KD Printing packs its bags after more than 20 years and moves in with nearby Print Group Australia. The two Melbourne printers have joined forces as KD Print Group, a new 50/50 joint venture pooling their resources to beat down debt and push out into new markets.
According to Peter Stilburn, founder of KD Printing and co-director of the newly merged business, both businesses were ideally placed for the merge, servicing a largely complementary customer-base with little overlap. Print Group Australia's major money-spinner was an A1 Komori P540 five-colour, while KD Printing dealt in A3 digital and a two-colour Heidelberg GTO46 for the bulk of its work in business cards, flyers and general stationary. A boom in book work had left Stilburn farming work out and struggling with the banks.
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"We were outsourcing twenty percent of our work. I was looking at getting into a five-colour press, but I was struggling to get the finance from the banks. Joining up with Print Group, we've been able to bring nearly all that work back in-house," said Stilburn.
Stilburn has plans to use KD Print Group's newly powered platform as a one-stop-shop for print and marketing. He is piloting the KD Print Group solution with his real estate customers, pitching a ground up offering from cards, flyers, stationary, packaging for brochures, all the way up to auction signage.
According to Stilburn, "Once we've got this up and running the next thing is to invest in packaging and signage. Down the line we may even pick up a flatbed digital."
Nearly $30,000 has already been invested in the merger, in moving equipment, sorting out the electrics, and integrating Stilburn's database into Print Group Australia's quoting system. On top of that, the business has picked up a brand new Fuji Xerox 800, the first fresh kit to go in after the merge.
Chris Mullins, the other half of KD Print Group, agrees with Stilburn's plans for growth, notably into packaging. He also emphasises the opportunity to chip away at company debt in a serious way.
"Both companies were financially in good shape. This opportunity to consolidate will make a huge dent in our combined debt. After the merger, we'll have it paid off in a few years," said Mullins.
According to Mullins, the partners are set to grow the business to $3 million in three years.
"Between the two of us, we're around $2.5 million now. With both our resources we can tap into higher margin work and push it up over the next couple of years," he said.
All staff from both businesses have made the transition.