Did you know that 90% of library cards in the UK are printed by a century-old business called Spectrum Print & Plastics? But that’s not all this veteran print and print finishing company does.
This episode of Print Matters – A Canon Podcast sees co-host Jo Lloyd speaking to Spectrum’s Managing Director, Kath Doran, about the huge changes in the print sector during recent decades – and why the current approach sustainable printing needs a rethink.
The focus of this episode is on increasing knowledge, which is one of the Make It Mantras from the Canon Ascent Programme – a business development initiative designed to support Canon’s Pro Print customers now and for the future. Get started on our website: https://www.canon-europe.com/business/services/canon-ascent-programme/
Did you know that 90% of library cards in the UK are printed by a century-old business called Spectrum Print & Plastics? But that’s not all this veteran print and print finishing company does.
This episode of Print Matters – A Canon Podcast sees co-host Jo Lloyd speaking to Spectrum’s Managing Director, Kath Doran, about the huge changes in the print sector during recent decades – and why the current approach sustainable printing needs a rethink.
The focus of this episode is on increasing knowledge, which is one of the Make It Mantras from the Canon Ascent Programme – a business development initiative designed to support Canon’s Pro Print customers now and for the future. Get started on our website: https://www.canon-europe.com/business/services/canon-ascent-programme/
It's about educating our customers, I think, and at the end of the day, it's down to us as human beings, collectively, to dispose of our waste in a considerate manner.
Jo Lloyd:
Hello, I'm Jo Lloyd, and thanks for joining us today for the latest in our 'In Conversation' series of podcasts, created as part of Canon's Ascent Programme. These podcasts feature a selection of guests, all with perspective and insight that we think will be valuable to our listeners in the print and creative industries. Joining me today is Kath Doran, Managing Director of Spectrum Print and Plastics, a family-owned printing business based in the north of England. Hello, Kath.
Kath Doran:
Hi Jo.
Jo Lloyd:
Thanks so much for being with us. I'm really looking forward to chatting with you today. Could you tell me a little bit more about yourself, Kath, and Spectrum, to get us started?
Kath Doran:
I came into print by accident really, at 21. A friend of mine told me about this great company that she worked for, a position had come up. And it turned out that Eric needed me as much as I wanted the job! We hit it off immediately. The job was mine. Little did I know, that I'd end up owning the company one day. I had many happy years working with Eric. He retired suddenly in 2003 due to ill health, literally a couple of months after me taking over as MD. Our succession plan was rapidly brought forward. Being in print has given me the opportunity to meet some fantastic people, especially as a member of the IPIA. I've been to the House of Lords for lunch with Lord Teverson; many great gala dinners; looking after Gerald Ratner – that was a bit of an insight, what a cracking guy – with loads of conferences and meeting industry legends. Newcomers, which has been fantastic, seeing the youngsters coming through. I think the most recent thing that I feel quite proud of is that I've ended up in Peter Docker's new book,'Leading From The Jumpseat', purely by accident that that came about, but it was just So, Spectrum Print and Plastics. It's the largest supplier of brilliant. library cards throughout the UK. We probably supply about 90% of the libraries. We're a print and print finisher, so we've got litho, digital and screen print. We're masters in barcodes and personalisation, and have all the finishing processes you
would expect:
lamination, encapsulation, cutting and creasing, wire binding. Spectrum's pretty much well known for the type of company that you go to when you have an idea, but you don't know how to achieve it. I think that's what we really enjoy, and we really specialise in.
Jo Lloyd:
That sounds like a really diverse and interesting business, and one that enjoys a challenge. Kath, I'd like to begin by talking about the environment, please, and I know this is an area you place a lot of importance on. And let's face it, climate change is a hot topic. How would you go about being proactive in this area?
