No matter what part of the industry you or your company is involved in, you can almost guarantee that someone is talking about diversification. Expand-ing your services seems to be the key to success in today’s industry—offering customers a complete service, rather than turning down good work because you cannot offer it.
East Sussex-based Millbrook Design and Print is one such company to offer a diverse variety of services, in order to cater for a whole range of demands from customers. In additional to the more traditional print service offering of business cards, leaflets and brochures, the firm is also well equipped to supply wide-format related services such as roll-up stands and t-shirts. Yet, this diversified operation was not always the plan for the company.
Director Dave Roderick first founded the firm in 1999 when he was a freelance designer. However, in 2007 he took it one step further by opting to set up a design agency—a decision that served as a starting point of the firm’s evolution.
We got into wide-format print almost by accident. We only started doing it because a competitor has a Mimaki and we could see the quality of work he was getting in, and I thought we could do with some of that too”
“The unit I wanted had two rooms; one an office and the other a light workshop,” he explains, adding: “I would be working in the design room and, before signing off work, I thought to myself ‘I’m missing a trick here; why don’t we buy a printer to try and get into the business cards and colour copying market?’ So I brought a cheap printer, made money and ended up purchasing a Xerox DC 250 device.”
After the foray into print, it was not long until the firm stumbled across the opportunities available in the wide-format sign and banner market.
Roderick continues: “We got into wide-format print almost by accident. We only started doing it because a competitor has a Mimaki and we could see the quality of work he was getting in, and I thought we could do with some of that too.”
Wide investment
Millbrook Design and Print operates out of a barn conversion in Robertsbridge,
East Sussex
Inevitably, the firm opted to dive headfirst into the wide-format pool by purchasing a Mimaki CJV30 130—a device that Roderick claims has paid for itself more than four times over since it was installed four years ago.
The device now forms part of a lengthy production equipment portfolio at Millbrook, which consists of both print and finishing kit. This investment has provided the firm with a diverse service offering for customers—helping it grow in the process and attract a strong customer base.
“People can come in here now and they can have any design—something as small as 200 business cards, or they can walk away with a full-blown exhibition stand. It’s a whole portfolio of things we offer,” enthuses Roderick.
The way we’ve got it right is we can do things quick; someone came in the other day and wanted 1,000 leaflets—they are being printed now, and will be folded in the next 30 minutes”
He adds: “The way we’ve got it right is we can do things quick; someone came in the other day and wanted 1,000 leaflets—they are being printed now, and will be folded in the next 30 minutes. Also, another customer wanted three roll up stands and some A5 flyers—if you didn’t have all the kit, you could not do it all in one go and it would be a strategic nightmare to finish the job.
“We have it all in-house, and I think what people like is knowing that all their work is going to be printed here. Combining the smaller-format Xerox with the wide-format Mimaki, we have it covered.
“When we first began, we found we had a lot of trade customers, but now we have established ourselves in the niche amusement sector—we’ve now got a lot more bigger clients. The way that the growth has happened is not that we have had more customers coming in, but instead better clients.”
Through the establishment of the business, Roderick has even picked up the nickname of ‘Dave the Printer’ from industry peers and colleagues—ironic as, by Roderick’s own admission, he is not a printer and has picked up various skills through trial and error.
Rewarding future
The firm has a number of different technologies in order to complete projects
in-house, rather than out-source work. Pictured: the output from the company’s
Mimaki CJV30 130 and its Easymount 1400SH laminator
Always keen on the next improvement for the business, Roderick has high-lighted an online presence as a key factor. The company is currently developing its website in order to offer an e-commerce service and sell products online.
However, despite pointing to the internet as one of the most useful tools a successful business can use, he also issues a warning about getting carried away in the online spectrum—stating it can ruin both the individual company and damage the industry as a whole.
“Online services often lead to the downfall of most businesses, as most of them are doing things so cheap, it is ripping the profit out of them,” he explains, adding: “You might make money out of doing things in bulk, but for the rest of us you are killing the industry.”
Part of the reason we won the award is because we have no overdrafts here; we have no loans—there’s no debts”
The website improvements will follow hot on the trail of Millbrook’s success this year. The company was recently recognised at the HSBC-sponsored 1066 Business Awards 2013, an initiative designed to give businesses the recognition they deserve, and acknowledge the innovative and original ways in which they achieved success Millbrook picked up a ‘highly com-mended’ recognition in the ‘Business of the Year’ category, in addition to winning the ‘Small Business of the Year’ award. But perhaps the company’s biggest accomplishment was going home with the ‘Overall Business of the Year’ accolade, an award handed out to the best overall winner across all categories.
“We were quite pleased to win the overall award because the competition we were up against was pretty stiff,” says Roderick, adding: “A company with 50 or 60 staff won it last year—and then there’s the four of us in a barn conversion.
“Part of the reason we won the award is because we have no overdrafts here; we have no loans—there’s no debts.”
Having its name up in light has done Millbrook the world of good, with Roderick explaining it has helped bring in two new local jobs. Driven on by this success, Roderick says the company is hungry for more.
He concludes: “We are pushing for bigger clients, but the problem there is they want such a high reduction on products, but will buy a lot if we meet them. At the moment we have big clients, but we want bigger and we can cope with the work.”
