Knepper Press Reinvents Itself with Sheetfed and Web Printing Capabilities, Goes Green

By Erik Cagle

It Pays to be Green

Perception is more important than reality in the business world. As we progress further into the "greening" age, this is becoming more and more true.

Essentially, good environmental practices are good public relations. How much actual impact such efforts have on mother nature is a bone of contention for some, but who can argue against practices that take good ol' earth into consideration? There's a "me, too" mentality in the industry when it comes to becoming FSC and SFI chain-of-custody certified.

In the end, it matters not what impact greening initiatives have, for the true beneficiary, and audience, is the print-buying customer. Buyers need to know that you, the printer, are doing everything possible to ensure your manufacturing process doesn't harm Bambi or his descendents.

Knepper Press tapped Community Energy to get 100 percent of its juice from the whispering wind. That landed Knepper in good company on the EPA's Green Power Partnership Top 20 list of printers, joining such luminaries as EarthColor, Sandy Alexander, Williamson Printing and Pictorial Offset.

"The idea was generated by customer requests," notes Ted Ford, CEO of Knepper Press. "A few of the consumer product industries were early pushers of wind energy. We recycle paper, aluminum, solvents, so this fits right into our game plan."

Knepper actually pays more to utilize wind energy, but the returns come in different forms.

"There's definitely a cost to this, and the payback is strictly on a customer marketing standpoint," Ford adds. "Does it get us more business? I hope it does. It's a costly proposition, but I think our customers appreciate it."

OLD NOTIONS tend to die   hard, whether they involve   people, places or entities. Pittsburgh has a reputation as a smokestack city, and some still harbor images of closed steel mills and massive jobs lost.

A new punching bag is needed, as this isn't your father's Pittsburgh. The city is now considered one of the most livable in the world by several publications, and boasts a bustling economy and strong corporate giants. Smoky is so 1974. So pick on someone else.

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