The print sector is consolidating. One way for publishers to avoid the uncertainty that this creates, is to spread the risk, by using more than one printer, as Roularta Printing’s Steven Renders tells James Evelegh.
“If you use more than one printer,” says Steven Renders, general manager of Roularta Printing, “then you reduce your exposure to hiccups in the print supply chain.”
The kind of things publishers need to guard against are unexpected problems with their existing printer, possibly caused by a sudden reduction in capacity or disruption to paper supplies, or in the worst-case scenario, the printer going out of business.
In these situations, publishers face the challenge of finding alternative printers, often at short notice and in competition with other publishers who find themselves in the same boat.
“What we recommend,” adds Bart Declercq, Roularta Printing’s sales director, “is that publishers establish strong working relationships with at least two printers, which helps insulate them against market disruption.”
When I spoke with Steven and Bart at the end of February, they were keen to emphasise that Belgium-based Roularta Printing was the ideal second home for UK publishers.
For publishers minded to source a second printer, I ask Steven, what do you advise?
“Essentially, it’s a three-stage process,” he says; “firstly, create a checklist of criteria you need us to meet; secondly, come visit us to see how we operate and, thirdly, put a print job through us. If all goes well, as it undoubtedly will, then you’ve found your second printer!”
THE CHECKLIST
Steven suggests that, as a minimum, UK publishers ask the following eight questions of any prospective printer:
1. Do they have the capacity?
- “We have considerable capacity.”
Is there space on their presses for your work?
“Roularta Printing prints one million copies a day, but with six heatset rotary printing presses, we have considerable capacity and can accommodate new publishing clients,” says Steven.
Also, he continues, “We maintain a large supply of paper here — we have eight thousand tons of paper permanently on site which means that we are always ready in case of emergencies.”
2. Do they produce quality work?
With so much competition for people’s time, print must be of the highest quality to cut through. Everything from image and text sharpness, colour alignment, ink coverage through to paper quality, binding and wrapping needs to be on point.
Quality printing is not down to wishful thinking or good intentions, but requires the right combination of state-of-the-art machinery, well-trained and experienced staff and management controls.
“As part of our long-term programme of investment, all our key plant has been replaced over the last fifteen years and the programme is ongoing,” says Bart.
Each print job at Roularta has a quality supervisor assigned, who reports to the quality manager, not the production manager, thereby ensuring that any quality issues get properly reported and acted on.
3. Can they get copies to where you want them to be, on time?
A beautifully printed, bound and wrapped copy is ultimately only as good as its on-time delivery. Late delivery undoes everything that went before. Having a printer located in Belgium works well for UK and international publishers; copies bound for distribution on mainland Europe can easily slot into the transport network whilst copies bound for the UK get transported overnight either through the Channel Tunnel or by boat from Zeebrugge to Tilbury and other English ports, with all customs paperwork typically completed whilst the copies are in transit.
Post-Brexit, some UK publishers shied away from using European printers, fearful that their copies would get tied up in red tape at the border.
“We pride ourselves on being Brexit-proof,” says Steven; “it’s actually quite straightforward; as long as you provide the necessary information — type / quantity / price of goods along with the correct customs code, it’s easy. Being printed goods, there are no import duties.”
“We’ve been delivering copies into the UK for some time now,” adds Bart, “and never had any problems. If the publisher wishes, we can handle all the customs paperwork.”
- “We’ve been delivering copies into the UK for some time now and never had any problems.”
4. Are they easy to communicate with?
Will there be someone at the end of a phone to help you when you need them?
“At Roularta, we have a ‘single point of contact’ approach and UK publishers will be assigned an English speaker,” says Steven.
As it happens, Belgians are very proficient at foreign languages, no doubt helped by the fact that the country has two official languages, Dutch and French and, he adds, “English is widely spoken at Roularta Printing.”
