Reinventing a 145-Year-Old Printer as an All-Digital Disruptor, Part Two

In part one of our profile on Anstadt's reinvention as an all-digital company, President and CEO Matt Doran detailed the impetus and strategy behind the transition. Now, in part two, Doran explores how embracing sustainability, evolving culture, and adopting new tech like AI is propelling this 145-year-old printer into the future. Even amid economic uncertainty, he sees fresh opportunities by rethinking customers, markets, and partnerships.

PI: What is your take on sustainability and the messaging around this topic?

Doran: A big part of it of what we do involves sustainability. We all know that is becoming more of a hot topic, and post-pandemic, climate change discussions became stronger than ever. That was another big reason for us to accelerate our digital transformation.

It has been a big part of us in terms of our operating platform being all digital. And we have been challenged recently by our brands asking us to tell them about our process.

We are asked “How are you impacting sustainability?” It’s not only global. We are feeling it all the way down to the local (Pennsylvania) health system. It will be a $22 billion health system in a brief time, so it is a big organization, and they are asking those questions of us.

It was with a great sense of comfort and pride to be able to tell them about our all-digital platform that has that is truly leading to less waste in terms using less paper and consumables to produce the same job we would have a year ago.

And that is helping to lessen the impact on the environment. I should say that we lean into it by also talking even talking about the CO² neutral approaches our suppliers take as part of their commitment to the environment. We tell the health agencies that we are committed to collaborating with suppliers who are in step with our brand by making it a part of our brand. It has become a huge part of our brand strategy.

Credit: Anstadt

PI: How do you change culture in a 145-year-old company?

Doran: It took time. This did not happen overnight. It did take time to communicate to our team what we want to be, who we want to be, and how we are going to do it. Along the way you find those who buy into it and those who do not. We have worked hard to ensure we deliver the message to our team and then to the market, as well as to know who we want to be.

There have been a few key roles that required rethinking.

One example is that 18 months ago we hired a new vice president of operations. This is a pivotal role to the success of any good company, and that role impacts our company.

It is quite a different company than we were five years ago — or even a year ago.

Credit: Anstadt

PI: You've been talking about the future. How do you feel about the current state of the economy and the future of print?

Doran: Obviously, we are living in a rapidly changing world, facing the challenges that came about because of pandemic, the economy, and many other factors.

The key thing is there's huge opportunities within our industry. But you've got to see it differently to capture those opportunities. It cannot be the same “business as usual,” pandemic or not. The pandemic might have just brought things to better focus for all of us, and accelerated some things that might have been a few years longer out than where they are today. At the end of the day, there is a huge opportunity within our industry to capture new business opportunities.

This extends to our customers and the ways in which we go about doing business and who we do it with. It is not just a localized business any longer. Those are the things that really excite me.

I am bullish about the future.

If I look at our company, you think about us being as old as we are, and the way the industry has always been. Our business is local and regional. When I say that I mean, Philadelphia to Baltimore and DC. Given where we sit here in Pennsylvania, we are fortunate to be in an easy position to get to those major metro markets. But even in Central Pennsylvania, York. Lancaster, Harrisburg, and Hershey, some of our customers today are not local, and we have some good local customers.

Today, our customer base has expanded to include global businesses that are domestically distributed. And that has transformed aggressively over the past five years for us.

Credit: Anstadt

PI: So, what is your take on AI?

Doran: We keep an eye on AI, and certainly I read a lot about it. Some of these technologies are already used in the digital presses. We already utilize machine learning enabled technology and artificial intelligence to help us make day-to-day decisions that were once made by press operators; for example, how the sheets are being produced, the color, and the press changes.

It is already a part of our company and part of our industry. Thankfully we have tech partners like HP that are already part of our industry. That is one of the things I love about HP — it is a tech company primarily, and we are fortunate to have people like that in our industry.

And we can take technology and innovations like artificial intelligence and start building for the future. We see things like SiteFlow which we use heavily in our business. I mean all the intelligence that is going into imposing press sheets and collecting thousands of orders coming in every day.

So, it is very much part of our company vision and strategy, and something we continue to think about with every new investment we make.

Credit: Anstadt

PI: Anything else you’d like to add?

Doran: One more thing I would like to mention is DSCOOP. This is a great industry, it really is. There is so much excitement and innovation going on, and that is another huge part of our success. But I am pretty passionate about the impact the DSCOOP community of people and the power of connecting with like-minded individuals can bring to the table.

It has been instrumental in our business, and I am very enthusiastic about it. I am on the board, but why I am on that board is because of my passion for the organization, and seeing what participation has meant for our company, and how the community has helped us to be better at what we do. And I am happy to contribute as the board chair for the Americas.

Credit: Anstadt