Scott Siganto wasn’t dreaming of changing the world when he co-founded his Gold Coast-based company in 1996. He only wanted to find a steady job and pay off his credit card.

He had just returned from two heady years in Europe. Siganto had arrived in London as a 21-year-old graphic reproducer and within three days had started working for Metro Photographic’s “pioneering” digital imaging department. Like plenty of young Aussies returning home after the London experience, he arrived back broke and uncertain about his future.  

So his firm, IBS Design Resources, was born. He and former director Mark O’Donnell had spotted a gap in the market: producing business cards for other printers. Ganging jobs together on sheets allowed them to produce cards much more cheaply than the commercial printers they serviced, says Siganto. They could sell 1,000 cards for about $120, compared with $300 to $400 for their clients.

It was a win-win situation, says Siganto. IBS could exploit a profitable niche, while the commercial printers had a cheap source of cards they could on-sell, leaving them to concentrate on jobs with bigger margins.

“We were chasing down the work that no one wanted to do. From day one, we never wanted to compete with printers. We’ve designed the business model to be their partner in print,” he says.

Partnership is an idea he keeps coming back to. Siganto explains his business philosophy with a single photo, picturing two people firmly shaking hands. He says it represents the trust, commitment and mutual interest on which IBS has built its trade printing business.

One of its early brochures actually featured a handshake photo. One man was so taken by the symbolism it inspired him to place an order, says Siganto. But it also struck a chord with Siganto, who is still buoyed by the image all these years later.

“We service the arse out of customers and that’s the key to what we do,” he says.

Like many entrepreneurs, Siganto got into business because he wanted to be his own boss. He was always confident of prospering, although he never expected to become an overnight millionaire.

“I knew it was going to be more work. I was warned by a few people that, generally speaking, you don’t get out what you put in until many years later and that’s only if you’re successful,” he says.

Growth spurt

Has he succeeded? The numbers suggest so. IBS has expanded from two staff in 1996 to its current headcount of 20 and revenue of $4.5 million. Growth was 20-30% in the early years and has since settled back to single figures. “We’ve been lucky enough to grow every year,” he adds.

Some things have changed: IBS gave up commercial printing in its first year after realising it could get bigger margins doing trade work. But some things haven’t changed: the humble business card still forms the bedrock of the company’s offer. 

Everyone needs cards and will do for the foreseeable future, says Siganto. IBS can use its gang printing system to produce 250 cards on 310gsm stock for $33 and deliver them to most places in Australia within a day, he says.

“Business cards are what we do and what we do best. We still feel we have the best quality business cards in the market.”

That gives him the confidence to shun price wars. IBS loses some work on price, but wins more on quality, says Siganto. When clients try to focus on dollars, he says he steers the conversation to turnaround times and pulls out samples to emphasise quality. Price wars hurt the market, he says, by giving customers an unrealistic view of costs and making it difficult to maintain sustainable margins. “We’re not the cheapest on the market, but we feel we offer a better product,” he says. 

Relationship building is a key component of IBS’s sales pitch. IBS regularly conducts customer reviews to find out what customers expect from IBS and how the business can improve. 

“We can only go as well as our clients go. If we can help our clients succeed, we’ll be better for it. Our goal is to make sure their customers keep coming back to them and that generally means we have to go that extra mile in regards service.”

Long-term relationship

Eye Catcha Promo Products is one customer that can back up Siganto’s ethos of service, partnering and relationships. Sixteen years after becoming IBS’s first client, Eye Catcha still places orders with the Gold Coast shop.

Siganto’s position within IBS has changed over the past five years. In 2007, he became sole owner after buying out O’Donnell. Two years later, he promoted Michael Culverwell, his longest-serving employee, to general manager. Culverwell now handles the day-to-day running of the business while Siganto acts as a consultant, gap-filler, key relationship manager and “thinker-in-chief”.

It has been a smart move, says the 39-year-old, and one he recommends to other executives. Apart from allowing him to spend more time with his wife and two children, it’s provided the breathing space so he can look at IBS from a distance and think more deeply about the future. Being immersed in something means you often can’t see the forest for the trees. Now he has the time to conduct thorough research and plot strategy – working on the business rather than in the business. 

This freedom was apparent just this year, when Signato made the pilgrimage to Düsseldorf. He says he probably wouldn’t have found the time to attend Drupa had he been the hands-on boss of old. 

Another outcome he might have missed had he not stepped into this free-ranging role is to implement Edit & Print, an idea that had been floating around his head for years.

Edit & Print is a service that provides resellers with personalised web-to-print-compliant websites. It was launched in January by IBS and partner 44 Gallons Technology. Development took 18 months and was “a pretty big gamble” costing “hundreds of thousands” of dollars, he says.

Edit & Print gels with the IBS model of helping printers help themselves – especially the smaller ones that might need more support. 