5. Do they innovate?
When you want extra impact, to inject a bit of pizzazz, can your printer deliver? In addition to its third-party clients, Roularta Printing is the in-house printer for Roularta Media Group’s 60 titles; this represents a large group of stakeholders constantly looking for new ways to impress their readers and advertisers.
In addition to the classic speciality covers (wraps, gatefold, barn-door and the like) and cover finishes, they are always trying out new things.
A recent example was an issue of Flow magazine which used seven different paper stocks, to celebrate the highly sensory nature of print and paper. Another was the adoption by some titles of inserting a leaf of tracing paper in front of certain premium advertisements, for brands like Mercedes, endowing the ads with a highly effective translucent quality.
6. Do they have other publishing customers like you?
No one likes to be the only client of its kind.
“There is a certain comfort in the knowledge that other like-minded publishers have made the same choice as you,” says Steven: “About 60% of what Roularta prints is for third-party clients, of which a growing number are British or non-Belgian. This group includes The Economist, Financial Times, IC Publications, Bloomberg, the New York Times, and, most recently, Immediate Media.”
7. Will they be around in 5 years’ time?
If the purpose of the exercise is to find a stable second print home, then the publisher needs to take a view on the financial viability of any prospective printer.
Roularta Printing is part of one of Europe’s largest publishing groups, which is as good an indicator of future viability as anything.
Indeed, Roularta Printing was founded at the same time — 1954 — as parent company Roularta Media Group (RMG). RMG employs approximately 1,300 full-time employees, with consolidated revenues of €343 million. The company is privately owned and financially secure, says Steven.
Whilst its digital channels are a growing part of RMG’s business, the group is committed to print and sees it as a core part of its output for the foreseeable future.
8. Are they environmentally responsible?
Increasingly, publishers are having to demonstrate not only their own sustainability credentials, but also those of the companies in their supply chain. Under Belgian law, Roularta is obliged to reach net-zero by 2050, although the company is planning to hit the target by 2040, ten years ahead of schedule.
Recent sustainability-led investments include a new Sitma paper-wrapping line, more solar panelling and the replacement of their drying ovens with more energy efficient models.
They have signed up to four UN sustainable development goals and now require each of their own suppliers (paper, ink, plates et al) to sign their ‘sustainable procurement charter’.
They also use the ClimateCalc platform, which Steven says, indicates that they are outperforming most of the other printers on the platform when it comes to sustainability.
THE VISIT
Assuming you can find a printer that ticks all these boxes, as Roularta Printing does, says Steven and Bart, the next step is a site visit.
Of course, they can come to you — Bart is often in the UK — but there is tremendous value in seeing a printer in situ.
Steven says: “When you’re here, we can explain how we do things, show you how we work, the variety of things we do, our quality control systems, our ability to meet tight deadlines and so on. You can meet our account management team, see the factory, the paper store, the scale of our operations and what we represent.”
In fact, when assessing the merits of any supplier, it is always more insightful to go to them rather than have them come to you.
THE FIRST PRINT JOB
The final step in the process would be to put Roularta Printing through its paces and get them to print something for you.
This might be, for instance, a particular issue, a special supplement or perhaps a bookazine. This will satisfy you that Roularta can deliver on its promise of top-quality printing, delivered on time. It will also establish a smooth functioning working relationship, which will be the foundation stone for future work.
The checklist / site visit / first print job has become a well-trod path for UK and international publishers over the last few years and Steven and Bart are looking forward to welcoming more UK publishers to their Roeselare factory.
Once you have an established relationship with another printer, you can increase the amount of work you give them and you can use them as part of your business continuity planning. If your other printer goes out of business, or runs out of paper, then it is easy for Roularta Printing to step into the breach.
“Having options is what it’s all about,” says Bart Declercq: “We’re just a stone’s throw away — London St Pancras to Lille on Eurostar takes under one and half hours. We’re actually closer to London than Manchester is. Give me a call and let’s set up a site-visit!”