Knepper Press Reinvents Itself with Sheetfed and Web Printing Capabilities, Goes Green

By Erik Cagle

It Pays to be Green

Perception is more important than reality in the business world. As we progress further into the "greening" age, this is becoming more and more true.

Essentially, good environmental practices are good public relations. How much actual impact such efforts have on mother nature is a bone of contention for some, but who can argue against practices that take good ol' earth into consideration? There's a "me, too" mentality in the industry when it comes to becoming FSC and SFI chain-of-custody certified.

In the end, it matters not what impact greening initiatives have, for the true beneficiary, and audience, is the print-buying customer. Buyers need to know that you, the printer, are doing everything possible to ensure your manufacturing process doesn't harm Bambi or his descendents.

Knepper Press tapped Community Energy to get 100 percent of its juice from the whispering wind. That landed Knepper in good company on the EPA's Green Power Partnership Top 20 list of printers, joining such luminaries as EarthColor, Sandy Alexander, Williamson Printing and Pictorial Offset.

"The idea was generated by customer requests," notes Ted Ford, CEO of Knepper Press. "A few of the consumer product industries were early pushers of wind energy. We recycle paper, aluminum, solvents, so this fits right into our game plan."

Knepper actually pays more to utilize wind energy, but the returns come in different forms.

"There's definitely a cost to this, and the payback is strictly on a customer marketing standpoint," Ford adds. "Does it get us more business? I hope it does. It's a costly proposition, but I think our customers appreciate it."

OLD NOTIONS tend to die   hard, whether they involve   people, places or entities. Pittsburgh has a reputation as a smokestack city, and some still harbor images of closed steel mills and massive jobs lost.

A new punching bag is needed, as this isn't your father's Pittsburgh. The city is now considered one of the most livable in the world by several publications, and boasts a bustling economy and strong corporate giants. Smoky is so 1974. So pick on someone else.

But cities aren't the only ones in need of a good PR makeover. Take Knepper Press, which is but a stone's throw from the Steel City in the suburb of Clinton, PA. Bob Hreha, company president, has had to correct many misconceptions regarding the product and service  offerings of the commercial printer.

"We've had prospects say to us, 'We hear you run Didde presses and that you're in the newspaper business,' " Hreha relates. "Until they come out and see our operation first-hand, they really don't know what Knepper Press does. We have our work cut out for us to continue to improve that image in the marketplace, both locally and nationally."

Facts, Not Fiction

Certainly there's nothing wrong with Didde presses or newspaper work, and it is true that Knepper once used that equipment primarily and boasted a trio of weeklies. But that information stopped being relevant upwards of 30 years ago. For your convenience, we've prepared a brief FAQ on the subject of Knepper Press:

Q: What exactly does Knepper Press produce?

A: The company runs the full gamut of general commercial printing. Chairman Bill Knepper—who represents the fifth generation of direct family leadership—calls his company a true commercial job shop. Large corporations, consumer goods companies, colleges/universities, business-to-business catalogers and direct mailers  account for much of its client base.

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Knepper Press: Extreme Makeover