Belcher Came Prepared

Belcher's challenge was in determining how Banta could expand its footprint, as a corporation, into the global environment, and how it could develop added areas of revenue for growth in a less-than-ideal economic environment.

The answer was supply chain management—assembly, packaging, fulfillment and distribution for its customers. "We felt we could leverage our core competency into a separate business arm, and use that as a springboard to become a global company," he notes. "That's been our focus the past few years. We acquired a company, based in Ireland, focused on providing supply chain management solutions to hardware, software and telecommunications companies. It has allowed us to create a global business. We are operating in several countries in Europe and Asia, and we are now serving world leaders in technology, including Dell, Compaq, Microsoft, IBM and Sun Microsystems. It's given us the opportunity to grow from being a domestic printer into a global player. We're very excited about our business model and about our progress thus far."