service to the individual client’s needs, it also adapts its services as the printing industry evolves, ensuring that it can always meet the changing industry’s requirements.
Cassidy explains: “How our paper stock has developed over the last five years depends upon the changing needs of our clients.
“For instance, in the colour printer market at the moment there is still a big need for coated stock, but there is also a growing requirement for uncoated ranges. This is because uncoated paper is perceived to be more recyclable and is considered more suitable for design work.
“Printers are increasingly needing uncoated stock as they are also diversi-
fying and catering for different types of customer. Large colour printers are look-ing into new areas such as shorter runs and artistic work, so we ensure that we can meet their requirements.”
The clients of Independent Paper may have differing needs, but the company is confident that it will continue to adapt to the evolving requirements of the print industry.
“It may be a difficult time for paper and the print industry, but our future is simply to continue providing the best alternative service we can for our print-ers,” says Cassidy.
“Print and paper is still a relevant and vital tool in businesses’ communica-tions campaigns. Recent increases in the amount of direct mail produced is due to improved targeting and segmentation, and we believe this will continue to grow.”
Cassidy concludes: “The industry has had to change, and so have we. We are not just a paper group anymore. We are a problem solving company and distribu-tion arm for our customers, meaning they turn to us because we understand their requirements and time constraints.
“The future is ever changing and we will continue to change with it.”
www.printmag.co.uk ▫ August 2008 ▫ 25
profile
Clients are the top quality four colour sheetfed printers Stocks are always held indepth
Contact Details
independent paperpaul CassidyTel: 01530 275500
email: [email protected]
Web: www.independentpaper.com
independent paper.indd 2 18/8/08 18:08:47
8 | FINAL FOUR FEET 2009
PROFILE RETAIL EYES
Retail Eyes: customer service improves brand experienceRetail Eyes offers a fresh approach to mystery shopping, using genuine customers and real time reporting to empower brands to make a positive difference to its customer service.
A converted farm at the end of a
winding country lane just out-
side of Milton Keynes may not
seem the most obvious place to
fi nd a UK location of customer
service excellence. But despite its inconspicu-
ous surroundings, this is where businesses
can fi nd Retail Eyes, a company that has the
power to transform a brand’s identity through
customer service.
Tim Ogle, CEO of Retail Eyes, explains:
“There has never been a more competitive land-
scape as we see in 2009. Retailers are all putting
on sales and the same items can be bought from
different shops, so service is without a doubt
the key difference .”
Customer service could well make or break
a company, as the old adage that “deliver good customer service
and the customer tells four people, deliver bad service and they
tell eight” is still true, Ogle adds.
This is where Retail Eyes comes in. Boasting a 100% client
retention rate, Retail Eyes works with big name brands such as
Coca Cola, O2, Hamleys, William Hill, Virgin Active, Subway and
Pret A Manger to ensure that they remain top of their industry
fi elds through the delivery of excellent customer
service, creating for them a brand reputation
envied by competitors.
Retail Eyes achieves this by through its three-
tiered approach to customer service: measure-
ment, management and improvement. This begins
by working with the client to identify its objec-
tives, then researching and qualifying the differ-
ence between the service expectations and the
service deliverables.
Each of its clients receives a uniquely tai-
lored research, evaluation and development
programme which provides real information
from real customers, with real-time feedback.
As the company was founded in the USA, and
then opened its UK branch in 2003, Retail Eyes
entered the research agency industry in the UK
with no established or preconceived notions. Instead it enjoys a
fresh perspective of the sector.
One such example is the way Retail Eyes has turned the ‘mystery
shopper’ experience on its head. Simon Boydell, marketing manager
for Retail Eyes says: “Mystery shopping traditionally has negative
connotations, and it was an employees’ worst nightmare. It was
considered spying. Mystery shopping tends to be an old fashioned
one or two page sheet with yes/no tick boxes the shopper would
fi ll in. It would not provide any reasons or commentary, so it did
not provide benefi ts, and if a location got a bad score it would
just cause fear.”
Retail Eyes operates differently, as Ogle explains: “We aim
to understand what the customer-facing staff need to deliver
excellent customer service, and how to get the tools they need
to do this. Instead of this being from the top level, with the staff
trying to do what the directors want, we speak to the teams to
ensure that the company’s brand objectives can be fulfi lled at
ground level.”
