David Taylor, President of Radius Solutions, has more than 15 years of experience managing the development and deployment of software packages for manufacturing companies. Before joining Radius four years ago, David founded the UK subsidiary of Unique and subsequently, became the Executive Vice President of Global Operations and R&D for the worldwide organization. Unique is a supplier of Management Information Systems and Software Tools. While co-located in Norway and Oxford England, David was responsible for operations in the UK, Germany, Sweden and Denmark. David is originally from England, where he earned his MBA from Cranfield University and BS in Computer Science from the University of Hertfordshire.

Radius Solutions is a world leader in integrated management systems for the global print and packaging industry. Established nearly 30 years ago, Radius Solutions has hundreds of successful installations worldwide. Radius Solutions has gained a vast knowledge of all segments of the printing and packaging industries. All of this has been channeled back into their PECAS (Printer’s Estimating Costing and Accounting System) family of products. PECAS Vision delivers world-class functionality for mid and large global printing and packaging companies.

Radius Solutions entered the North America market in 1995 and quickly established a leading position in the packaging market. Although the company’s success in Europe was spread evenly between the print and packaging segments, until recently sales to packaging companies made up the largest share of Radius Solutions’ North America’s business.

David Taylor joined Radius Solutions late in 1997, just prior to the Y2K time bomb – when the pressure for successful implementations was at its height. During this time David helped formalize the company’s implementation methodology, which focuses on implementing the standard system with few modifications. Using this methodology, Radius was successful in completing all of its Y2K projects.

Q: David, Radius is well known in the packaging market. How does this experience help as you target the commercial printing segment?

Taylor: After establishing ourselves as the market leader for the major packaging market, we felt that it was the right time to enter the US commercial print market. PECAS Vision is designed to work very well for large printers, particularly those with multiple-plants. It took some time to build awareness and traction in the print segment here, since our product is relatively new to this market.


Q: You have PECAS installed in hundreds of locations. Tell us about this product and the functionality a printer can expect with this solution.

Taylor: Yes, we have hundreds of successful implementations of PECAS Vision across the world. We have a history of providing quality software designed specifically for the printing industry. The system is not a ‘generic’ ERP package, which claims to satisfy the needs of all manufacturing companies. PECAS Vision is designed to manage even the most complex printing work. Whether a company produces simple one-off jobs for small businesses, or complex print-management solutions for major corporations, PECAS Vision is developed to address those needs.

The PECAS Vision solution covers the following functional areas:
Customer Service (CRM) / Sales and Production Estimating / Raw Materials and Purchase Ordering / Costing / Production Scheduling / Shop Floor Data Collection / Supply Chain.

Additionally, PECAS Vision is designed to address the needs of printing organizations faced with the challenges of multiple sites, multiple currencies and multiple languages.


Q: When approaching a print or packaging firm, what issues are they possibly facing with their current print management workflow?

Taylor: Printers are continually facing a number of challenging issues and I’d like to take this opportunity just to talk about two:

The need for control. The printing industry can be classified as a "mature, high volume, low margin" business. Consequently, there is a continual squeeze on efficiencies and improved profit margins. Good ‘metrics’ are a must have, not just a nice to have. The central philosophy of our product is to put our customers "in control" of their business, with the provision of accurate and consistent costing information. Our product offers both job and standard costing. Given that our clients are then able to understand where their good business comes from, they can then focus their energies on developing the more profitable relationships, while objectively dealing with the "not so good" business.

The choice of a management system. Print company management systems fall into one of three categories: i) module specific packages, which address a specific business function such as Estimating or Scheduling. These are typically supplied by a small software company, ii) generic ERP packages, which do not map to a print business or iii) a home-grown system which has a very limited future. There is a strong need for an integrated solution specifically designed for printing companies, which is supplied by a proven vendor. This is where Radius Solutions fits in as we combine the best of all three categories.


Q: What type of firms, in terms of classification, revenue and employee size, does Radius target?

Taylor: As already mentioned, PECAS Vision has been designed to work for both print and packaging companies. Print covers Books, Business Forms, Direct Mail, Catalogs, Inserts, Journals, Brochures and other types of commercial print.

Packaging covers Folding Cartons, Flexible packaging, and Labels. In a sentence, PECAS Vision is designed to work for any company that puts ink on paper, board or film. Our customer base ranges from companies with Sales of $20 million to $2 billion and from 100 employees to over 6000. The completeness of our product, and capabilities for handling multiple-plant operations means that we have been very successful with mid to large companies.


Q: Can you tell us who some of your customers are and how they use PECAS Vision?

Taylor: We are proud to have a very high profile and loyal customer base including: Quebecor, Mailwell, Avery Dennison, Mead Westvaco, Lawson Mardon and most recently Berlin Industries. Our clients use PECAS Vision as the information backbone for processing jobs through their businesses. Literally our application handles all of the business functions from Estimating through Order Handling, Scheduling, Shop Floor and Accounting.

In terms of "return on investment", many of our clients have been able to realize significant efficiencies by centralizing and standardizing their business processes. For example, when Mebane Packaging, a five-plant company (now a part of Mead Westvaco), implemented our software - they were able to generate cost savings of around $5 million in their first year of operation.


Q: Describe the type of relationship a printer expects when signing on with a company like Radius.

