Rider Dickerson — Roommate Wanted

Rider Dickerson has grown substantially under Barta’s leadership, from $7.4 million in revenues when he took the reins in 2003 to its current sales volume. He credits much of that success to a concentrated sales and marketing effort aimed at going deeper within existing client organizations, as well as drumming up new accounts.

Re-emerging on the digital scene (a Xerox iGen3 or HP Indigo 5000 press are being pondered) is another outlet for growth, particularly in variable data digital work. Barta is also keeping his mind, and options, wide open on other fronts, including a possible acquisition of a complementary printer.

“Our industry is still ripe for consolidation,” he contends. “There’s still too much equipment capacity and too many printers out there. And, it doesn’t make sense for a lot of smaller printers to stay in business, because they can’t afford ongoing technology investment. They don’t have the tools to grow.

“There are opportunities I want to explore to acquire or merge with other companies. It makes a lot of sense to take advantage of economies (of scale) by putting two companies together and driving some of the costs out of the equation. If there’s another commercial printing company out there that does something we don’t, like half-size offset or variable data digital, it might make sense to try to put a deal together.”

Barta has specific goals related to Rider Dickerson’s performance for 2007: He is gunning for a 15 percent sales increase and wants to bolster his operating margin of 15 percent over 2006. And, like his product and service portfolio, Barta wants to see his client roster remain diversified. Too often he has seen competitors realize up to 30 percent of their business from a main customer or two—creating a rug that is certain to be yanked out from under the printer.