case study 1

BY PREETI VASISHTHA
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E-Commerce, CD Duplication Benefit Software Firm

Delta L Printing’s online document management system saves Remcom time and improves the efficiency of a process previously completed in house.

The Provider

Name: Delta L Printing

Location: State College, Pa.

Founded: 1995

Principal: Alex Heiphetz, owner

Employees: 5

Business in Brief: The company offers services such as black-and-white and color digital printing, copying, on-demand printing, CD and DVD production and fulfillment, production and distribution of training materials, short run digital printing, wide-format printing and document scanning.

Web Site: www.deltalprinting.com

The End User

Name: Remcom

Location: State College, Pa.

Founded: 1994

Principal: Raymond J. Luebbers, president and CEO

Employees: 31

Business in Brief: Remcom develops and sells electromagnetic analysis software for research and design. The software is used in bio-medical applications such as MRI and cell phone design; antenna, microwave, millimeter wave and optical signal analysis; and propagation analysis in urban environments. Remcom’s customers include Motorola Inc., Nokia, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, Siemens, Philips, and defense companies such as Lockheed Martin Corp. and BAE Systems.

Web Site: www.remcom.com

Ten months ago, David Carpenter finished work and was driving through downtown State College, Pa., when he saw a sign that read “CD/DVD/VHS.” Carpenter, director of product engineering at Remcom, a software company in State College, was looking for a firm that would convert some of his personal videos (home movies of his children) into DVDs.

Impulsively, Carpenter stopped outside the shop, Delta L Printing, where he met Owner Alex Heiphetz and discussed the video conversions. Carpenter learned that the print provider offers services such as black-and-white and color digital printing, copying, on-demand printing, CD and DVD production, fulfillment, production and distribution of training materials, short run digital printing, wide-format printing and document scanning.

At work, Carpenter needed approximately 2,000 folders that described Remcom and its offerings. He wanted to mail them to potential customers. Remcom develops and sells electromagnetic analysis software for research and design. The software is used in bio-medical applications such as MRI and cell phone design; antenna, microwave, millimeter wave and optical signal analysis; and propagation analysis in urban environments. Its customers include Motorola Inc., Nokia, Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, Siemens, Philips, and defense companies such as Lockheed Martin Corp. and BAE Systems. Founded in 1994, Remcom has 31 employees with offices in St. Louis and the United Kingdom.

Carpenter asked Delta L Printing to produce folder samples. After Heiphetz delivered them, Carpenter compared the prices offered by other printers in the area and realized that Delta L Printing produced high-quality folders at competitive prices.

Opportunity to Gain Work

Remcom had significant in-house printing capabilities, and Heiphetz says he viewed this as a tremendous opportunity to gain business. Remcom’s administrative staff produced approximately 30 120-page reference manuals monthly about the company’s software. The manuals contained letter-sized pages and had plastic covers. “They were lumpy,” Carpenter says. The staff also uploaded the reference data to 30 CDs every month. Every year, the staff produced 60 300-page training manuals. The company used a Xerox 6250 color printer that prints 26 ppm (color) at a resolution of 2,400 d.p.i. It used a Duplo Ibimaster 300 punch-and-bind system that allows both plastic comb/wire binding and 3-hole punching. The Ibimaster has a 20-sheet comb punching capacity and a 30-sheet, 3-hole punch capacity.

Carpenter says Remcom faced several problems when producing the manuals and CDs. The company’s administrative staff had to ensure it always had a stock of empty, screenprinted CDs and ink. Also, someone had to maintain the equipment. “The big problem was, what if we run out of toner, paper or cartridges?” Carpenter says. The training manuals were sometimes produced as rush jobs. “At times, until the last minute, we didn’t know how many people would get the manuals,” he says. Sometimes, the printer would jam; the Ibimaster 300 broke.

“Sometimes customers feel that they have a high-quality color printer and they can produce good stuff,” Heiphetz says. “But they’re not aware of the small things that go on to make a professional product. Remcom’s manuals did not look professional. They did not look as good as they could have.”

Remcom also faced a problem of frequent over- or under-ordering. The company organizes training classes for hundreds of engineers who use its software at clients’ locations. “Sometimes 20 sign up, but 25 show up,” Heiphetz says. “Remcom had problems maintaining training material for engineers.” Also, the administrative staff was responsible for printing and spent time away from its main duties.

Heiphetz says he knew Delta L Printing could produce high-quality manuals and CDs for the software company cost-effectively. Carpenter showed to Heiphetz a manual from another software company and asked the manufacturer to produce a similar sample. Heiphetz produced a sample that was “even better,” he says. Carpenter showed it to his boss, who was impressed.