Many of the printing companies in southeastern Wisconsin have seen dramatic cuts in their business in recent years because of foreign competition.
New Berlin-based Letterhead Press Inc. (LPI) has been able to buck that trend by building its reputation for quality work with difficult-to-use materials and techniques and a recent expansion into design and custom work.
The company, founded in 1984, specializes in foil stamping, embossing, die-cutting, holograms, point-of-purchase displays and custom design of printed materials.
LPI routinely helps its clients put finishing touches on cereal boxes, magazine covers, stock certificates, specialty packaging and other printed products. The company’s ability to add holograms and holographic foils to magazine covers, sports cards, comic books, graphic novels and even the tradable milk caps known as “pogs” helped LPI break through the competition.
“Historically, we’ve been a supplier and vendor,” said Chandler Young, vice president of sales and marketing for LPI. “We’ve become more of a business resource with our partners, and we’ve gotten more involved in the creative side.”
Over the past two years, LPI has expanded its design and custom graphic capabilities, said Michael Graf, president, chief executive officer and founder of the company. Those capabilities have proven especially effective in helping customers design point-of-purchase displays and packaging for retail items.
“Everything we do is custom,” Graf said. “One client might have a PDF, and another might have a drawing on a napkin. We can take it, no matter what. Once we get it on the computer, we can make a prototype up to 110 inches tall.”
By offering more design services and capabilities, LPI has been able to get involved in projects higher up the food chain, Young and Graf said. That ensures more work for LPI, better client relations and referrals to other companies.
“Going farther upstream helps make sure that you get (included in) the project,” Young said. “It’s helped us develop referral relationships with our customers.”
This year, LPI has increased sales by about 5 percent, Graf said. Although that doesn’t sound like much, many of the printing businesses that LPI works with are suffering because of foreign competition. Like many of the companies it supplies, LPI lost a large account to a Chinese company earlier this year.
“We’re growing in the face of always losing things to China,” Graf said. “The print industry has lost a tremendous amount of work to China.”
LPI predicts continued growth for 2008, especially in its design and point-of-purchase display work, Young said. Companies are spending more dollars on in-store advertising, which gives companies like LPI more work, and will fuel its embossing, foil stamping, point-of-purchase displays and other flashy work.
“Part of our business is selling their products,” Young said. “It’s all about that three second window and catching the shopper’s attention.”
It’s also seeing growth in kit packing and fulfillment services such as staged shipping and logistics.
“Bigger corporations want to deal with fewer suppliers,” he said. “That’s happening more and more in industry.”
LPI employs 130 workers now in its 120,000 square feet of space in New Berlin. The company grew its workforce by about 5 percent this year and foresees similar growth for 2008.
LPI acquired the Arnold Co., a competitor that was in bankruptcy, in 2001. The Arnold Co. had existing clients in point-of-sale and service displays. The Arnold Co. also was a traditional book binding shop, handling folding and stitching for clients.
LPI has continued all of those services, but only does binding work on an overflow basis for its local suppliers, Graf said.
Additional acquisitions are likely in LPI’s future, Young said, and could provide the company with additional growth opportunities.
“We’re always looking for acquisitions, especially in the laminating and UV coating markets,” he said. “I could safely say that we could grow more if we find the right acquisition.”
Letterhead Press Inc.
Address: 16900 W. Ryerson Rd., New Berlin
Industry: Fine embossing, foil stamping, custom bindery, point-of-purchase displays, die-cutting, folding and gluing and holograph application for printed products.
Employees: 130
Revenue growth: About 5 percent in 2007
Web site: www.letterhead-press.com
