SPECIALTY PRINTING — SECOND TIME’S THE CHARM

Paul LeFebvre is nothing if not brutally honest. He made some fatal business mistakes in the past and paid the ultimate price, suffering through the bankruptcy of his Des Plaines, IL-based company, LeFebvre Intergraphics.

Closing down the shop in 1996 was a bitter pill to swallow for the past inductee into the PRINTING IMPRESSIONS/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame. The company was growing out of control. He had purchased large quantities of paper and kept stocking up on it, but the value soon plummeted from $7 million to $4 million as prices fell. People in strategic positions at the company weren’t making the best decisions. LeFebvre himself was making ill-advised choices.

Perhaps success had come too easily for LeFebvre, who had taken the company over from his father at the age of 19 and built it into a $66 million empire.

“At one point, everyone thought I walked on water and I was beginning to think that way, too,” he says. “I took my eye off the ball in a lot of ways. I got to the point where I was complacent and thinking everyone around me was doing the right thing. It was my own fault. But, in some ways, it may have been the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Always Learning

LeFebvre clearly has benefitted from past lessons. One day after closing LeFebvre Intergraphics, the printing veteran unveiled Specialty Printing. Located a few miles from his fallen company, LeFebvre slowly rebuilt an empire with sheetfed offset printing initially, then web and, now, digital printing. The first two years saw sales totals of $600,000 and $1.2 million, respectively, but recent growth has exploded into the $43 million range for the fiscal year ending June of 2005. In a highly competitive industry, the company enjoyed an astounding 59 percent growth rate from FY 2004 to FY 2005.

Paul LeFebvre is buoyed by the help of his three sons—Adam, Dustin and Ryan—who each play a vital role in the success reaped by the company. Titles aren’t pressed out like license plates here; each member of the LeFebvre clan brings something different to the table.

Paul serves as CEO and has a hand in estimating and production. Adam is president, with concentrations in finance, special projects and problem resolution. Dustin tends to estimating, paper procurement and operations, while Ryan is making his mark in the sales department. Another LeFebvre, cousin Roger, is the executive vice president of sales.

Specialty Printing relies on a balanced attack that includes direct mail printing, advertising inserts and commercial work for markets including retail and financial services. Catalogs, brochures, statement stuffers and newspaper inserts augment the firm’s direct mail offerings.

What has really helped catapult the company’s growth is its investment in heavy iron technology. In August of 2004, Specialty Printing installed a full-web, six-color Goss Sunday 2000 to buoy a web division that boasted a pair of two older M-110 half-size presses.

This spring, another Sunday 2000 (a five-color perfector with a pinless former folder) is due to touch down, along with an in-line finishing system for the first Sunday press that performs pattern perforating, plow folding and diecutting.

Also en route is a rebuilt six-color Heidelberg M-110c perfecting press with full in-line finishing capabilities. To help better accommodate the hefty new tenants and reconfigure the bindery portion of the workflow, a pair of 5,000- to 6,000-square-foot additions are scheduled to be completed by the middle of the year.

According to Adam LeFebvre, the web business has been a major catalyst behind the company’s growth, and the Sunday gapless technology has led the charge. “We love the press; the customers love it,” he says. “The efficiencies really are there. This is one piece of equipment that has really delivered on its promises. People talk all about the great things that happen when you have Sunday technology, and we’re seeing that to be true on a daily basis.”

Dustin LeFebvre feels the press leverages Specialty’s current client demand and positions the company as a viable vendor for other market segments, including small page count catalogs. “The web portion of our business is vital to the core of what we do,” he says. “We believe that—coupled with significant investments in in-line finishing and imaging capabilities—strategically places us in a position to best serve our direct mail clients by reducing lead times and overall cycle time.”

Getting It Done

While Specialty’s web capabilities has played a considerable role in the year-over-year growth, the LeFebvre mantra of “get it done fast, get it done right” walks hand-in-hand with the practice of embracing the customer’s needs while finding a way to make the impossible happen, according to Adam. The elder LeFebvre’s contacts, as well as his reputation in garnering customer loyalty, has aided Specialty in both gaining new clients and selling deeper within existing accounts.

In an effort to give the sheetfed department a shot in the arm, Specialty Printing bagged a six-color Heidelberg Speedmaster SM 102 with four-over-two perfecting and in-line aqueous coater. To complete the full-service chain, the printer acquired a pair of Kodak NexPress 2100 digital color production presses. When the second 2100 was unveiled, it was accompanied by a NexGlosser unit to add high-gloss finishes to digitally printed pieces.

Masters of the Mailbox

Gary Hofeldt, sales manager, notes that Specialty has full in-house data and programming capabilities, producing programs tailored largely for direct marketing efforts geared toward financial, gaming and service industries. The department also boasts a browser-based Web-to-print solution that allows customer branches to harvest corporately stored marketing pieces.

“As a service provider, we’re delivering 360-degree solutions, meaning we can deliver full-web, half-web, sheetfed, digital and variable print solutions,” Hofeldt says.

“The value-add that we’re bringing to the client is as a one-stop shop. Digital is a growth part of our business; it’s gaining more traction in the marketplace. More and more customers are seeking one-to-one solutions and applications. We understand the database component of digital printing, so we’re well prepared to handle that.”

The youngest LeFebvre, Ryan, is a recent graduate of Western Michigan University’s printing program. Ryan learned basic marketing skills at the school, but has enjoyed the practical experience of his father’s 35 years in the business.

“From day one of Specialty Printing, responsiveness has always been key to our success, which was instilled by my father,” Ryan notes. “From getting quotes to the customer in under an hour to fixing a problem as soon as it’s encountered, our customers are thrilled with our response to all issues. Growing up with my father, work ethic has always been a key in our family in getting ahead and staying ahead of our competition. My brothers and I each have so much pride in what we do, that not only do we want to succeed for ourselves, but for one another.”

Looking ahead, Adam believes that future growth is a limitless question, especially with a client roster that perpetually seems to seek additional capacity. However, he feels the company’s comfort zone is in the $80 million to $100 million annual sales range.

“There’s a challenge to make sure that, as we grow out of that entrepreneurial sales volume and get into corporate-type sales volume, there certainly needs to be a focus on procedures and processes,” Adam remarks. “We can’t be quite as on top of every little thing as we used to be, but the key is to stay flexible and accommodating to our clients. We need to keep our culture customer driven and focused. We need to make sure we don’t lose sight of that in future.”

As for Paul LeFebvre, Specialty Printing is, in many respects, his gift to his family. After all, blood is thicker than P&L statements.

“I’ve been through every bit of this industry and had everything I could ever want in my life,” he says. “Everything here now is geared toward the benefit of (my children), making their lives a little bit easier and better. And, hopefully, because of my bad experience, it’s going to teach them a lesson long before they would have learned that lesson themselves. Perhaps, it will instill a little more caution in their lives than I had.”