Evolve Printing has sold off all its equipment and sacked all but one of its staff to become a print broker in a bid to avoid collapse.
The award-winning regional NSW printer will now outsource all its work to Lindsay Yates in a ‘unofficial’ arrangement designed to ensure quality is maintained.
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Managing director Graham Deaner says Evolve had already been outsourcing 40 per cent of its work in recent times and with fewer jobs coming in it no longer made financial sense to keep in-house production.
“I was paying staff to sit around and do nothing as most of the work in the last six months was getting outsourced and they are not stupid, they could see that more and more of the work going out,” he says.
“I am sick of making money for everyone else and it may sound selfish but I need to look after my family and so we will outsource all our jobs, sell off the equipment, and downsize.
“We did everything we could to look after them and even connected them with other printers to ensure they had a job moving forward.”
The company will now consist of just Deaner and general manager Helen Stewart and operate out of its Elizabeth Bay, Sydney, office and showroom and use the former printing facility in Tuggerah for storage.
Shutting down production comes just three years after it grew turnover to $1.5m and two years after it spent $125,000 on new prepress equipment and workflow.
Deaner said at the time that Evolve had booked more than $300,000 of work in April 2013 on the back of big agency work, surpassing its previous monthly record of $210,000 set in November 2012.
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He now says the print industry is going through a transition phase where a lot of printers are becoming brokers and chasing the clients to make money rather than paying for overheads and productions cost.
“The print industry is shrinking and it doesn’t make sense to have staff sit around when only 60 per cent of our work was still being done in-house,” he says.
“Last November we made $200,000 and we outsourced 40 per cent of that work, which left us with a lot less than we would have if we had no staff or production cost.
“I am in business to make money and I have worked hard to build relationships with media agencies, who I sit down with and discuss what solutions we could provide to them.”
Though Evolve will no longer produce and print work, Deaner says clients will continue to get the same quality from his partnership with Lindsay Yates.
“A lot of print consultants or brokers approach several big companies and whoever gives them the best price they go with them,” he says.
“For me my clients are more important and the relationships I make with them are important. Lindsay Yates will provide me with all the work and that way I can have quality control and on time delivery.”
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