‘You want to sell print to us?’ – Stream Solutions sets the rules

More than 100 key players from printing companies right around the country paid good money to attend the two-day Stream national suppliers conference. They came to be part of the burgeoning print management phenomenon that is changing the ways printing is bought and sold in Australia and beyond. Stream Solutions is the largest print management company in the industry, placing over $100 million with a wide variety of suppliers every year. Although the margins may not be huge, most printers are keen to get on board.



In his Saturday morning opening address Andrew Price, CEO of Stream Solutions, said the business is set to grow considerably in the coming years. He claims the recent sale of former owner Patrick Corporation to Toll Holdings offers Stream the security of knowing it will still be around tomorrow.

“The most important thing to Stream is holding its customers and retaining accounts,” said Price, pointing to its new five-year deal with Westpac and other recent contracts with corporate customers BHP, Holden and Colonial First State as evidence that Stream’s client list is growing.

The primary focus of the conference was for Stream to communicate its expectations to suppliers, leading Geoff Brennan, manager of strategic sourcing (pictured on left with Andrew Price) to declare, “Your performance is our performance – it dictates how our customers view us.” He emphasised the company view that good suppliers need to have solid processes in place to prevent the same problems from happening over again.

This was further reinforced by Phil Turner, director of the Centrelink contract at Stream Solutions, who took to the stage to voice concerns to suppliers over issues experienced with print packaging and delivery.

“If you don’t think it’s your problem, then think again,” Turner told the supplier crowd, claiming that ten per cent of print is delivered in an unsatisfactory condition, pushing the message that when it comes to packaging and delivery, printers need to step up their game.

“We’re talking about millions of dollars worth of print, but by the time it reaches the customer it looks like it’s been dragged half way across the world,” said Turner.

The largely subdued audience was shown specs of cardboard boxes that Stream wants used for deliveries with Turner claiming they will eventually filter down to contract specification. However, some printers pointed out there a number of other steps in the supply chain not under their control after the job leaves the factory, with one relating a story of a recent job where the customer demanded a $300 refund after the box was damaged by the courier in the process of delivery.

If anyone came to the conference hoping for a full and open exchange of views they were bound to be disappointed, at least in the formal part of the event. The scheduled 15-minute ‘supplier feedback’ session was pushed aside after a number of presentations ran overtime. It was supplemented by the ‘Speed Meeting’ sessions that gave suppliers the chance to speak face-to-face with managers of chief Stream accounts, but the opportunity was missed to open up the floor with a free flowing question-and-answer session that could have allowed for dialogue and addressed supplier concerns.

Offline, talk among the suppliers over the weekend involved much gnashing of teeth over how Stream is driving their prices down, but often in the same breath there was talk of the company’s professionalism in its dealings, its transparent accounting procedures and the fact that it pays better than any other print manager in the industry.


Not just about providing cheap print to its customers


>As if to allay any complaints, Greg Higgins, chief operating officer of Stream Solutions (pictured)and a recent addition to the senior management team, claimed the conference represented the beginning of the strengthening of the relationship between the company and its suppliers. Stream is the process of upgrading its supply management infrastructure with the changes to see an increased evaluation of service delivery, a greater focus on the environmental performance of companies and increased dialogue between the company and its suppliers.

Higgins emphasised that Stream’s agenda is not just about providing cheap print to its customers but instead offering value that stretches right across the supply chain, with a comphrehensive service offering that includes design, print management, production, logistics and reporting.

“Stream is not in the market to sell cheap print, we are here to sell integrated solutions. We add value above and beyond the printed product, which is something our customers are often not comfortable with doing themselves.”

Higgins claimed that when approaching Stream, customers tend to be focussed on the supply side of the equation, wanting to ‘squeeze the lemon’ by driving down the price of the print. “If this keeps on happening time and time again then it reduces the profitability of our suppliers, and it also reduces their desire to innovate in other areas by adding value.

“What you guys have to do to prevent this is to work closely with us to discover ways that value can be added in other areas.”

Stream Solutions last year expanded its operations into Hong Kong with an eye to harnessing the price-competitive printing industry in China, and Higgins talked in detail on how the move would impact local suppliers.

“We have a number of printers on our books and inevitably they will be supplying our customers here. The reality though for many clients though is that long lead times mean it is simply not possible to source print from China.”

Higgins claims the prices offered by printers in China are not ‘horribly’ different to what they are in Australia and the big gains to be made are with jobs that require a high degree of manual input and finishing, with the amount of print to go overseas much closer to five per cent than 50 per cent.

“Is there space for our local printers to entrench their position so they can match the value offered by our overseas suppliers? Yes there is,” said Higgins, claiming that printers need to focus on their strengths of quick lead times, proximity to the customer and ability to innovate in order to hold their own against the overseas competition.