Providing Greater Lansing the means to drive change through the printed word is a point of pride at
Keystone Printing Group.
“We’re very much locked into the Lansing community,” says Keystone's CEO, Tim Clark. “My philosophy is that we need to be an asset to the area, and take care of both our clients and our employees.”
For Clark, the customer’s best interest is always top of mind. That commitment is reflected in everything from printing practices that conserve resources to the educational, political and charitable organizations supported by this modern full-service printer on the city’s northern edge.
“Everyone here comes from working families,” says Clark. “That tends to lead us to work with particular organizations.”
Powered by PeopleKeystone’s Rolodex includes 600 regular customers, with the most active being
Michigan State University, the
Michigan Education Association,
Accident Fund,
Jackson National Life and
Delta Dental. The presses also churn out a huge volume of work for political concerns, particularly during peak campaign years.
Clark established Keystone six years ago, and has retained close to 100 percent of his staff. All employees are from the area. All are skilled craftsmen. And all are part of the decision-making in running the business.
“We really work with our employees to grow Keystone,” says Clark, pointing out that he’s looking to grow through acquisition and by adding technologies. “They’re part of the decision-making. They tell us the best way to run jobs and come to us with particular issues.”
What binds the printer, he says, is the concept of solidarity.
“We take a lot of pride in being a union plant and having great craftsmen,” Clark says. “You can’t just hire a dozen people right off the street to do these jobs.”
Direct ConnectionKeystone customer Stephanie McLean says she says she owes much of the success of her political direct mail firm to the people running the press.
“The nature of my business is time-sensitive,” says McLean, president of GMT Strategies on Lansing’s Westside. “We’re not like a regular business. If my mail doesn’t get out before Election Day, there’s no sense in printing it.”
That possibility, she says, has never even crossed her mind in the six years since Keystone Vice President Mitch McNamara convinced her to entrust her work to his crew. She says McNamara’s vigilance assured that four printed pieces went out to a half million people, and another three or four went out for 21 different candidates.
“There’s times when it’s non-stop information going back and forth to get a project done,” Keystone's McNamara says. “We become partners with our customers. That’s what sets us apart. We take a lot of pride in the fact that we’ve got great craftsmen and have been able to invest in the equipment and technology that can set us apart.”
It's a system that works well for McLean, whose projects include work with the Michigan Democrats and the AFL-CIO. “We print hundred of thousands of pieces of direct mail that are destined for different parts of the country," she says. “Whether I’m working in California or South Carolina, I work with Keystone and ship to other locations.”
For McLean, it’s a plus that Keystone is 100 percent union, and that staff bends over backward to ensure her stuff is correct, on time and within budget. Once, she heard McNamara stayed overnight in the shop for five days, just to make sure jobs got done.
“You don’t always get someone you work with telling you how to do it cheaply,” says McLean. “But they’re the first people to point out I could save tons of money simply by shaving off a quarter inch of paper. They’re that good.”
Being CertifiableConserving dollars isn’t the only savings that interests Keystone.
Early on, the printer went to direct plate technology to eliminate negatives and silvers, and switched to all soy inks. And every week, Keystone recycles leftover paper through
Granger Recycling. Staff trim sheets, separate corrugated cardboard from regular and help save as many trees as possible.
“Being green has always been a big consideration for us,” says Clark. He estimates the company’s recycling efforts save up to 265 trees a month, conserve 109,000 gallons of water and leave 52 cubic yards of landfill space empty.
Among company goals in the next year, Clark says, is to attain certification as a green printer through third-party organizations like the
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The certification, Clark says, shows customers that Keystone is serious about the environment, and about conserving local, national and global resources.
Companies that are FSC-certified ensure their printed products are output on paper that originates from conservation-managed forests, or has a high-volume of recycled content. Most recently, the FSC garnered notice in the printing world when one million inaugural invitations for President Barack Obama carried the FSC seal.
“It’s creating a chain of custody from the tree all the way through the printed product,” says Clark about his policy to purchase from conservation-minded mills and merchants. “We’re all about being responsible to our community.”
Short Run, Long TermThat environmental certification, plus their specialty in short runs, is what Clark hopes will set Keystone apart going forward. Their niche, Clark says, are runs as small as 10 items, all the way up to medium runs of about 100,000 pieces.
Continued investment in digital presses allows entry into one-on-one marketing, or the creation of personalized marketing pieces. One postcard, for instance, could feature a student, another a young professional. Copy can vary, too.
“We can save customers thousands of dollars in mass mailing by helping them create targeted pieces,” says Clark. “In mass mailings, for instance, you typically see a 1 to 2 percent return. With variable data, your return can be up to 40 percent.”
Those types of services and savings have made a difference for customers like Dean Snyder, production manager for the
Division of Housing and Food Services at Michigan State University.
Snyder works with Keystone on about 400 jobs a year, and says it’s better than aspirin in eliminating some of the headaches associated with print work.
“We’ve run the gamut with Keystone,” he says. “They’ve done everything from tedious forms work to some of the higher end, showpiece invitations. They have such a wide range of capability that it’s a pleasure to work with them.”
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Ann Kammerer lives in East Lansing. She has written extensively about area businesses, non-profits and people making news for a variety of local and regional magazines.
Dave Trumpie is the managing photographer for Capital Gains. He is a freelance photographer and owner of Trumpie Photography.
Photos:
The yellow roller on a five color press
Prepping a press for the next run
Paper scrap heading off for recycling
Every color of ink in the rainbow
Jobs stacked and ready
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie