Crossing the finish line

Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By AP staff

Just over a year ago, Spiral of Ohio, based in Cleveland, OH, and Action Bindery of Norcross, GA, near Atlanta, rebranded themselves as Finish Line Binderies. After their merger in 2002, the companies operated mostly independently. Although pleased with the results of the first years of combined operations, company co-owner and CEO John Helline had a feeling he was leaving opportunity on the table.

¡°There are different consolidation models,¡± says Helline. ¡°Some choose to keep individual identities of acquired companies intact and focus on management and equipment improvements. Others prefer to assimilate new companies into the parent's brand. Because Action Bindery was our first acquisition, we wanted to make sure we made the right decision.

¡°We balanced some of our workload from the beginning, usually in a way that was transparent to our customers. But the two identities inhibited people from making the best decisions for the company. With few exceptions, our employees thought of themselves as being part of Action Bindery or Spiral of Ohio. With separate identities, this division is understandable. Not right, but understandable.¡±

Helline and his team also thought the marketplace would better understand the horsepower available to them. The pros outweighed the cons and in late 2006, Helline and his management team decided it was time to rebrand not one, but both companies. Finish Line Binderies was born.

Shortly afterward, this new strategy paid off.

Large directory project

Finish Line Binderies bid on a large directory project involving final distribution to schools in the Northeast and Southeast regions. This client objected to multiple vendors because of a perceived lack of accountability. The fact that Finish Line's Cleveland and Atlanta's facilities would translate to significant freight savings was secondary.

¡°Our new operational structure and branding message quickly helped this customer overcome their concerns about production in two facilities,¡± remembers Helline. ¡°Cleveland wouldn't just worry about Cleveland and Atlanta wouldn't worry just about Atlanta. Our customer believed that we're one company working toward one goal: his satisfaction.¡±

Finish Line Bindery was awarded the job, daily production goals were established and met, the job was delivered in half the time of any other bid, project coordination was flawless and the customer appreciated the fair price, good quality and additional freight savings.

One company, one source

¡°We have tremendous capacity and we're accountable,¡± says Helline. ¡°We're now positioned as one company, one source capable of quickly churning truckloads of product. As long as we say what we do and do what we say, our customers don't care if it's done in Finish Line Cleveland or Finish Line Atlanta. They just know that Finish Line's got them covered.¡±

In addition to a natural competitive advantage in their nearby markets, Finish Line Binderies' dual facilities has meant that large national printers see the benefit of working with the company. In the past year, Finish Line Binderies has cultivated new relationships with several Southwest and West Coast printers looking to finish and distribute products on both the East Coast and in the Midwest.

Mechanical binding magic

Finish Line Binderies won a 250,000-piece project for educational Wire-O bound books ¨ý inch thick. To make matters worse, the required turnaround time was two weeks. The size of this order would have been difficult for most companies to handle in a month. With two well coordinated facilities, Finish Line Binderies made the delivery promise that scared off the other bidders, won the job, and produced and delivered it on time without sacrificing any other clients' deadlines.

Another project demonstrating the tight coordination of the Finish Line Binderies' plants concerned the production of a spiral bound, five-book set. Each book was about ¨ö inch thick and had different quantities ranging from 50,000 to 150,000. The job was printed in the Southeast and delivered in the upper Midwest. Again, the quantity and geographic location of this project favored Finish Line Binderies.

Due to the arrival schedule of forms from the printer, Finish Line Binderies carefully mapped out a production schedule, which involved multiple facility production for most of the titles.

¡°Not only did we hit our deadlines and other production objectives, but there were no shipping or additional freight costs to the customer,¡± says Helline. ¡°This complex job was passing near both of our facilities anyhow.¡±

Finish Line Binderies recently completed a nice cookbook project, ¡°Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food,¡± by Jessica Seinfeld. On a high profile piece like this, again with a tight turnaround time, everything has to go smoothly.

At the start of the job, Finish Line Cleveland prepped all of the end sheets while Finish Line Atlanta prepared the book blocks. Cleveland completed its portion of the job and shipped it to Atlanta. There, the endsheets were collated and the final project was completed to the delight of all involved.

¡°The Seinfeld job showcases the flexibility that can be accomplished when two facilities work as one,¡± says Helline. ¡°We were able to take what was an impossible deadline and get it done.