Selling print products in short runs is a trend Bruce Raming, sales manager at Chicago-based distributorship Premier Print and Services Group Inc., refuses to accept. "I hate small orders," says Raming, who specializes in selling packing slips and shipping labels. "Big companies that are growing and have $1 billion or more in sales--that's my niche." His typical customers ship at least 3,000 boxes per day.
To attract businesses with high volume, Raming developed and patented a system to apply slips and labels. He partners with another company to install the system, made up of hardware and software, at customers' warehouses. The system improves efficiency and accuracy and reduces labor costs by automating manual tasks. "All I need is somebody to throw a box on a conveyor," Raming says. After the cartons are dropped on the conveyer, a scanner reads each carton's bar code. The system's software retrieves order information from the customer's database in real time and transmits it to the label applicators. The first applicator attaches the packing slip to the carton. The second attaches the shipping label directly over the packing slip. The slip's contents remain confidential, though it's attached to the outside of the carton. Both labels are scanned to verify they were attached to the correct carton. Raming says the system can process at least 20 variable-height packages per minute.
The system intrigued a large, well-known computer manufacturer. Officials from the company called a Premier Print and Services Group sales representative after learning about it from the internet. The sales rep thought the caller was joking. "They said, 'Sir, we have you on speaker phone with eight industrial engineers," Raming says, and they introduced themselves before the rep believed them.
The process that followed was unlike previous sales Raming had made. Instead of meeting with a client once and walking away with an order, "You live with these people, on and off, for six months," he says. The manufacturer wanted to know how the system would be installed and if the software was compatible with its current system.
Raming's system can be integrated with any client's host software. Once he assured the manufacturer that everything would work, Raming was able to sell the system, including the software, hardware, and most importantly, the patented labels. The company was able to reassign eight employees per shift to other tasks after installing the system. Pleased with its improved efficiency, the company soon placed another order with the distributorship.
Raming's success with this manufacturer has led to new opportunities with similar-sized companies. "Let me tell you how my life has changed," he says. "Someone says to me they want to buy a million labels. That's a small order."
--Andrew Brown
Thanks to Ward/Kraft Inc., Ft. Scott, Kansas, for assistance.
Bruce Raming, sales manager at Chicago-based distributorship Premier Print and Sources Group Inc., patented a shipping label that is automatically applied over the packing list, which remains confidential although it's adhered to the outside of the box.