Taylor: I’d like to stress that when a printer signs up with Radius Solutions, as a customer they are entering into a long-term partnership, not just a transactional relationship. Consequently, the implementation is not just about installing the software, running the standard training course and leaving you to figure out how to make the system function. Our implementations are built around the following three areas: Product – best of breed, designed for printers by printers, People – experienced people, many who have come from the industry, Plan – a structured methodology, based on hundreds of successful implementations.

Single site implementations typically last between 6-9 months and are broken down into a number of phases, each with clearly measurable objectives. The first phase is called "project initiation": this is where we establish a clear understanding of the project scope and the responsibilities of the individuals involved. The output from this phase is a project plan and a launch meeting, where all parties buy into the approach.

During the second phase we pre-configure our system, with sufficient data to run a number of sample jobs from end to end. Then we have the "skills transfer", where the customer implementation team is trained in the running of the system, to a point where they can pilot all of the business processes.

The final phase is called "System Implementation" and this is where the system is rolled out to the end-users. In summary, we draw upon our experience to support our client through their entire implementation.


Q: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are out there for almost anyone to acquire depending on their needs. Why should a printer buy a custom ERP system versus a generic solution?

Taylor: If you buy a software solution that doesn't closely fit your business processes then it's going to cost you time and money. This is particularly true if you try to fit an ERP solution into a printing business. Basically, generic ERP solutions have not been designed to FIT the needs of a printer. Generic ERP solutions are designed to work in classical manufacturing industries, such as automotive, where the production line for a car is setup for a period of months not hours. The concept of estimating a job and combining orders to reduce production costs just does not translate to a generic ERP solution. The life cycle of a short-run brochure is dramatically different to that of a car.

Ask any realtor what are the three most important attributes that a property can have and they'll answer with another old cliche - location, location and location. A similar concept applies to software. The top three attributes of a software package are fit, fit and fit. There really is nothing that comes close on the scale of importance.


Q: What alliances does Radius have with software vendors or other CRM/ERP systems?

Taylor: Our business strategy for alliances is to work with the best of breed suppliers through clearly defined open interfaces. Our larger clients are demanding that we work within an enterprise integration architecture, where we are just one component in the puzzle. For example, SAP financials, Onyx CRM, EXE warehousing and PECAS Vision manufacturing. Our small to mid-size clients do not have this need, they are happy to work with our basic CRM or Accounting system and infrequently require integration to an alternate Accounting or Warehouse systems.

Finally, we have a very strong relationship with PROGRESS, since our product is written in their programming language and database.


Q: Pricing - how much does a solution cost from Radius? Do clients buy modules, pay a monthly fee or yearly license?

Taylor: For qualification purposes we sell to clients who have over a six-figure budget. Our clients pay an initial license fee for a given number of modules and users. Additionally there is an annual support contract, which provides telephone support and patch releases. For mid to large print companies, our total cost of ownership is significantly lower than that of ‘generic’ ERP suppliers. Since our product can be configured with minimal modification, then the implementation cost is dramatically lower. Typically for every dollar spent on license, our clients spend less than a dollar on implementation support. This is in stark contrast to ‘generic’ ERP suppliers. According to various industry reports, for every dollar spent on license, ‘generic’ ERP suppliers charge at least three to four dollars on consultancy


Q: Competitors - Who do you perceive as competitors and what features do you offer over and above these firms?

Taylor: We feel that Radius is in a unique position, where we compete successfully with both the niche and ‘generic’ providers. In the small to mid-market we tend to compete with the niche providers such as printCafe and CRC. Here our Estimating, Scheduling and Shop Floor modules are simply world-class. For the large multi-plant companies, we tend to compete with the likes of SAP. In this arena, we win deals based upon our strong product fit and multi-plant capabilities.


Q: Technology, especially in this market segment moves at warp speed. How do you keep employees and more importantly customers updated on issues that may relate to their system?

Taylor: For our clients, we offer both standard and custom training course, designed to meet the needs of new or existing users. We work either at a client site or at our training facilities in Chicago, IL or Hartford, CT. We believe that training is central for our clients to gain a better understanding of how to use PECAS Vision. In addition to the above, our User Group is a forum for our clients to gain a better understanding of product, through both educational and directional presentations. It is interesting, and I believe unique, to note that our Users are responsible for the agenda of this meeting.

For our employees, we hold regular training sessions on PECAS Vision, with the objective of continually broadening their product knowledge. Additionally, we have regular project review sessions, where we have a "best practice" theme, for consultants to share implementation experiences.


Q: As the top executive of Radius here in the US, what is your view of the economy today and outlook for the rest of 2002?

Taylor: There has certainly been an unpleasant dose of reality for software companies that confused being in a hot market, with being a well-run company poised for long term success. That said, the good news is that the survivors are now leaner, smarter, more efficient and ready for growth. Since the overall need for IT is rising not falling, demand for these products will also rise. Consequently, I believe that the US economy is now well positioned for growth and that this will be proved out over the next 6-12 months.

As a software company that has been around for more than two decades, Radius Solutions was founded on good business metrics and continues to align costs with income. Our US operation has been profitable every year since we entered the US market and we see this trend continuing. 2001 was a year of consolidation, marked by many of our prospects putting off decisions based on uncertainty. The good news for us is that these opportunities have not gone away, and are now moving to a position where they are ready to proceed. During tough economies, the need for a proven, stable and integrated management system rises. We are forecasting that 2002 will be one of our strongest years ever.