Kath Doran:
Oh, this is such a difficult subject. People want to have a recyclable product, but there isn't the infrastructure to cope with it yet. There's so much smoke and mirrors around and basically, absolute untruths being told. If customers were to dig a bit deeper, when talking to suppliers, they would be horrified to learn the truth. Basically, anything that has been layered or coated is not recyclable, like the tops on the milk cartons and bottle tops. Because they are coloured, you can't put them in the recycle bin. But the clear bottle itself? Yes, you can. This is the same with the plastic cards, made up of layers of biodegradable core, but with a plastic overlay, or even just coated. Even layered boards, so like two thicknesses of card that have been put together to make a more durable and thicker card. Currently there isn't a biodegradable glue available. Therefore the card is no longer biodegradable, due to the adhesive holding the two boards together, as it contains microplastics. Although biodegradable glue is something we are currently working on at the moment with a partner. We've been very fortunate through the IPIA innovation roundtable meeting to have been connected with Sku Driver. So a couple of guys there, they're a green revolution company. And they've taught me that we should be looking at carbon footprint, rather than recycling. We should be keeping products in circulation for as long as possible, the longevity of products and creating additional uses where possible. I was horrified to understand that the majority of what we think we are sending for recycling is actually going into landfill, or even worse being sent abroad. For instance, we've been producing ball cards, a truly recyclable biodegradable product, it's going to give way in the rain, the wet, whatever. But the customer is complaining, in some cases, that it isn't hardy enough – it's not meant to be, hey – they're having to order more often. Now, having had some experience with this, I would estimate that this card will last approximately 6-12 months depending on the usage. If it's with some child, in their pockets, it's not going to last five minutes, is it, because it's going to go through the washing machine, whereas obviously your plastic card wouldn't. But the plastic card will last for about 10 years easily. When you compare the carbon footprint with the plastic card, and the paper card, the footprint of the plastic card obviously is far less. We are sympathetic and totally agree that we need to reduce or eliminate the single-use plastic. But there are some great reasons to have good plastic products. It's about educating our customers, I think and at the end of the day, it's down to us as human beings, collectively, to dispose of our waste in a considerate manner, not leaving it behind on the beach or the countryside. I think where the plastic card versus paper card for a library is concerned, for me, it's a no brainer, you want to keep that card, you want to keep it going for as long as possible. I don't understand when customers are coming on to me asking me for something that's recyclable or biodegradable, that they're thinking about it going in the bin so quickly. We should be aiming to limit global warming to one and a half degrees Celsius. Now, our commitment to this is to give all our employees one and a half hours per month to spend on coming up with how we can improve our carbon footprint as a company. We all then get together once a month to discuss the various ideas and work out how they can be implemented. By doing this, everyone is actively involved. And hopefully, they've bought into the idea, to give it full support. We know that to begin with, it's going to be easy, or easier, to find all those little things, like not leaving the radio talking to itself in a room for the day. Working out about switching the machine on just in the morning, get that job done and switch it off, rather than leaving it on all day, there's gonna be loads of stuff like that. What we do understand is, getting further down the line, it'll get harder, but, you know, we're in for the long haul. It's what we want to do!
Jo Lloyd:
Yeah, I can really hear your passion coming through there. Are your customers as passionate as you are, or is the whole environmental topic just a box-ticking exercise for them?
Kath Doran:
Unfortunately, a lot of it is a box-ticking exercise. I spend such a lot of time discussing the issues with the customers and they're nodding and agreeing. And then at the end of the conversation, the request, "just send some samples and I'll pass them on... we've been told that we no longer can buy plastic." It's so frustrating. It's happening a lot with the councils, they seem to have been given a directive, basically just told not to buy anything that's plastic. They're following the instructions and not asking any questions. In the private sector money talks. At the moment, producing biodegradable products is more expensive. It will improve with time. And it will become cheaper, it will balance out and become cheaper. But at the moment, as it is, unfortunately, the customers are looking at going with the cheaper options, rather than perhaps making those choices for the right reasons, for the environment. But I have to say, not all customers – and it is very heartwarming when they do get it. It's when they engage, and basically they make the right choices for the right reasons.
Jo Lloyd:
So sticking with the customers for the minute, how interested are they in the technical side of what you do? I mean, are they happy that you're the experts and leave you to it? Or do they want to get involved and really understand the production element?
Kath Doran:
So in the main, our customers leave the technical stuff to us. Most of our customers have been with us for years and trust that we know exactly what we're doing and that we have their best interests at heart – especially the barcode and personalisation data customers. But we love getting customers into the building. We like to let them come in and see the equipment that we've got, and we can have a talk about the possibilities of what we can do. When they come in, they'll ask, what will this machine do? Or what can we do with that machine? And will it do this, will it do that, and it just opens up a completely different conversation than you would be having otherwise. It just sort of gets everybody's imagination going. Yeah, it's great getting them in the building. I think a really good example for that was a few years ago now. It's something that people might be aware of. So the easyJet advertising product that goes over the back of the seat, on the headrest. So the guy was an aircraft solutions company, for the interiors of the aircrafts, and he's a real savvy guy, full of enthusiasm. And he asked if he could come in and have a chat about an idea he'd got. So came into the factory, and he explained the sort of thing that he was after. And we produced a prototype for him. So, we got the samples together, customer loved it, and we went into production. I was having kittens, but we got an order for 4000 of these things, which basically, we've done all this by hand to get it to that stage, but we had a month to do it. So all the finishing was pretty much, still at this stage, by hand. Each advert had to have tape applied and then stuck to the headrest. I remember it was summer, it was in the summer months, because I was sat at my garden table, watching the sunrise while sticking tape on these adverts, just some things you never forget. Anyway, we did this job for a number of years, perfecting it as we went along. And we got it so slick, that by the time it went out to tender, because it became such a big job, we were doing 120,000 of these in a two week turnaround. So I was pretty pleased with that, I thought that was quite impressive!
