Printing.com@Printplus in Auckland’s East Tamaki has recently added a Canon C7000VP digital production printer to its line-up, increasing its digital capability
Phillip Yee, the owner and director of Printing.com@Printplus, believes that it makes good sense to live close to where you work. He says, “Part of the reason I bought this business is that I live only three minutes away. A client might ring and ask for a special job on a Saturday morning, when we are meant to be closed, and we can get that done easily. I couldn’t do that if the business was on the North Shore.
“Our philosophy is to stay local. We don’t actively seek business outside our catchment area. We build up our local profile by advertising in our local list and we have a high profile location here in the corner of Harris Road and Ti Rakau Drive.”
Last November, the company installed a Canon C7000VP digital production printer. Yee says, “We moved from across the road into these new premises last year and this new Canon printer represents our first big installation here.”
The five staff members have found the new machine easy to operate. He says, “We didn’t need much training on it. The EFI Fiery rip is similar to other machines we have used so it was simple for us to change. Of course, we are exploring new areas on the machine and we will continue training.
“It has increased our capability. We are doing stock weights of 80gsm to 300gsm. We did 50,000 clicks last month and that is growing. It is fast too but the best thing is that it gives us is the confidence to print anything. In the past, printing business cards on heavy stock was a major concern and duplexing was problem as well. But now, alignment is no problem. We duplex up to 300 accurately. The Canon came at a good price point and it runs at a rate that gives us a good profit.”
Digital quality
“Digital is growing. I was in there when we saw great leaps and bounds in the quality. This business started as one of the first copy centres in the area, selling A4 sheets of paper for a dollar fifty. When I bought the company, technology was rapidly changing the industry. We had two photocopiers and a colour Canon 1000, which was state of the art on those days. That gear was leapfrogged by what came after.
“Now, the quality is almost that of offset. I think the punters do care about quality; they will soon tell you if it is crappy. They may not know whether or not it is offset or digital but they will soon tell you whether it is substandard or up to scratch. They know good printing.”
The company does most of its own finishing. Yee says, “We send a bit of creasing and perforations out but quick turnarounds mean we have to do most of the finishing ourselves. We save money by doing it in house and we save time for our customers and that is all profit at the end of the day.”
The Franchisee
Prior to going into business on his own, Yee spent 15 years in marketing with fast moving consumer goods companies like Tegel, Griffin and Nestle. His first step into self-employment involved buying into a Mobil service station as a franchisee. He says, “Basically the idea was that leaping into a new business was quite a big risk, so I bought into a franchise. After selling that business back to Mobil, I bought a Midas franchise, owning that for about three years.
“I bought the copy shop after selling the Midas franchise. Within three months of owning it, I was approached by PrintStop, which was rapidly expanding its print base and moving into the Auckland area, after securing the provincial towns.”
Yee felt comfortable with the franchise concept. He says, “I could see the value in the marketing that it offered. It was perfect for us. We were a copy centre so our catchment was small; a small market. So to grow our business, we had to go elsewhere.”
Since then, PrintShop has changed its moniker to Printing.com. Yee says, “With Printing.com, we have access to other printing capabilities like offset printing and bookmaking. Each month we offer specials on behalf of Printing.com and it markets those offers. We also utilise a lot of the Printing.com systems, which saves us money, time and effort. It is like the McDonalds of the printing industry. Everything is standardised. It makes sense for us to have this relationship with Printing.com because it’s local.”
