EU Services, Pushing the envelope

Manufacturing in Action, Source : The Manufacturer US

EU Services’ Tom Loudon tells Jenn Monroe how the company is pressing forward with digital technology

EU Services reaches beyond the boundaries of traditional commercial printing. Established as an envelope printer in 1968, this Rockville, MD, company has grown into a full-service direct marketing production facility.

At first this evolution was driven by customer demand, says Tom Loudon, vice president of production. But now the company is leading the way. “Today we’re purchasing solutions for our customers and educating them on how to use these solutions,” he says. “In the past, if a customer needed pieces faster, we’d purchase bigger and faster machines. Today we’re focused on understanding our customers’ marketing goals and helping them be more successful in what they are trying to accomplish.”

Most recently, EU Services invested in equipment to provide variable data printing services to help clients succeed in their one-to-one marketing. The two Xerox DocuColor iGen 3 digital production presses were the first color digital presses at the company, but they are already making a significant impact. “Digital is seeing double-digit growth every year,” Loudon says. “We’re only at 25 percent capacity at this stage, but we could easily fill both presses up tomorrow with static work.”

Despite the temptation—and the fact that commercial printing and direct mail services are still the “meat and potatoes” of the company—Loudon says the new equipment will remain dedicated to one-to-one work. “We didn’t buy the machines to do static work,” he says. “We bought them to do customized, individualized pieces.

“We’ve seen this trend continue to grow,” he continues. “The traditional large print run is giving way to smaller, more targeted direct mail packages.”

One indication of this trend is how EU Services was able to make room for the new equipment two years ago. “We had a huge prepress department at one time,” Loudon explains, “but when we made the move from film to digital, we eliminated our film storage area. This opened up more room for new equipment.”

EU Services partnered with Xerox to train its staff on the new equipment, but Loudon admits it was a nearly seamless transition. “Our employees in the prepress department were already working with numerous file formats,” he says. “Adding a color digital press was viewed as a new learning experience, and the department accepted the challenge of understanding the personalization process.

“The new equipment also worked into our production flow pretty seamlessly,” he continues. “We’ve had the capability to produce monochrome digital direct mail pieces in our data processing division and have been selling this type of product for years. Now we can offer full variable color as well.”

What has changed is how to sell what EU Services offers to customers. “We’re teaching our sales staff to show our clients that using this type of technology is about return on investment,” Loudon said.

Another challenge is the increased number of competitors that have entered the market because of advances in technology. “EU Services continues to set the standard in the industry with its direct mail production,” Loudon says. “However, it’s not as easy to differentiate yourself. Standard lithography is more of a commodity to a certain degree.”

Regardless, EU Services still sets itself apart, especially with its quality. Sheet-fed printers allow the company to do very high resolution printing on its presses. “We can do a 400- to 600-line screen,” Loudon says. “Newsprint is a 100-line screen, which is very grainy. Using our staccato printing capabilities, we’re producing almost photographic quality on press.”

Another way the company differentiates itself is by helping its clients manage every step of their projects. “We coordinate the entire production process to make it easy to do business with us,” Loudon says. “Our customer service department is the best in the business, and they are committed to providing the resources our customers need to be successful.”

This commitment has led to the development of a customer inventory management system. “We keep track of what’s being used and give clients the tools to review inventory online,” Loudon says. EU Services also does a quarterly inventory of every product, hand-counting 2,000 to 3,000 various items.

The company continuously looks for ways to improve. For example, EU recently started using some lean manufacturing strategies. “We’ve been dabbling in lean manufacturing to improve our workflow,” Loudon says.

Specifically, EU Services is using lean to improve make-ready times in its bindery, press room, and mailing facility. “It’s about making certain that the tools are there for the operators,” Loudon says.

Other lean objectives include moving specific functions in closer proximity to one another, such as prepress pre-flighting and estimating. “We do an extremely good job now,” concludes Loudon, “but we are never satisfied. There is always room for improvement.”

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