Custom Printing: Considering Buying Printing Overseas

Photo purchased from … www.depositphotos.com

About twenty years ago I brokered five catalogs to a Canadian printer. I actually found the printer through the Printing Industry Exchange (true story, not a plug for PIE), and I kept the gig going for a number of years. Everything went well. I was pleased. My client was pleased.

Initially I had been hesitant. After all, what if something went wrong? Print jobs go wrong, and it’s important to be able to go to the printer, in some cases, to work out some kind of resolution, either a discount or a reprint. I had been concerned that I might have to travel to Canada in such a case. My fiancee convinced me that this would not be a terrible thing, and I went ahead with the printer and my client. It was a success. Granted, as with every other printer, I checked samples and references as well as prices before moving forward to ensure a smooth project.

The Recent Past

Within the past few years, again through the PIE web server, I was contacted by a printer in South Korea. His work day overlapped mine, since I often am up and working at 3:00 a.m. So we emailed a number of times. I requested samples in response to his great pricing (even with shipping), and I was quite pleased with their high quality.

But I hesitated. Canada was one thing. What if I had to go to China if a job went south?

Then about six months ago I was approached by a principal of a printer in India. Again, the samples were stellar, but this time I was pleased to learn that employees of the commercial printing company had a base here in the United States in addition to India, to handle all elements of print production as well as shipping, customs, and all of the other things related to import/export activities of which I had minimal knowledge.

I also learned that an an acquaintance and potential client of mine, a publisher on the Delmarva coast, had had a successful, long-standing business relationship with a Chinese book printer.

Plus, the client for whom I broker custom printing of small fashion color print books, like little PMS swatch books but for selecting make-up and clothing colors based on one’s complexion, had been thinking of working with a fashion printer (digital printing of fabric for garments) in Italy (where most of the good ones apparently are based).

So with all of this new information trickling in month after month, I was beginning to open my mind a little and consider what would make me comfortable enough to do business halfway around the world.

The Even More Recent Past

Keep in mind that about this time tensions and then war in the Ukraine were developing, tensions with China were increasing, and therefore doing business in Asia, I thought, might be affected. At the same time I was noting that ships were taking longer to bring supplies to the United States, and paper availability and price in the United States were becoming an issue.

I also found that when clients came to me with book printing jobs (which a few years ago might have taken three weeks plus shipping), printers were now scheduling these jobs for eight weeks from proof approval to shipping. Hence, I had to add weeks or a month onto the front of the schedule for rounds of proof corrections plus a week or so at the end of the schedule for shipping. Clients weren’t happy. Finally, I was noting that some of the large book printers to whom I had brokered jobs five or ten years ago were going out of business.

The Present Time

It is within this context that I received an email from a contact at a large commercial printing consolidator last week. A consolidator buys up printing companies all across the US or the world. In the 1990s when I was an art director and production manager, I had bought printing from one of this consolidator’s plants. I had developed a business relationship over the years, and I had often driven up to three hours into the Shenandoah mountains to do press inspections for the covers of the paperback textbooks my employer purchased each year. Then I turned around and brought other clients to this printer when I started brokering commercial printing 20 years ago.

It turns out that they didn’t have the capacity to print a large, ongoing job (forms printing, specifically) in less than six months. They had exhausted their own resources and were looking to me as a broker to find a source—during a paper shortage.

Needless to say, I was honored (and excited). No matter how things go, I will always consider this to have been an honor.

How I’m Approaching This

Right off the bat I assumed that such a large consolidator would have thought of everything I was already thinking. But maybe with all of my contacts (developed over 48 years in the business), I could still offer something.

This is how I proceeded.

But first, here is a description of the forms (the client of this large commercial printing consolidator had provided PDF drawings with measurements). There were five forms with perforations and added “kiss-cut” labels. The press runs for this twice- or three-times-yearly ongoing job ranged from 120,000 to 600,000 per form.

As a point of information, kiss-cut labels have adhesive on the back and glossy liner paper behind the labels themselves. That is, these forms were to be almost-blank sheets of paper with a combination of uncoated text paper plus the label stock (like the bills of lading that come from retailers such as Amazon, with part of the form showing the contents of the shipping carton and part of the form including a return label).

It was the structure of the combination forms (with integrated labels) that was important, along with the perforations, and actually the thickness of the paper and the grain direction as well, because these forms had to be compatible with the desktop Lexmark printers the client would use to imprint the actual billing and shipping information.

I was also told that the huge commercial printing consolidator (in all of its plants) could only commit to a six-month production schedule, which was unacceptable to their client. And like any business, the commercial printing consolidator didn’t want to disappoint a long-standing client.

It is within this context that I sought to find a vendor and coordinate the job. This is how I proceeded:

1. 1. I approached three vendors I trusted. All were general commercial printing suppliers. Two no-bid the jobs outright, saying they were inappropriate for their equipment (presumably due to the addition of the kiss-cut labels). So I asked the printers for referrals, assuming they themselves had to subcontract out the labels they used in their custom printing plants.

1. 1. I also went back to a presentation binder manufacturer I had worked with recently. I asked my contact for suggested vendors. In all of these cases I not only assumed that the printers had to subcontract their own form-printing work, but also that their referrals would be based on long-standing successful business relationships.

1. 1. I went to a handful of suggested specialty forms printers that came highly recommended, sharing the specs, required paper characteristics, and PDF samples of the actual forms.

1. 1. No-bid responses came back one after the other. In these cases the problem was either paper availability (printers only had enough paper available from the mills to service existing clients) or the kiss-cut labels incorporated into the overall design of the forms (i.e., specialized work).

1. I found one printer (that’s all it takes) that had worked with a printer in Asia for 15 years, successfully, with schedules adhered to and superior quality in the manufactured print products.

This last item, plus the rapport I started to build with the sales rep with whom I would be working, started to open my mind a little. He would coordinate with the Asian printer himself. He had a proven track record, and I had worked with his boss for at least five years on a number of jobs printed in the United States. Moreover, my new contact at this printer would handle all scheduling, shipping, customs, port entry, etc.–everything about which I had only superficial knowledge. Moreover, he could ensure delivery in almost exactly half the time the large printing consolidator who had contacted me would get from their suppliers.

Paper here in the United States is scarce. Or this consolidator wouldn’t have come to me. All of my calls and emails had come to the same conclusion. So I’m gradually opening my mind. Granted, I will make sure this offshore printer does a test (which has been offered) to make sure the printed products will be acceptable to the end-user, the commercial printing consolidator’s client. After all, this is a recurring job, coming up every four to six months.

I plan to proceed slowly and meticulously. But that is the direction things are going at the moment.

The Takeaway

Here are some thoughts for your own print buying work. They pertain to small jobs as well as large ones:

1. Develop mutually advantageous business relationships. This takes time. Trust doesn’t happen overnight. Start now. It’s more important than price in the long run.
2. The best way to find a printer is by asking other printers—in different specialty niches, not competitors.
3. Check samples and references.
4. Get everything in writing: specs, pricing, schedules. If you go outside the United States, consider shipping, port entry, customs. Make sure someone at the printer who knows a lot about all of these variables will coordinate them for you but will keep you informed.
5. Move slowly and thoughtfully, never in haste.
6. But keep an open mind.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 1st, 2022 at 1:20 am and is filed under PrintBuying. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.