John Bassett is head of sales at $15 million Scholin Printing in St. Louis, MO. He has been involved in print for over 20 years. John spent 18 years with 3M and the last 2 years at Scholin - all in Sales and Sales Management.

Scholin is a general commercial printer serving, primarily the St. Louis marketplace. As mentioned, sales are currently at $15+ million, with plans to grow to $20 million. Scholin has been in business for 53 years and is now owned by Suzie Scholin, A WBE certified printer, Scholin is changing in people and technology to widen the geographic marketplace and product offering. The firm has a great reputation for quality and a new management team now in place to support growth objectives.




John, How many employees do you have?

We have 100 non-union employees working 3 shifts. We operate a complete electronic prepress with sheet fed presses The press of choice is Heidelbergs including a 6-color, DI. Scholin has a complete bindery and fulfillment too.

Specifically, what services do offer?

We accept any file, Mac or PC, and love PDF. We have a 6-Color Heidelberg with coater 40", 6C with coater 29", 4C, 2C, GTO, DI and alliances with designers, photographers, finishers. The types of jobs we print include: Pocketfolders, ID kits, brochures, annual reports, art reprints, flyers, newsletters, - you name it.

You have upgraded your web site - tell us about the features.

The site is to support our marketing plan of "customer education". It has been very well received as it includes resources for clients like a St. Louis events calendar, links to helpful sites, estimating document for any printer, classifieds and more. We also offer render view internet proofing capability allowing customers to view their "Ripped" files from their browser, 24 hours a day. A great collaborative tool. In June we (implemented) Remote ink jet proofing options with color management for selected customers.

You mentioned Scholin’s commitment to education. Do you host seminars for customers?

Every quarter we host seminars targeted at topics our customers recommend. We recently had 63 attend a "freeware/shareware" - aka Love Your Mac seminar. Our suppliers help us with materials and presentations to support the educational demands of our clients. In the fall we host a half-day symposium sponsored by us and our suppliers. Last year 300+ attended to hear topics presented by Adobe, Hallmark Cards, Communication Arts, and Solutech.

Five years ago we developed a 3-ring "Brothers Book" containing information to assist customers and updates have been sent to 1000 buyers every other month! It contains tips and tricks, new software information, internet applications, assistance and more. This, combined with 6+ seminars per year drive us to assist customers. When you help them, you help yourself. Now we are working on a customized curriculum for our top 20 customers for 2001.

Tell us a little more about your prepress department.

Our digital area includes IRIS, Matchprint Laser, and a digital 4c dylux. Our conventional is Matchprint, internet proofing is Renderview and (Matchprint Ink Jet) for remote proofing tied into color targets at our plant.

Have customers requested CTP ability?

It has been part of our digital conversion plan for years. The timing was right for us now due to some of the speed and proofing enhancements available. As a commercial printer, our customers don't care how their jobs are produced - only that we're on-time or early with great quality and service. CTP helps close the loop on a digital workflow and increases the steps and variables in conventional processes. The introduction of halftone digital proofing options provides our customers with the assurance that the standards and targets that we've relied on will go unchanged. Matchprint now becomes Matchprint Digital Halftone. Speed and security have made the timing right for our customers.

What do you advise print buyers in working with print vendors?

Get printer involved in design stages, they can consult on some great creative ideas that make a difference. Also, be flexible on paper options and keep asking questions that sound like, "do you (printer) have any ideas that might help us achieve a better product?"