Finishing at home

Print Action, May 2003 by Avery, Jodi

In the battle for market share, it is important to have the ability to do more, and do it better, than your competitor. That has always been the tactical approach at Battlefield Graphics - a 39-year-old commercial sheetfed printer in Burlington, Ontario.

Founded by Frank and Jessie Theoret, the couple's sons, Paul and Jerry, are co-owners of the company. Although Battlefield always had a small finishing department, the brothers expanded its post-press artillery nine years ago when it entered into stitching. And it expanded again last month with the installation of a Bobst 102 die cutter.

"Control over jobs more than anything motivated us to expand the bindery," says Paul Theoret. "We are a high-end shop. We want to make sure what we put out the door is right. Having finishing in-house gives us control over everything."

Battlefield's bindery department consists of what Theoret calls the meat and potatos of the back-end, including folding, gluing, stitching, shrink wrapping, drilling and hand bindery.

"We can do different things that some in-house binderies don't do. Most trade binderies can do the things we do, but I think it all depends on the people you have too. My people are specialty trained operators. They are experts like any in trade binderies. They can do anything we have the machine for." In a 40,000-square-foot building, 12 of Battlefield's 70 employees run the bindery department.

End-to-end, the Battlefield shop is 100 per cent digital using a Delta workflow and employing automation in its operations. "We are right up to date on automation. Production flow is so much easier that way," says Theoret. "From the time we start processing our file to when it is on the press, it is twice as fast as it use to be. And then our bindery is tight because we can schedule jobs knowing when the press will be done and when the bindery is needed."

Battlefield uses these qualities to draw in customers from both Canada and the U.S. One American customer has been a client for 20 years. Another loyal client is General Motors of Canada. Battlefield produces a great deal of work for the car manufacturer, including the brochures for the entire Pontiac line. GM utilizes all areas of Battlefield - prepress, printing and finishing.

Recently, General Motors tendered 30 companies for a marketing brochure. The overall size was 6-inches by 9-inches, with three separate 3-inch by 6-inch 8-page booklets to be stitched inside, one on top of the other. Because of the multitude of sizes, this job presented unique finishing demands.

Other companies proposed doing the bindery by hand. However, according to Theoret, Battlefield was the only printer who was able to use its automated machines to achieve the design without the need for slower handwork. Battlefield won the contract and finished off the job as planned.

Winning such contracts act as important marketing tools for Theoret: word of mouth. "Customers talk. And customer-to-customer promotion is the best kind."

This indirect marketing helped Battlefield generate $13 million in sales last year. Theoret hopes to increase that to $20 million. Battlefield doesn't intend to expand its sales staff to do so. But there are two areas Theoret is examining. The first is through acquisitions, which Theoret is constantly looking out for. The second is through the further expansion of Battlefield's finishing department.

"Right now we can glue on the folders with spot gluing but we are looking at putting in a pocket-folder gluing machine to go with the new die cutter," says Theoret. "We've been marketing ourselves as a full-service shop for 12-years and we want to keep expanding those services as far as they can go."

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The concept of a one-stop shop, from end-to-end, is not only a 12-year-old tradition but also a battle plan for Theoret. "This is a tight market. The more I can do under one roof the better for Battlefield."