Siganto says he is pleased with how Edit & Print has been received. Customers include Notable Imprint in South Australia and Queensland outfits ID Print and My Red Heeler. Discussions with a major national chain are also in their final stages.

The service began as Siganto’s baby, but Culverwell has become increasingly involved. Siganto notes that while Edit & Print was initially used solely by established IBS clients, it is now attracting new businesses that arrived via referrals or internet searches.

Ambitious plans

A lot of companies would resist launching an expensive new service in a challenging market, but Siganto is ambitious. He wants his company to grow, despite the economic climate. 

Sadly, times aren’t what they once were. Siganto has noticed a big jump in competition and a corresponding fall in margins. “Our biggest clients aren’t turning over what they were five years ago,” he says. 

He is alarmed by overcapacity in the industry and anticipates a reckoning. Signato predicts hard-pressed businesses will make fewer investments in machinery and increasingly resort to outsourcing, which would be to IBS’s benefit.

IBS is an all-offset shop, partly because it doesn’t want to be seen to be snatching very short-run work away from its clients, most of which have digital machines. IBS’s minimum business card run is 250, though that may soon drop to 100, says Culver-well. The company positions itself in the middle ground between short-run digital and massive-run offset. A typical run is 1,000, although 50,000 is not unheard of.

“To run anything longer on our machines in our environment would degrade our workflow and have an impact on the other jobs going through the system. If we were doing bigger and bigger runs for our customers, those turnaround times they’ve come to rely on would push out,” he says.

Green and lean

The company’s line-up includes two waterless KBA Genius 52UVs, three Heidelberg platens, a Heidelberg cylinder, an Autobond Mini TPH laminator, a Polar guillotine and an Itoh guillotine. The fast makereadies of the Geniuses have helped make IBS a greener and leaner operation, says Siganto. While traditional offset machines might require up to 250 sheets to reach full colour, the Geniuses can get there on just 15 sheets, says Culverwell. They are also more precise.

“Waste-wise, it’s absolute minimal compared with what it used to be. Colour variation from start to finish and run to run was a massive issue. The waterless technology has eliminated that variable. Jobs can be easily repeated. So if you place an order six months down the track, it’s going to be the same, not depending on how the operator feels.”

IBS became ISO 12647 certified in 2011, about six months after acquiring the two Geniuses from dealer Jet Technologies. It was a time-consuming and expensive process, but one Culverwell feels has made IBS a more attractive partner.

“It’s an international standard.
It reinforces that we’re committed to premium service for customers and provides them with a point of difference. They can tell their customers that they’re producing colour-certified material and guarantee that their cards and letterheads are going to be the same.”

Siganto wants IBS to constantly monitor how new technologies can help the firm produce cards ever more efficiently, because he’s convinced professionals will continue to value exchanging printed cards for the same reason they value shaking hands. 

“It’s still the common business point. I don’t think that will ever change.”.

IBS produces almost four million cards per month, says Culverwell. Business cards make up 73.5% of the printing mix. Other revenue drivers include flyers (9%), stationery (7%), postcards (4%), stickers (2%) corporate folders (2%) and calendars (1%). The company derives about 99% of its revenue from printing and the rest from a small volume of packaging, says Culverwell.

If Siganto has his way, IBS will continue to grow, although he has no fixed idea about how much growth or how this ought to occur. He would consider acquiring another business if it was successful and had synergies, although says he wouldn’t have the heart to take over a company that was going under.

Organic growth is another possibility. He believes that if the company can serve its customers well and learn to market itself better, IBS will grow through word of mouth. Becoming leaner also appeals. The company’s rapid growth in its early years placed a strain on cash flow and staffing, he says, so finding internal efficiencies would be a neat way to keep moving forward.

For a plan that started as an attempt to find a steady job and pay off a credit card, things have turned out all right. 

FACTFILE

Established 1996

Location Gold Coast

Headcount 20

Equipment 

· Two KBA Genius 52UVs

· Three Heidelberg platens

· Heidelberg cylinder

· Autobond Mini TPH laminator

· Polar guillotine 

· Itoh guillotine

Turnover $4.5 million

Sector Trade printing

BUSINESS BRIEFING: IBS DESIGN RESOURCES

· IBS Design Resources started trading in 1996 after Scott Siganto and co-founder Mark O’Donnell spotted a gap in the market: producing business cards for other printers

· The company derives 99% of its revenue from printing. About three-quarters of that is business cards

· IBS still works with its first customer, Eye Catcha Promo Products

· The Gold Coast outfit has grown every year, including 20-30% in its early years

· IBS became ISO 12647-certified in 2011

· It co-launched a web-to-print service in January following 18 months of development

· IBS’s all-offset line-up includes two KBA Genius 52UVs and three Heidelberg platens

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