Looking at customer service from a ground up, instead of
top down, level is vital for a brand’s reputation. Ogle
says: “It’s the people that are lowest paid
in a company that are the most
important, as they tend to be the
customer-facing staff interacting
just cause fear.”
trying to do what the directors want, we speak to the teams to
ensure that the company’s brand objectives can be fulfi lled at
ground level.”
Looking at customer service from a ground up, instead of
top down, level is vital for a brand’s reputation. Ogle
says: “It’s the people that are lowest paid
Motivation through communication: Retail Eyes creates strong programme identities and engages entire businesses – from the boardroom to shop fl oor, ensuring customer service remains at the forefront of customer-facing staff minds
Tim Ogle, CEO of Retail Eyes
Retail_Eyes.indd 2 9/2/09 14:59:28
FINAL FOUR FEET 2009 | 9
PROFILE RETAIL EYES
with hundreds or thousands of customers a week. It is
these staff which will provide customers with a view
of your company’s attitudes.”
While several mystery shopping companies would
normally have ‘professional shopper’ pool of approxi-
mately 1,500- 2,000 people that may visit four to six
locations a day, Retail Eyes has a 250,000 strong database
of genuine customers from all demographics that visit between
one to four locations a month. Only those that match the client’s
customer demographic visit the location, to ensure that the results
accurately refl ect a genuine shopper’s experience.
Retail Eyes also has a fresh perspective at the way it conducts
mystery shopper trials. While mystery shopper forms may often
contain tick boxes and marks out of 10 for the shopper to fi ll in,
Retail Eyes “drills down” to fi nd out why the shopper has that
perception of the company. “By asking real customers how they
viewed their experience, and what they would like to be changed
or improved, we fi nd out how our clients can go from a seven out
of 10 customer experience to 10 out of 10,” Ogle says. Boydell
adds: “Instead of just providing facts and fi gures, we always aim
to answer the ‘so what?’ question to our reports.”
It is not just retail locations that are explored; every way that
a customer interacts with a brand can be researched. For instance,
Retail Eyes conducts mystery phone calls to assess call centre
standards and online surveys, individually tailored to a brand’s
requirements. Brand standard audits can also be conducted, en-
suring that locations meet brand requirements in terms of staff
wearing the correct uniform and the location meeting health and
safety standards for example.
It’s all well and good obtaining genuine customer experiences,
but then by the time the results arrive weeks later, the store and
staff involved may well struggle to remember what happened
on the day they were inspected, which makes it diffi cult to know
precisely what needs to be improved.
The solution is to have real time reporting. Through Retail Eyes’
live reporting website, it delivers the customer experience results
immediately to the brand, so the company knows what is occurring
in the stores at that moment. The unique system was developed by
Retail Eyes itself over fi ve years, at an investment of over £1 million,
to ensure it best meets its customers’ requirements.
As the results are obtained, they are immediately updated onto
the web portal, which the client can log into and instantly access.
Through the web portal, the results from the mystery shop are
usually uploaded within 72 hours, instead of the four to six weeks
brands normally wait for results.
“Businesses have to move quicker than they did in the past,
so the quicker they can respond to challenges the better. For our
research to be relevant, they need to receive the results as quickly
as possible, which we are able to do through real time reporting
on our website,” Boydell says.
By providing real time results that can be accessed any time,
any place via the web, the managers and directors of brands are
able to keep an eye on what’s happening at ground level.
Once the results are obtained, Retail Eyes does not leave the
client to work out the next step alone. As well as speaking to the
ground level staff, Retail Eyes works at top level to help them
establish how best to establish great customer service.
Ogle says: “We are in a unique position to be able to speak to
directors at board level and help drive their company forward. We
are able to fi nd out what their customers want to see differently, and
inform the directors what changes their customers really want.”
The level of involvement Retail Eyes has with a brand is tailored
to meet the client’s requirements, with some having a Retail Eyes
account handler in house if needed. The reason for this commitment
to clients is clear. “Our business is to provide customer service
research and improvement, so as a company we have to practice
what we preach in terms of customer service,” Ogle says.
