Staying one step behind the latest technology enables a Bendigo printer to keep competitive, cut costs - and avoid the bugs in new-generation equipment.
| Entrepreneur |
Mick Mulqueen, Managing Director |
| Company |
Mulqueen Printers Pty Ltd |
| Business type |
Commercial printing and finishing |
| Founded |
1982 |
| Employees |
13 |
| Head office |
Bendigo, Victoria |
| Contact details |
www.mulqueenprinters.com.au |
Key Learning Points |
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Technology
Digital technology is very expensive and quickly superseded. Do you really need to invest in the latest gizmo or will a second-hand unit do an equally good job at a fraction of the price?
Buildings
Big spaces might be seductive but a well-designed smaller space can offer efficiency and cost advantages.
Staff relations
Managing staff can be tricky. Your main objective should be to have a healthy workplace - one in which everyone tries to do a quality job as efficiently as possible. Micro-managing staff members’ time merely creates stress and friction.
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The Mulqueen Printers Story
Everyone knows that to stay competitive in business you must have the very latest technology. Well, almost everyone. Mick Mulqueen has a different take on the subject: to be the best he buys second-best.
Mulqueen’s Bendigo-based family business, Mulqueen Printers, tried to keep up with the latest equipment. But about 10 years ago, when expensive digital technology transformed the printing industry, keeping up became too costly. Mulqueen says: “We’re not up with the technological high end. We just take a step back from the cutting edge. You can buy something 12 months old at half price, so your return on the investment doesn’t have to be as great to make it profitable.”
Many high-quality printers have adopted computer-to-plate (CTP) systems, but Mulqueen is sticking with his computer-to-film equipment. He says: “We bought a second-hand Imagesetter computer-to-film unit three years ago for about $100,000. It’s a beautiful machine that works really well. We’ve had industry experts here from Melbourne and they cannot tell the difference between our quality and CTP. In our business we want workhorses not showpieces. Besides, we’d get nothing for the Imagesetter - it would have to go to the tip.
“Dad nearly cried when we threw out a photo-typesetter in the 1980s. It was five years old when we bought it, and it would have been $200,000 new. The thing was made obsolete by laser-printer quality.”
Mulqueen has about 10 direct competitors in the Bendigo region. He does not have a sales force and refuses to get involved in bidding wars or price cutting. To get the work, he relies on quality, client service and the reduced cost base. The main clients are corporate - full-colour materials and highly illustrated books - but the company also handles jobs such as stationery and general printing.
Another benefit of staying just behind the latest is that the technology gets sorted out. Mulqueen characterises this as the German approach versus the Japanese way. The Germans strive for technological excellence and innovation; the Japanese are great copiers who make constant small improvements. “We saw certain dangers with the video cassette recorder,” Mulqueen says. “In printing, you don’t want to get stuck with a Beta when VHS is becoming the industry standard.”
Mulqueen Printers began in 1982 when father Jim and sons Mick and Shane found themselves out of a job after the printing company that employed them went broke. Jim and Mick sold their cars to buy a second-hand press, which was installed in the rumpus room of the parental home. Turnover in the first year was $5000.
Early expansion absorbed more rooms at home. By 1996, with turnover reaching $1 million for the first time, things had started to get ridiculous. The company bought an industrial building in Bendigo with offices at the front. “We thought we would never use all that room,” Mulqueen says. “However, about four years ago, we added a purpose-built printery. The new building isn’t huge, but it’s efficient - and efficiency is more important than total space.”
Part of the drive for efficiency is keeping the binding and other finishing processes in-house. This means shorter turnaround, more competitive pricing and better profit margins.
Mulqueen finds managing staff difficult at times: sometimes he is not sympathetic enough; other times he is too sympathetic. But no one has ever left the company to go to another printer.
He believes that his staff are loyal because he does not impose petty rules. “The more my employees make life easier for me, the more I can look after them. They are able to get a cup of coffee or have a smoke any time, consequently we don’t have an official smoko. I’ve seen managers in other businesses who worried about the amount of toilet paper being used when thousands of dollars were being wasted elsewhere.”