Dec. 19, 2005—Tri-Ad Litho Inc. of Pittsburgh knows about short-run work. The company’s average run length for short-run books is 300-500 per job, while it averages 3,000-5,000 for its short-run commercial jobs. However, what makes the firm stand out is that it finishes 99 percent of everything it produces in-house. In fact, the company has made this its motto, proudly claiming that “We finish what we print,” and calling itself the “printer’s printer.” Much of its short-run work comes from other print shops that don’t have those capabilities on-site.

Tri-Ad Litho ensures that it stays ahead of the technological curve with a DocuColor 606, a DocuTech 6135, a Nuvera 120, and most recently an iGen3 press, all in addition to three Heidelberg offset presses. The company has been a Xerox shop on the digital side of things since its first purchase of the DocuTech, chosen because customers were pushing the firm to add the capability. As the old clichè goes, the rest is history.

Growing Up
Tri-Ad Litho started out as Advantad Services more than 25 years ago. In 1980, John Novosel, along with several other employees, bought out the retiring owners, and today he continues to serve as the company’s president. Mr. Novosel bought out the remaining shares in 1990, making him full owner as well.

To keep pace with its growth while not allowing costs to get out of hand, Tri-Ad Litho has taken a different approach to hiring. The company has very little employee turnover and has cross-trained the staff to work in a variety of capacities throughout the shop. In addition, the printer has given its employees a certain amount of control and ownership over their jobs, which helps promote loyalty and a willingness to work hard.

“Putting in all this equipment has kept us growing, yet we haven’t increased the staff,” said Jack Novosel, business manager.

“We have [cross-trained the employees}, and that gives the feeling that the employee has control of that job from pretty much start to finish. So they take it from the point where they open the file to running it on the digital press, and then seeing that it gets back to our bindery and finishing department. That’s one of the interesting things here, that people, once they work here, tend to stay here.”

As for growth, the company has focused on word-of-mouth recommendations to expand its client list. However, with the new iGen3, Tri-Ad Litho is looking at a more aggressive marketing approach, though the management has yet to decide how that will be implemented.

“Pittsburgh is a relatively small community, and there are a number of printers around. And I think what happens is word-of-mouth spreads rather quickly if you give them a quality product. We’re not a New York or a Philadelphia—it is a small geographic area, so people tend to know who you are,” said Jack Novosel.

Finishing What You Start
The company’s short-run work consists mainly of items like vanity-published books and brochures. Many of these need finishing of some sort. To accommodate almost any finishing need, Tri-Ad Litho owns a variety of equipment, such as a Eurobind 445 perfect binder; an MBO folder with right angle; a Rosback heavy-duty stitcher; and Heat Seal 115 shrinkwrapper, among others. This variety is what allows the company to “finish what they print,” but there are challenges. One is a complaint many shops today face: competitive pricing and the commoditization of printed products. Because Tri-Ad Litho invests in newer technologies, the firm can’t always beat its competitors on price, which is why it primarily focuses on the service and quality of the work.

And the profitability on short-run work is increasing. The company is finding that while long-run jobs are either leveling out or have decreased slightly over the past seven years, short-run work is increasing in demand due to the fact that many firms want smaller quantities of materials on-hand, as well as the ability to receive shorter-run jobs back much faster. These trends are leading to a more diverse client base for Tri-Ad Litho, which in turn leads to more opportunities to grow its business. It is a successful cycle the company hopes to take advantage of far into the future.