Retail Eyes’ dedication to its clients is certainly appreciated,
with Coca Cola saying that the company has been instrumental
in meeting several objectives, including building brand aware-
ness, teamwork and new product launches; and sandwich outlet
Subway states that Retail Eyes has helped the brand to identify
specifi c areas that needed attention and focus in order to improve
the stores’ performance from a customer perspective.
Improved customer service can also have fi nancial benefi ts
for a client, as some Retail Eyes clients have received a 4% like
for like increase in yearly sales, a 7% reduction in staff attrition
rates and a 0.2% increase in profi t for every 1% improvement in
their service scores.
Retail Eyes says it is proud that its client base of around 85 all
appreciate the impact customer service can have on a brand. As the
company regularly proves, customer service and brand experience
go hand in hand. Ogle says: “If clients are serious about retaining
and adding to the value of their brand, they need to ensure that
their brand promise is actually delivered to customers. Great
service refl ects great brands.”
• www.retaileyes.co.uk
Live and in real time, the “world leading” Retail Eyes reporting website provides clients access and analysis from top line results through to specifi c location and question analysis
Retail_Eyes.indd 3 9/2/09 15:02:48
FOR PAPER MANUFACTURER SCA, ADOPTING environmentally friendly processes is second nature. “Being environmentally friendly has been our standard policy for a long time,” says David Lucas, managing director of SCA, “and as such, we
think we are always ahead of the game with this.”The amount of trees SCA owns covers 2.6 million hectares
in Sweden, making it the largest private forest owner in Europe. This requires a great deal of care and responsibility from SCA to manage them in a way that does not cause harm to the environment, as Lucas explains: “We have a responsibility to be environmentally friendly as forests are our most precious asset, so they need to be managed with great care, which we are happy to do.”
Keeping ahead of the latest environmental issues plays a core part of SCA’s strategy, with the focus now on its carbon footprint. Between 2005 and 2006, SCA’s Swedish Graphic Sundsvall site has reduced its amount of CO2 emissions from 1,523 to 1,409 tonnes. Lucas is keen to point out that this reduction comes at a time when SCA Graphic Sundsvall’s total production in 2006 was 1,328,000 tonnes, an increase of slightly more than 5% compared to 2005.
Knowing exactly where to measure the company’s footprint is a contentious issue for Lucas. “There is no way of knowing the start and end point to measure carbon emissions,” he says. “Do we measure it from the forest itself, or from production, and does it end with shipping, or continue to each of the places the products eventually end up at?”
Lucas adds that different companies could measure their carbon emissions in different ways, making it impossible to offer useful comparisons. He says that there is a strong need for standardisation, and praises the work of environmental non-governmental organisation, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which SCA works with. WWF has produced a Paper Scorecard Manual, which it says “is designed as a user-friendly tool for paper purchasers to evaluate their footprint on the environment
and to channel paper consumption towards alternatives with the least environmental impact.”
The scorecard has seven questions, covering many topics, including CO2 emissions, FSC certification and manufacturing processes. For each question the paper purchaser gives a mark out of a maximum of 10 or 20, giving an overall total of 100. Despite the scorecard still being in its infancy, Lucas hopes it will be adopted as a means of providing standardisation for CO2 emissions and other environmental measurements.
SCA is currently looking into further offsetting its carbon emissions and reducing the amount it produces. Yet as the largest forest owner, Lucas is optimistic that the level of carbon dioxide its trees absorbs not only surpasses the carbon emissions from production and transport of the products that derived from the forests but also the major share of the SCA Group’s other operations, putting the Group a long way towards becoming carbon neutral. The net sequestration of carbon dioxide in SCA’s forests amounts to more than 2.5 million tones per year, many times more than the CO2 emissions from the company’s paper production.
While carbon emissions is the current hot topic for SCA, as for all industries and consumers, taking positive environmental steps is nothing new for SCA. Lucas says that the company has always been an early adopter of accreditations. This started in the early 1990’s with the adoption of a Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) policy for its production of pulp and publication papers, while many other companies were only offering a partial chlorine reduction, Lucas says.
FSC certification was awarded to SCA in 1999, and is renewed every five years, with this last occurring in February 2006. SCA offers many FSC-certified papers, all within the Grapho range. Grapho Cote, Lux and Matt are FSC accredited coated papers suitable for publications, while Grapho Nova, Prestige, Grande, Gravure and Set are FSC Super-calendared papers. SCA also produces FSC newsprint papers called Grapho Crystal, Bright Extra, Bright and News. Along with FSC, SCA has
PROFILE
74 ▫ August 2007 ▫ www.printmag.co.uk
As Europe’s largest private forest owner, SCA has always been at the forefront of good environmental practice. Its latest focus has been its carbon footprint and helping its clients address their environmental issues.
