There’s a lot of breathing space for a printer located in regional NSW, but the peaceful mountain views are only a backdrop for the relentless labour and hard work IPC puts in to ensure its wheels keep turning in a turbulent industry.
Industrial Printing Company lives up to its name- the factory generates colossal volumes of work for companies in the print industry, who then sell the goods directly to their own clients. David prides himself on owning a print business still churning out jobs 50 years down the path, despite competitors collapsing all around it.
The majority of IPC’s work comes from Sydney, and Steve says a competitive business model boasting unmatched turnover time rather than price is what keeps the clients coming back.
“If a client comes in with a better price they want us to match, we can still retain them because they trust us and know we are going to do a good job and deliver on time, so we work hard on that,” says Steve.
IPC has a service ethos that is unlike many other industrial size wholesaler businesses. “You’ve got to have good people, good machinery and good relationships with your clients. If you have that then you should do alright,” says Steve.
Investing for the future
Three years ago ProPrint visited IPC’s Lithgow factory, and the Scott’s had high hopes and bold plans for the company’s future. The 3,450sqm factory was bursting at the seams, and they have since extended the space to house its new wide format section. Steve was crucial in the integration of wide format and digital into IPC’s product portfolio and the new machinery and processes have intensified workflow and productivity. The company has also recently installed a flatbed UV section with a Flora 2512 flatbed UV and a Roland print and cut.
“We’ve put a lot of new machinery in, including an iGen4 digital press, a Harris 550 continuous machine, a Whirlwind 185 tagging machine, an auto shrink-wrapper, a Ricoh 7110 digital press and an auto cello glazing machine,” says Steve.
“The reason we’ve expanded and bought all new machines is so we can do everything in house. That way we can have control in terms of time, quality and cost.”
They’ve come a long way since IPC’s humble beginnings as a garden-shed printer. David says his very first job was printing medical record sheets for Orange Base Hospital, and astonishingly IPC still prints for the same client 50 years on.
Even with its remarkable financial and production muscle, IPC is not immune to the woes of a struggling industry. Steve says the last six months have been ‘up-and-down’ for the business, however attests this to the unpredictable nature of the industry itself.
When Geon went into receivership in early 2013, IPC was one of many printers to feel the burn, owed a six figure sum, and with little chance of seeing the money. The Scotts then decided to take limited financial risk when dealing with clients so as not to be affected by the growing number of companies unable to survive.
“Geon shut down and we were owed about $100,000, so that hurt. We are very careful about who we deal with now, we keep everybody on tight reigns and we chase people up, our bills are being chased all the time and our clients know this” says Steve.
“We know the ones who are bad payers, and we just don’t deal with them. The job doesn’t leave here until you pay- there is a bit of danger in that but we are conscious of it all.”
The Scott family surveys the future of IPC with significant confidence, and both David and Steve credit investments made in both machinery and staff to persistent survival in a tough trade. They know continuing to follow their own robust business principles will pave a long road ahead for the family trade.
With a nod to the past and a headstrong dive into the future, the Scotts understand an industry in a constant loop of change and innovation needs the latest and greatest technology coupled with reliable, long-term staff.
“We always want to have something new that we can offer our clients, whether that be a new product or a new way of doing something- we will look at that,” says Steve.
“Not only do we continue to invest in the latest machinery, but also our systems and staff.”
The friendly atmosphere that extends from the family home to the IPC factory floor is the raison d’être for success which the Scott’s intend to persist for generations. David says his business is ‘still here and getting stronger’, and with the competition IPC brings to the industrial print market, it will probably be around for another 50 years.
[Related: Industrial Printing Company: Photos]
A family business
Lithgow’s Industrial Printing Company is the epitome of successful and hard-working family business. The homegrown company’s humble roots began in a small garden shed, and have matured into an impressive industrial printer, amassing a repertoire of half a century’s worth of home-spun, generational print.
Owner David Scott launched IPC in 1966 in Mt Victoria trading under the name Blue Mountains Press, and the printer is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The company began with and still values a heavily family-orientated culture. It is owned and operated by the Scott family in the regional New South Wales town of Lithgow, and has managed to stand its ground in a shaky print industry through a tough and efficient business machine protecting both itself and its clients.
David runs a tight ship but his love for printing was a passion needing to be gently sculpted over the years. The 50-year print veteran says his father was less than willing to help fund his new business venture, saying he was likely to ‘chuck it in like everything else’. His father ran a small printer called No Delay Printing Service in Summer Hill, Sydney and David was keen – after some soul-searching – to follow in his old man’s footsteps.
The generations of Scott printers continues with David’s offspring too, he has had son Steve by his side for the best part of 20 years. Steve now wears the heavy-onus hat of general manager after working his way up the IPC ladder- even when his own father made hiring decisions- and started out as a maintenance worker tending to his father’s machines.
“Dad wouldn’t let me work here until I had something to offer,” Steve says. “So my brother and I got a trade and started off as the maintenance workers, and now we have two full time people in that role.”
Working for the family
The Scott’s run a proud and efficient business machine, and the credit to IPC’s success is, to a large degree, employee satisfaction. Working in a family business for 20 to 30 years, staff naturally grow to become a part of that family. David walks down the factory floor to observe the machines pumping out endless sheets of paper, and nods his head at every member of staff he passes, greeting each by name.
“One thing that works well for us is that we have a low turnover of staff, because we are in the country, so there are not very many other print places where they can go, and we are a family business, so generally people like to work here,” says David.
The family portrait painted in the rapport between David and his employees is particularly literal in some cases- IPC is staffed by many of the Scott’s extended family.
“The whole business is fairly close. My brother is a print engineer so he does a bit of work for us, my cousin Trevor works with the finances, my older sister’s husband works here as an operator, and my brother subcontracts. The whole family is involved, and my sister and her four kids do the cleaning every week,” says Steve.
David and his wife Joy also lived on site right next to the IPC factory for many years- David fondly recalls being one of the only printers who could get out of bed and walk to work in a matter of seconds. Steve, his wife and their children now reside in the house adjoining the plant.
David, Joy and Steve aren’t the only IPC staff to have watched the business grow from the ground up. Several long-term employees started their print careers at IPC and still serve the company, creating what David describes as a ‘stable work force’. One of the longest-serving non-family employees Brett Jenkins started at IPC as a fresh-faced apprentice and is now the web production manager. It’s clear to see the Scott’s value loyalty and hard work.
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