WILLIAMS PRINTING — WORLD’S LARGEST SMALL PRINTER

It’s a rarity to hear about a new printing facility being built from the ground up in today’s graphic arts world. But that is just what Williams Printing, an RR Donnelley company, celebrated when it opened a new 130,000-square-foot facility located near Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in 2005. But, then again, Williams Printing does not consider itself your Average Joe Printer.

During the past 80 years, Williams Printing has built a reputation for outstanding quality, service and innovation. And although RR Donnelley is now the world’s largest provider of print and print-related services—and Williams is among the largest commercial printers in the Atlanta area—both pursue a business philosophy built around understanding customers’ needs and crafting solutions that achieve those requirements.

For example, Williams offers up to eight-color sheetfed printing with coating and six-color, full-web printing under one roof, along with binding, finishing and fulfillment services. It is able to deliver end-to-end service that reduces cycle times, lowers the number of hand-offs required to finish a project, and assures color and quality consistency.

“I sometimes tell customers that we represent the world’s largest small printer,” says John Pope, president of Williams Printing. “We offer the unparalleled resources of a global leader but, at the same time, operate with the same concern for customer intimacy and attention to detail as a small business.”

Part of the Network

As an RR Donnelley company, Williams Printing enjoys a number of advantages. It can coordinate customer programs with other RR Donnelley facilities to take advantage of the company’s extensive geographic, premedia, production and logistics capabilities.

Many of Williams’ customers have needs that reach well beyond the Atlanta metro area. Drawing on RR Donnelley’s global resources, Williams is able to offer integrated programs that provide local project management and customer service, with printing that’s done in Atlanta, across the country and around the world. One global clothing manufacturer, for example, turned to Williams Printing with requirements for printing to be provided in the Southeast, in Mexico and in Asia. Working within the RR Donnelley network, Williams Printing was able to design a program that addressed all of the client’s requirements—and now works with sister facilities overseas to deliver responsive manufacturing that is consistent with the customer’s brand and corporate identity standards.

Williams Printing is one of 20 commercial printers that RR Donnelley operates across North America. The facilities are networked and calibrated to work in partnership. For example, IPD Printing, an RR Donnelley company that is also in the Atlanta metro area, has long worked in close cooperation with Williams Printing.

Williams Printing drew on RR Donnelley’s ability to reinvest in new capabilities when it moved from its long-time downtown Atlanta location to its current facility. The new plant features a computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM) workflow that increases speed, accuracy and quality. From prepress through finishing and fulfillment, Williams uses computer-controlled systems to assure color management, precise cutting and trimming, and accurate kitting and fulfillment.

Growing Customer Base

While Williams retains its strong local association with Atlanta, its move to a facility near the airport also equips the printer to serve a regional and even national customer base. Its ability to execute programs that require both web and sheetfed printing, and to follow up with complete finishing and fulfillment resources, make it a complete one-stop shop.

“Many smaller printers simply cannot make the kind of investment required to create this state-of-the-art environment,” Pope stresses. “As part of RR Donnelley, we are able to operate a ‘smart factory’ that equips our people with tools that help them be more productive and better able to deliver exceptional quality.”

The ability to put best practices to work is another advantage.

“We have developed an excellent reputation for color management, particularly on-press,” Pope informs. “We’ve been able to share our techniques with the other commercial printing facilities within RR Donnelley. Similarly, our operators, prepress specialists and other employees have benefited from learning about the good ideas and practices being implemented at other plants. We have formal processes for bringing together people within a given discipline, such as prepress, to achieve a benchmark.”

During the first quarter of this year, Williams will be adding another web press to its pressroom. The full-web Goss M-600C with closed-loop color and full bleed capabilities will complement the Heidelberg (Goss) M-300M already in the plant.

On the sheetfed side, the company boasts eight- and six-color, 40˝ Komori LS40s, both with aqueous coaters; a six-color, 40˝ Komori Lithrone with aqueous coater; and a four-color, 40˝ Lithrone perfector with coater.

Williams Printing specializes in high-end, multicolor annual reports and corporate communications. Its direct-to-plate printing capabilities also ensure efficient turnaround for customers.

“We’ll do whatever it takes to get your job right, such as the time a sharp-eyed pressman noticed duplicate copy and different headings in an article for a monthly magazine,” Pope recalls. “The client decided to reprint form three and ordered new paper, but needed 50,000 magazines immediately.”

Williams Printing made the decision to take the remaining stock on the floor and print partials of signatures three and four in order to get 50,000 magazines out immediately. When the paper arrived, the company was able to reprint both forms and complete the order.

“The customer thanked us for going ‘above and beyond the call of duty’ and asked us to produce the next issue of the magazine,” Pope notes.

The future holds more challenges as the industry continues to change. Williams Printing feels it is well positioned to help its customers adapt to those changes—just as the investment that yielded a brand new facility illustrates.

“Any business earns its future through how it serves customers’ needs today,” Pope contends. “We believe that the future will continue to shorten the distance between design and production. Speed to market creates a competitive advantage.”