SCA LEADS THE WAY
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www.printmag.co.uk ▫ August 2007 ▫ 75
obtained PEFC accreditation for its Austrian site, which recently received FSC Mixed Sources certification for its use of recycled fibre and FSC-certified pulp.
SCA has also achieved ISO 14001 accreditation, which requires an ongoing process from the company. However, SCA prides itself on going beyond the minimum environmental measures. It looks into ways to ensure every aspect of the business is conducted in an environmentally friendly manner.
To ensure that SCA does not create unnecessary pollution
through increased transportation, each mill works with the timber and fibre it is closest to, because as Lucas says, it is not worth shipping virgin fibre to the UK site, and shipping UK recycled waste to Sweden; instead it works with the nearest resources. SCA also takes part in a sharing scheme with other forest owners, where they use a competitor’s forest if it is nearer to the mill than the company’s own forest. Other environmentally friendly measures SCA implements include the use of ships with low sulphur fuel, and trucks fitted with catalytic converters.
This environmentally aware attitude has been part of SCA’s business strategy for many years now, with Lucas saying that “for the last 20 years we have ensured that every investment we have made has been environmentally friendly”. This sentiment has also affected SCA’s mills. Lucas explains: “We have few mills and machines compared to others, but we work with a ‘strong mill’ concept, ensuring that our mills are state of the art. There is over-capacity in the market, with older, inefficient and less-environmentally friendly mills closing down. In contrast, we do not buy more capacity; instead we ensure that what we do have is the best.”
SCA does not plan to rest on its environmentally friendly laurels, but has put goals in place to further increase its environmental credentials. Between 2005 and 2010, SCA is planning to reduce its water consumption by 15%, along with enhancing the efficiency of its water purification plants at all its sites. It is implementing methods to ensure no fresh fibre comes from controversial sources.
Using as much of the timber as possible is also a key part of SCA’s business plan. It sells wood pellets to the public for burning, which according to SCA is a fast growing market, as the public is getting more environmentally conscious and wanting to “do their bit”, using biofuels instead of non-renewable fossil fuels.
As the public becomes more environmentally aware, it has begun questioning businesses about their environmental practices. It is no longer enough for a company to simply discuss
its business results in its annual report; instead it is necessary to highlight its environmental credentials as well.
“Our customers are getting more environmentally pressured,” says Lucas, “their clients are starting to ask them environmental questions, which in turn makes them come to us, as our clients are aware that we have built up a reputation as a leader for environmentally friendliness.”
Lucas adds that while there is no premium for its environmental products, being environmentally aware does place it at the top of many companies’ lists. SCA’s main customers are publishers, which have been keen to work with SCA to become more environmentally friendly, Lucas says. SCA has also found a growth in environmental interest from web-offset printers and retailers. “Anyone with direct consumer contact is becoming interested in the environment,” adds Lucas. Retailers that SCA has worked with include Homebase, helping to produce its magazine on FSC certified stock, Argos and Marks & Spencer.
SCA helps its clients who may be confused about the measures it needs to take to be environmentally friendly. Lucas says: “We give advice to our clients, particularly with FSC, and we can help them go along the right route. We are happy to help them with this and will even provide a training package, sitting with their staff for a day.” According to SCA this has been very popular with customers as it provides added value.
Explaining the surge in interest for environmental matters, Lucas says: “It’s not businesses that are driving this forward, but the public. The young generation is growing up with a more environmentally friendly attitude, so this will ensure that it continues to grow in importance in the future. The current issue is carbon footprint, and I wonder what the next environmental angle will be. Whatever it may be, there is no doubt that SCA will be ahead of the game.”
PROFILE
www.printmag.co.uk ▫ August 2007 ▫ 75
be ahead of the game.”
CONTACT DETAILSAddress: SCA Graphic Paper UK Ltd, 543 New Hythe Lane, Larkfield, Aylesford, Kent ME20 7PBTel: 01622 883385Email: [email protected]: www.publicationpapers.sca.com
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