Build Your Business: Shop Talk

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February 23, 2018

Every successful company has a “secret sauce,” that special element that allows it to rise above the competition and achieve prosperity. The ability to identify and fulfill a niche is, and always has been, key.

No one knows this better than Doug Sill, vice president of sales for Fremont, California-based Scalable Press. The company’s secret sauce? No-hassle printing and fulfillment.

“Scalable Press was founded on the principle of one-stop printing and fulfillment without the hassle,” Sill says. “After studying the printing and fulfillment industries, we quickly identified inefficiencies in the traditional ordering model and realized we could expand our concept at scale for businesses, with low prices and wide product selection.”

Traditionally, Sill says, businesses endure a painstaking process to confirm inventory, pricing and capacity with multiple suppliers and decorators. Scalable Press operates differently, with blank garments, printing and fulfillment being housed under one roof. Customer soft costs are eliminated and the ordering process is simplified.

Since its inception in 2012, Scalable Press has experienced triple-digit annual growth. Employing more than 300 people, the company prints and ships millions of products annually.

“Our growth is directly attributed to our commitment to quality and forward-thinking technology,” Sill says. “With software and automation, we produce custom merchandise at faster speeds and lower prices than the printing industry has ever seen.”

He explains that while contract printing is an important element of the company’s business model, the priority remains
delivering the best possible ordering experience to individuals and businesses alike.

“Scalable Press is built for business at any scale, and we strive to deliver high-quality printing and reliable fulfillment solutions to all of our customers,” Sill says. “Most of our printing is done for other companies. We power businesses from behind the scenes with white-label fulfillment. Orders are printed and shipped with our customers’ branding, not ours.”

Educating Customers
Scalable Press’ success starts with upfront due diligence to prevent potential problems. Customers have no minimums or maximums to consider, thus alleviating inventory worries. Orders can be filled with print-on-demand services, and mix-and-match fulfillment also is offered so customers can combine different designs and products in the same shipment.

Despite the forward thinking, challenges occasionally arise.

“The biggest challenge we encounter in the contract-printing space is introducing our customers to new technology and decoration techniques,” Sill says. “An example of this is direct-to-garment (DTG) printing. Many of our customers have a need for DTG, but are [accustomed] to the quality product screen printing yields. It presents a challenge to make clear the advantages and flexibility DTG offers.”

Sill says e-commerce and the advent of print-on-demand services is changing the printing industry’s landscape. He describes DTG as a cost-efficient solution for quickly printing one-offs and samples in full color.

When presented with challenges from customers, Scalable Press surmounts them via education. “We develop tools and resources to keep customers informed and better position them to expand their businesses with new technology, like DTG,” Sill says.

In addition to education, Sill keeps customer service a top priority, and quality and efficiency are frontline company characteristics. This all underscores Scalable Press’ goal of creating a positive impact on its customers and their businesses.

A substantial investment in equipment may be another ingredient in Scalable Press’ secret sauce. The company’s five locations in Texas, California, Indiana and Pennsylvania encompass 200,000 square feet of production space and include 36 automatic screen-printing presses and more than 100 direct-to-garment (DTG) printers.

The company currently offers five decorating methods and services: screen and DTG printing, sublimation, poster printing and embroidery.

“We’re always exploring ways to expand our business, with plans to offer additional print types in the future,” Sill says, adding that embroidery presents the greatest opportunity for growth. “With our aggressive flat-rate pricing mode, cutting-edge technology and industry-leading production times, we feel strongly that we offer our customers a more efficient and cost-effective solution for their embroidery needs.”

Automation Nation
Sill says technology and infrastructure set Scalable Press apart in an increasingly competitive garment-printing industry.

“With custom-built ordering and fulfillment processes, we harness the power of automation to print custom merchandise fast,” he says. “We make it easier for people to order with a number of ways to do so, including dynamic integrations for online businesses.”

Future plans for Scalable Press include the addition of another production facility and a robust embroidery program. The company’s Dallas production center currently is its largest, supporting all print types for customers in the southern United States and South America. A flat-rate embroidery pricing model is unprecedented, Sill says.

“The embroidery program is designed to deliver high-quality products at low prices — for any volume,” he adds. “We’ve expanded our daily capacity and we’re equipped for exponential growth.”

Jennifer Morrell is an award-winning writer who has written for a number of national consumer and trade publications. To comment on this article, email Jennifer at jennmorrell@hotmail.com.