Jo Lloyd:
Yeah, interesting. Certainly, I find that many print buyers are a lot less technical than they used to be.
Kath Doran:
Oh, definitely, Jo. Certainly, since things have gone more digital. I can't tell you how many times we've received 'print-ready' artwork that couldn't be further from... These days, everyone's a designer, but have no idea of something as simple as, though as important, as ticks and bleed. It just still doesn't cease to amaze me to be honest.
Jo Lloyd:
Talking about equipment brings me to my next question, Kath. And one of the key products at Spectrum is the production of plastic cards. Now are you seeing a trend towards digitalization from your customers? You know, are they moving away from actual cards yet, physical cards, and more towards things like Apple wallet?
Kath Doran:
Yes, Jo, to be honest, it's quite frightening. But as humans, we are quite tactile, so I do think that people will still be very keen to still have the facility of being able to touch and feel things. You're never going away without your keys, so actually having one of the key fobs on your key ring, you know, it's always useful. If you suddenly don't have your phone anymore, you've left it behind, well, that's probably unlikely in this day and age, but you can run out of charge. So I still think that there is the need and the use for the products, but it is getting less. And that is a frightening thing. But one of the things that's given me hope for the future is our investment in our Canon press. We've moved from being predominantly litho to probably about 50/50 litho digital. And obviously with the digital press that gives us the options for the perso as well. This particular press, the imagePRESS, works well with our finishing processes. It's opened up far more opportunities than we had previously. Especially with short runs, because there's so many short runs now compared to, you know, the old litho runs that you'd have thousands and thousands, and people are just not doing that anymore. One of our councils recently asked us to help them with a library campaign. And this is where the changes are taking place, so this was to get infant/primary aged children to engage with their local libraries. And it was an A5 card– a good sturdy sort of 350g – and it had a cutout library card in it that they could push out, and bookmark to tear off. It looked really neat, it was a really good product, and this was so successful, that they then ran it again, for the junior school aged children. Because we'd done the personalised data with it, which is a sequential barcode, we were able to give them data for which schools had received which barcode numbers, and it gave them the chance to be able to track the take-up on it. It was a really great project actually, all the team here were very engaged with it. There was obviously quite a few bits and pieces to take care with the packing, and all different quantities going out, it was very involved. The team at Essex that dealt with it were really pleased with everything we've done for them. So it was a really nice thing to be able to feed back to the team afterwards, we got a lot of praise from Essex for it. But life changes, and we have to be innovative, and we've got to move with the changes.
Jo Lloyd:
Life changes, and you have to move with it. Now there's never a truer word spoken. Are you seeing any other trends that are affecting the business at the moment?
Kath Doran:
Yeah, Jo, I think one of the trends that has definitely happened during COVID and since, is any of the printed matter that's wanted going into hospitals, they want to be able to clean it down and sanitise it. So obviously, if it's encapsulated, it allows you to do that without compromising the product. And this is something that seems to be happening with the doctors and dentists and places like that. Really, it's anywhere that they need to be able to use the same printed matter over and over again for people to read or instructions. So that's definitely something that I have found has picked up.
Jo Lloyd:
Gosh, who'd have thought encapsulation would take off again, you just never know how things change. So to finish up, if I asked you for any advice that you would give to any printer, who's listening to this podcast, what would it be?
Kath Doran:
A couple of things, Jo. Firstly, your team, they're your biggest asset. Make sure that you have an infrastructure in place, that you know what's happening with that team. If anybody seems out of sorts, or they have the chance to tell you about a great idea that they've got, you'd be surprised at hidden talent. I know it's something that I've learned over the years, and continue to learn, but I think I'm quite open to it, and it's a good place to be. Don't ever assume anything, whatever it is, whether it's customer related or team related, ask the questions. Customer service is a mantra for us. We put the customer first. It's about them feeling that they're cared for, and I mean, at the end of the day, without the customer, you haven't got a business, and it's treating them with that importance, and them knowing that that's what you doing. And I think lastly, for all those who are old enough to remember the Paul Gascoigne and Vinnie Jones photo, always expect the unexpected, especially in this trade.
Jo Lloyd:
Oh, great points Kath. And yes, I am old enough to remember that picture. Now, as ever, time goes so quickly. Thanks again for being with us today. I absolutely love talking with company owners. There's always so much for us to discuss, and I really appreciate your time.
Kath Doran:
Thanks for inviting me, Jo. I've really enjoyed it. It's been great chatting, thank you.
Jo Lloyd:
And thank you too to our listeners. We do hope that you find value in what you hear and that you'll check out the other podcasts in the series. Plus, the Canon Ascent Programme has a wealth of other content, articles, tools and top tips specifically designed for printers to help support your future business development. If you're interested in finding out more, please click the link on the podcast page, search 'Canon Ascent Programme' or speak to your Canon account manager. See you next time.