NATIONAL HIRSCHFELD — ROCKY MOUNTAIN BUY

Sometimes necessity is the mother of consolidation. Case in point is National Hirschfeld of Denver.

Less than a year ago, there was no such animal as National Hirschfeld. Oh, the Hirschfeld portion sounds extremely familiar, as in longtime family owned printing business A.B. Hirschfeld. Outside of former Rocky Mountain dweller Mail-Well (now Cenveo)—which recently relocated its headquarters to Connecticut—century-old A.B. Hirschfeld was easily one of the most recognizable names for printing in the state of Colorado.

The groundwork for negotiations that eventually led to the creation of National Hirschfeld began last April, when Brett Birky, president of National Printing and Packaging (NP&P), met with his old boss, third-generation company leader Barry Hirschfeld. The two men got together to toss around a common goal: the quest for a new facility.

“Through the course of lunch, it became clear (Barry Hirschfeld’s) two sons were not going to follow him into the printing business,” Birky says. “So there was a succession planning issue for Barry. And, with us looking to consolidate into one facility, it all tied together and was the stimulus behind discussions that ultimately led to a deal.”

The deal, consummated last December, ultimately involved four companies: A.B. Hirschfeld, National Printing and Packaging, C&M Press and OSI6. National had acquired a 50 percent stake in C&M back in 2004, while software development company OSI6 was the creation of Richard Stein, CEO of NP&P.

Digital Division

C&M Press, one of the largest digital printers in the country, brought its proficiency in variable data and 1-to-1 marketing to the table. Its founder, Rob Malkin (now COO of the new company), began C&M in 1983 as a provider of short-run books and manuals, then transitioned from offset printing into digital printing. NP&P had ventured into digital and found it an arduous task from a cost and volume standpoint prior to opting for the 50 percent stake in C&M.

All parties involved have reached their goal of consolidating, into a single building, the 160,000-square-foot Hirschfeld facility located on eight acres in central Denver. The 200-employee business, which has room for growth, has projected annual sales of about $40 million.

Oddly enough, despite some overlap in capabilities—both NP&P and Hirschfeld offer web and sheetfed offset printing—the companies weren’t fighting over the same slice of the pie prior to the merger. What has emerged from this grouping is a company with nine points of interest: direct marketing, data management, software development, commercial printing, digital printing, binding/finishing, mailing, fulfillment and list development.

“The consolidation was driven by several factors,” Birky remarks. “We believe scale is very important. There were very few crossover accounts between the companies, so the revenue and market penetration we’re able to achieve by consolidating these companies is incredible.

“We’re very focused on having a strong balance sheet,” he adds. “Increasing our top-line sales while controlling our short- and long-term debt were major focuses of the consolidation, in order to come out of this a lean, flexible, more scalable company.”

The other three companies are not the only new tenants at the old A.B. Hirschfeld building. In January, National Hirschfeld completed installation of a new five-color, 38˝ Beiren 3840 commercial heatset web offset press. The core of the printing units and folder are manufactured in China and is marketed in the States by Elk Grove Village, IL-based Graphic Innovators. The Beiren printing units, folder and complete press are enhanced by Graphic Innovators with the addition of automation, electrical controls, quick makeready features and state-of-the-art auxiliaries.

Equipped with shaftless direct coupled Bosch Rexroth individual AC drives that provide simultaneous makeready adjustments (a 15-minute ballpark estimate), the 3840 press worked for National Hirschfeld on a number of levels, according to Stein, the company CEO. In the end, it proved a happy medium between a remanufactured press versus a new model with full automation from one of the more commonly known manufacturers.

The automation available on some of the well-known lines marketed in this country might not translate into dollars and cents if not utilized to a large degree, Stein believes. With an “insanely competitive” Denver market in terms of rock-bottom web prices, not all printers can justify the acquisition of an $8 million press.

By the same token, Stein wasn’t relishing the thought of obtaining a remanufactured press that would yield higher levels of waste on short-run jobs and require substantially longer makereadies. Plus, Stein concluded, a new press would be easier to finance than a remanufactured model.

“It makes you feel caught in the middle,” he admits. “You either buy a new press with all of the automation, which is good on short runs but doesn’t benefit you that much on long runs, or you buy an inexpensive remanufactured press where your budgeted hourly rate is low but your waste and makereadies are high.”

Obtaining the new Beiren press was not “appreciably more expensive than a thoroughly remanufactured press,” according to Stein. In order to maximize yields in the hotly contested local web market, National Hirschfeld went the rebuilt route with some of its auxiliaries, such as roll stands and ovens.

Tool of the Trade

Still, as much as Stein loves the shiny new press—and he marvels at its beauty—he knows presses don’t win over customers and potential clients. That task falls to performance.

“A press is no different than a wrench. It’s a tool,” he says. “If it does a good job, is cost efficient and reliable, that’s what you need.

“In the end, if customers don’t like the experience of dealing with your people, if you’re not making deliveries on time and you’re not doing a good job, it doesn’t matter how impressive your press is.”

Birky notes that NP&P had acquired a two-color Océ 5160 digital press in 2004 and, once all of the equipment of the newly meshed company is sorted through, future capital investments will likely be geared toward digital printing gear, software development, mailing equipment, the bindery and material handling machinery.

The integration process has been reasonably smooth, with the anticipated issues that crop up with a multi-company convergence. Maintaining lines of communication, internally and externally, is the foremost challenge, Birky says.