🔒Companies printing less, but Windsor print business still growing

Joseph La Valla doesn't foresee the Internet, digital media or green initiatives eliminating the print industry. The future for printing is convincing businesses that print still has its purpose and how it complements digital.

La Valla, president and CEO of Windsor print and design company Integrity Graphics, said the Internet and go-green movement have not made him fearful. In fact, his company has been on the offensive, making several acquisitions in recent years to expand its geographic footprint and introduce new business lines.

It's most recent deal was in July when it bought Massachusetts-based Excelsior Printing. Integrity has acquired eight companies since 1998.

La Valla reminds businesses that printed material has value, and people are inundated with digital communication.

“I can send an email message to promote my new product, but how many email messages do people receive a day?” La Valla said. “I get about 300.”

He also tells prospective customers that printed material to promote new products and services can drive online sales. Convincing clients that print still has a place in a marketing plan is key. Businesses have not stopped ordering print, but they are ordering less of it, he admits.

“Instead of ordering 50,000 brochures, now companies print 10,000 brochures,” La Valla said.

That's challenging for a sales team. “Salespeople have to work 30 percent harder to maintain what they did pre-recession,” La Valla said.

Along with acquisitions, attracting high-performing salespeople is part of Integrity's growth strategy, but that's not easy either. “Printing is no longer a sexy industry,” La Valla said. “It's tough to get people to come over here. Good salespeople tend to stay where they are. When you have earned a strong reputation for selling, you don't want to leave the company you are with.”

Integrity's revenue numbers, helped by organic growth and acquisitions, are now above pre-recession levels, indicating the company's growth strategy is working, La Valla said.

A survey by the National Print Owners Association in 2014 found that among 250 firms responding, 44 percent reported significant or moderate sales growth. The remaining reported flat sales (28.3 percent), modest declines (20.7 percent) or sales down significantly (7.7 percent).

John Stewart, executive director of the association, said he remembers people predicting a paperless society 20 years ago. He points out the Internet became a catalyst for printing, not a deterrent. “The more computerized we are, the more stuff we print off the Internet,” Stewart said.

Most of Integrity's acquisitions were not competitors, including the last three, and most were smaller businesses. “Some companies, I hit a grand slam, and some I struck out in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded,” La Valla said.

Integrity employed 115 people in 1999. That dropped to 75 in 2010 and is now back to 115. Automated machinery has reduced positions over the years. Acquiring Excelsior has created about 10 new open positions in Windsor.

LaValla said he won't aggressively pursue any acquisitions for at least the next two years, but he will listen if a good opportunity comes along. That's how he acquired Excelsior. Two other recent acquisitions — PDQ Graphics in Newport, R.I. (2012) and Colonial Printing in Warwick, R.I. (2011) — came about because the owners retired; Excelsior wanted to sell its commercial printing and seed print businesses. Commercial printing also gives Integrity a presence in Massachusetts, and seed printing adds a new line of business with national accounts and customers in Canada. Printing packets for garden seeds requires special dyes, cutting and folding to make the packets. Not many companies produce seed packets, and the Internet has not found a way to replace them.

Seed packets also have led to more printing business for Integrity, which is now printing point-of-purchase signs where seed packets are displayed.

Aside from competing against the Internet and digital communication, another challenge for the print industry is showing its greenness.

“You will see more companies looking for us to prove with internal processes that we are green, which is OK with me,” La Valla said. “We do that through proper certification and documentation. Once we can prove that to corporations, they will buy printing from us.

“We recycle our paper. I don't know of any print company that does not recycle its paper and printing plates,” La Valla said. “We properly dispose of inks and rags, which are picked up professionally and put in containers. The general public would be shocked at how green the printing industry is.”

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