On April 4, 2002, Presstek announced the appointment of Edward J. Marino as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Marino is an experienced executive with more than 10 years of senior management responsibilities in the printing, publishing and digital imaging industries and had served on Presstek's board of directors for two years.


Since his appointment, Marino has moved quickly to shift the focus at Presstek from a primarily technology-oriented company to a market-oriented company. WhatTheyThink.com had the opportunity speak with Mr. Marino and gain insight into his perspective on the industry and his plans for Presstek's future.

Presstek, Inc. is a leading developer of digital laser imaging and chemistry-free plate technologies for the printing and graphic arts industries. Marketed to world-leading press manufacturers and directly to end users, Presstek's patented DI(R), CTP and plate products eliminate photographic darkrooms, film and toxic processing chemicals - reduce printing turnaround time and lower production costs. The company's Lasertel subsidiary supplies it with valuable resources necessary for its next generation laser imaging devices.



WTT: Ed, you have had an impressive career in our industry, including your most recent tenure as President and CEO at Lightning Source, Inc.; your role as the President of Danka Services International, Danka’s outsourcing arm; and earlier positions with Kodak, Burroughs and Control Data Corporation. Before we talk about your current role with Presstek, can you share with us some of the things you learned during your tenure with Lightning Source?

Ed Marino: The key point about the Lightning Source experience is that the company was able to leverage the coming together of the worlds of information technology and digital print to build a new business. Lightning Source could not have accomplished what it did without the merging of these two worlds and the identification of a new business application that takes advantage of the convergence.

Lightning Source is in the one-off book printing business, and people in the industry still scratch their heads, asking how you can produce books one at a time and make money. The answer is, we didn’t take a traditional print approach. Rather, we united the worlds of IT and print, viewing the book as a variable data application.

While this is not directly applicable to what Presstek does, the IT influence on business process certainly is. Our industry is in the throes of establishing digital workflows as the standard. The more pervasive these digital workflows become – including the introduction of advanced electrophotographic products like the NexPress 2100 or the IBM 4100 – the more benefit there is overall to the industry. Once digital workflows are established, they are sustainable. And there’s no going back! Because Presstek is a digital company, we are also benefiting from this trend.


WTT: Your former positions have always placed you squarely in the digital space. Now, as CEO and President of Presstek, you are in a position to blend your digital expertise with some of the more traditional aspects of the commercial printing world. Tell us a little about your decision to move to Presstek and how you see leveraging your background to take Presstek to the next level.

Ed Marino: The opportunity that I see today -- and have seen since taking a Board position at Presstek more than two years ago – is that Presstek is a unique blend of technology and market opportunity. The challenge at Presstek is to maintain that technology leadership while at the same time performing more effectively in the marketing and commercialization of the technology. It is that process of commercializing the technology and marketing it that is the next wave for Presstek.

The company has already been through a number of phases, including the early inventive "storming" phase and a product development phase. Now we are in the marketing and commercialization phase, a transition that requires the company to look, act and feel differently - hence the recent organizational changes we have made. We are building the framework within which we can execute this essential transformation.

I have been involved in business transformations for a number of years. We’ve already talked about Lightning Source, and at Danka, we recognized the onset of the digital wave and became experts in print on demand. Business transformation is a challenge that affects every fiber of the company, and is a cultural as well as business issue. I believe this is a great time for Presstek, and that we will be able to capitalize on the convergence happening in our industry. We have the people and the technology in place. I am confident we will be successful with the business and cultural transition that is currently underway.


WTT: Historically, Presstek’s stock price has had its ups and downs, with a high in 1998 of over $80 per share, and its recent price in the $5-6 range. What are you telling the financial community relative to Presstek’s future prospects?

Ed Marino: The message to the financial world is that the fundamentals are there. The marketing and commercialization message we are delivering is very fitting, clearly defining our need to shift resources to this effort while at the same time making sure we keep the right financial balance within the company. You can’t just add resources; it is not practical. The resources have to come from somewhere. By repositioning the company and making it more efficient in its operation, and by redirecting resources to the marketing and commercialization efforts, we will be able to maintain that balance. It will take some time, but the fundamentals are there and we have a plan in place. This is what the financial community wants to know: “Do you have a viable plan and can you execute against that plan.”

Internally, our message is that the future starts now, and that the strategy is the execution of today’s plan. That may sound shortsighted, but it is not. You don’t get to go to the next step unless you successfully execute today’s plan. We know precisely where we want to head, but it becomes hopelessly irrelevant if we can’t execute.


WTT: You referenced the organizational changes. Shortly after you stepped into your current role, Presstek announced that it had realigned the organization into two customer-oriented business units: Direct Imaging (DI) and Computer- to-Plate (CTP), and at the end of last week, you announced more detail, including a headcount reduction of 20%. Can you share with our readers some of the thought processes behind this realignment and what you believe its impact will be on the organization and its performance?

Ed Marino: As part of refocusing the company, we have adopted a program-managed process for marketing and development. We have aligned the company around two lines of business, CTP and DI. Today, there is a blended team that addresses the next generation of CTP. It’s not an engineering group; it is a team that is comprised of the full range of business functions, including marketing. Having a cross-functional team in place is more efficient because you have fewer handoffs, communication is better, and it is an operating style that fits the business much more efficiently. While it almost sounds trivial in its simplicity, it really is not. It is a very effective way to manage your business.

The other thing we have done is to prioritize our projects and programs. There are some things we are going to do – and do well – and there are other things we simply are not going to do.

Let me use an analogy here: Even though Gillette is in the razor blade business, they don’t sell razor blades. They sell the shaving experience. Presstek, when you look at our business, sells two experiences. One is imaging off the press, and that is called CTP. That experience targets the installed base of presses. It establishes a digital workflow and gives the user the benefit of that digital workflow in an already existing installed base. You don’t have to buy new presses to gain this benefit. Historically, we have looked at this business in terms of equipment and consumables; it is a very natural transition to shift that focus to the experience of imaging off the press. The application is very specific, and lends itself well to the "entire experience" approach.

The same thing applies to our direct imaging (DI) business. On-press imaging is a printing experience. At Presstek, we must look at that experience as a business. In both cases, we are selling the digital experience, and we are at the same time gaining revenue from equipment, services and consumables.

We also look at the business in terms of our partners. These two businesses – CTP and DI – have some partners in common, but each business does have its own unique set of partners. All of these elements come together in the line of business: partnerships, channels, equipment, services, consumables – they all become part of the total experience. The common technology components are not the driving force.


WTT: Tell us about the manufacturing operation in Arizona.

Ed Marino: Our manufacturing operation in Arizona, Lasertel, is strategic to Presstek for two reasons. First, it ensures a reliable laser diode supply, which has been an issue for the industry in the past. Second, it gives us control of the development process. What’s unique about our method of developing these systems is the union of the laser imaging and the media – in effect a technology convergence. We can modify both to produce the best performing systems. You can’t do that effectively if you don’t have control over the entire process. Lasertel is a wholly owned subsidiary of Presstek, and employes 60 people.