(From the September 2003 issue of Quick Printing)

Through more than 20 years in the printing business, JR Booth has gained hands on experience with virtually every phase of the process. Building on his background as a typesetter, he learned to do offset printing, operate wide format inkjet printers, and handle variable printing equipment and mailing services. He employed every bit of that knowledge, took the final plunge and start ed his own printing company.

In July 2000, Booth opened Top Shelf Printing & Graphics in Lebanon, NJ. The ensuing years have seen rapid growth. "We've done well - we grew about 30 percent last year," Booth acknowledges. "We've gone from one press to two and from about 3,500 square feet to 6,000 square feet. We started with just myself and a pressman, and now we have about 16 people in here." Three of those are dedicated sales people who help keep the pipeline full.

The company offers a full range of services. The HP 5000 wide-format inkjet printer is used for proofing and to produce backlit posters. A recently acquired Xerox DocuColor 12 is providing a pathway into the variable printing market. But the company's bread and butter is short-run, quick turnaround, full-color offset printing. Those core jobs are output on a pair of Heidelberg Quickmaster DI four-color presses.

Having a well-defined niche has been essential to Top Shelf's success in a highly competitive and congested area. "The way the industry has gone - especially with the economy the way it is - the larger corporations are looking to cut costs. [Short run color printing] has been a hot little market for seven or eight years. And it's still doing well - in fact, it's doing better. It has kept us busy when a lot of print shops aren't busy."

The streamlined workflow was the key factor that convinced Booth that direct imaging presses were the way to go. "The advantage with these DI presses is the fact that the press is an imagesetter and a printing press in one unit, so there's no hanging of plates," he says. "It uses plate material, it uses printer's ink, and it's still an offset product. The difference is with the plates already being on the press with the electronic interface, where it actually reads the data from the computer file and sets your end keys for you the makereadys are very, very short. Traditionally, by the time you made the film, stripped it, and made your plates, you'd be talking about half a day. We can RIP a job, burn a plate, and have sheets coming off the press in 10 minutes." That short set-up time is perfectly suited to the type of short run work that is Top Shelf's core competency. "I think where we shine is on short-run. The presses are 13X18". They are not the type of machine that if you came to me and said, 'I have a 24-page book and I want 200,000 of them,' I would say you're barking up the wrong tree. But if you wanted a 24-page book and you wanted 500 or 1,000 of them, that's where I'm going to be able to shine for you. It's the quick turn jobs - the postcards, the brochures."

Booth says what really keeps his presses humming is the fast turnaround time he offers his customer. That is an issue that he feels is more critical today than ever before. "We do a lot of trade work, so we don't even deal a lot with the end user. But from what we see from our end, it seems these companies are waiting until the very last minute to make their decision," he states. "They want whatever printed material they want, but maybe it's not in the budget. Then, as soon as they get that budget money or permission to do the job, it's already prepared. They're ready. They're jumping. So everything is a rush."

The current state of the economy drives a lot of the immediacy. However, Booth also thinks much of the last minute rush mentality is brought about by what he calls the "push button society." With the growing popularity of the Internet, he says, "If somebody wants information, it's www.IWantItNow.com. I started in this business setting type back in the early 80s, and things were pretty crazy back then. But it's definitely gotten more crazy over the years because of the personal computers. You push a button and the stuff comes out. Fortunately or unfortunately, the customers think these printing presses work the same way."

Booth's willingness to meet that type of deadline has paid huge dividends of customer loyalty. "I have one customer who says he gives us anything that possibly fits our equipment. They bank on us because they know that these presses will turn things over in a hurry, and that we'll do what ever it takes to get the job done. We'll work overnight, weekends, whatever it takes. If people can count on you to do that - if they know that if they make a mistake or their customer delays them - that they can come to Top Shelf and Top Shelf is still going to get that job done on time, it keeps them coming back. And we do it day in and day out for people."

That kind of attitude toward customer service is something that percolates throughout a company. In the case of Top Shelf, it begins with Booth's utter and complete commitment to the customer and has been adopted by the entire staff. "They were a little reluctant when I first hired them. They kind of shake their heads sometimes because of what I'll promise a customer," he admits. "But if they need it, they need it. I think the bottom line is that you have to give people what they want, when they want it, for the price they want. If you can do that, why wouldn't they come back? That's my philosophy."

Another element to Booth's business philosophy is that he insists on a personal ability to run every piece of equipment in the shop. "I think a lot of business owners don't know how to run their own equipment, and that can put you in a bind," he explains. "If you promise somebody a job on a specific day and you have a pressman out sick, or a [press] goes down and you have to put all the work on one press, somebody needs to stay and get that done. I have the capability of doing that.

"The other thing it does is it protects the company against, for instance, someone trying to pull the wool over your eyes about how long a job should take. Or if a customer asks if something is possible - how do you answer that if you don't have the experience of running the equipment," Booth notes.

In its third year, Top Shelf is humming along at a nice pace. Growth is steady, but manageable. Its equipment allows it to attract a wide variety of customers. Those customers have learned that they can rely on the company to meet their dead lines. And Booth can't say enough about how much he values his professional staff. "We have good people here," he states. "The pressmen have a lot of experience, we have a good production manager, good front office people - we've really got it in place. It's just a matter of getting out there and you just have to put your head down and go for it."

No matter which side of the counter they happen to be on, Booth believes that people are the most important factor in any business. "You have to know what's important," he insists. "Let's face it - printing is ink on paper, and there are a lot of good printing companies out there. How do you make yourself a little bit different? How do you set yourself apart? Price is so competitive. You're always going up against at least two other sources, so you always have to be sharp on price. If you don't have quality, you're not going to get the work anyway. But the service is the only thing you can set yourself apart on.

"Not everybody is willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Sometimes it's, 'Yeah, it's fine as long as it's between 9:00 and 5:00.' What happens when they call you at 5:00 and tell you they need something the next morning? You stay and you do it. And that's what creates customer loyalty and keeps people coming back." Booth and his staff have shown their willingness to do what it takes. And their customers are proving them right with every passing day.