Flooring The Competition
NRF Distributors' Graphics & Printing Department has moved into a new and larger facility in Augusta, Maine.
By Bob Neubauer
NRF Distributors didn't become New England's largest flooring distributor by being slow. When its suppliers decide to have a sale, NRF needs to get that information to its customers before its competitors—somewhat of a challenge for a company tucked away in chilly Augusta, Maine, far from many of its clients.
The family-owned company has long relied on its four-employee in-plant to print the sales announcements and other customer communications that keep NRF competitive.
"I can get a mailing out in one day," boasts Jeffrey Nadeau, manager of NRF's Graphics & Printing Department.
For years, though, his in-plant had been squeezed into a room little bigger than one of the small log cabins dotting the shores of nearby lakes.
"We had three people basically trying to crawl around each other in that 30x30 room trying to get all this work done," he says.
That all changed a few months ago when the in-plant moved into a 2,880-square-foot area in the company's new warehouse. With higher ceilings and increased space, the new environment is certainly more comfortable to work in, Nadeau says.
"It's a brand new, modern facility," he affirms. But more importantly, because the in-plant is now closer to the rest of the company, pickup and delivery of jobs is a lot easier.
Plus, the in-plant is now networked, so jobs can be sent digitally.
Accompanying the move was the installation of two new pieces of equipment: a Rosback hydraulic drill press and an OKI C9200 digital color printer. These joined two Xerox color printers (a Phaser 7700GX and a Phaser 8200N), a Raster Graphics 5400 electrostatic printer and a 54˝ Roland Hi-Fi Jet printer, the last two used to print the many customized point-of-purchase displays, sale posters, outdoor banners and store signage the in-plant produces.
The shop also runs two Multigraphics duplicators and a two-color A.B.Dick 9910XCD press, both running poly plates produced on a Hewlett-Packard 5000 laser printer. A bindery rounds out the operation.
A larger in-plant facility had become a necessity both because of the growing company's increasing need for printing and the new capabilities the in-plant had added. Actually, Nadeau points out, the move had been necessary for some time.
"We were probably five to seven years into outgrowing our space," he remarks.
A few years ago NRF expanded its territory to include western New York and Pennsylvania. It now sells to retailers in eight states, taking 43,000 orders per month and supplying about 2,300 flooring stores. Because of its continuing growth, NRF added a new 105,000-square-foot warehouse on the outskirts of Augusta, the capital of Maine. While it was being completed, the in-plant was temporarily relocated into a rented space, but now it has been moved into the new warehouse.
Nadeau, who has been with NRF for 18 years, has grown the in-plant quite a bit since its inception in the mid-80s in two 12x12-foot rooms. About 13 years ago he moved into sign printing to save NRF money and enable it to provide a more personalized product. Today the in-plant prints most of the point-of-purchase display headers sent to the stores. As an added bonus, the in-plant is able to customize them for each store. The shop also produces outdoor vinyl banners and seasonal posters, among other items. Some of these jobs are insourced from outside customers.
To get equipment and supplies for the shop, Nadeau has relied on his knack for finding bargains. He purchased the Raster Graphics 5400 printer (along with software and inks) for a mere $1,500 at an auction. He also gets deals on discontinued stocks which he buys in bulk for pennies on the dollar. Not long ago he bought 16 pallets of various papers for $3,000, saving $97,000 off the retail price. He says the company appreciates his efforts to save money.
"It's basically earned me a trust," he says.
When he tells management of an equipment auction, they essentially give him a blank check because they know he will find a good deal for the company.
Though Maine may be in the grip of a chilly winter right now, Nadeau and his staff are keeping quite warm preparing signs and promotional materials for NRF's upcoming open house. Billed as "North East Floorcovering Market 2004," it will bring more than 1,000 retailers from all over New England up to the facility in March to participate in seminars, watch demonstrations and purchase discounted products. The Graphics & Printing Department will do its best to impress them with printed materials promoting NRF's products.
