Gutenberg Meets the Internet –
High Tech Printing in the Millennium

A new technology program was presented by Rich Begert, President and CEO of ImageX, Inc., headquartered in Seattle. Rich joined ImageX in 1998, after 12 years leadership of experience in the fast-paced wireless industry. He previously worked as Regional President of ATT Wireless/McCaw Cellular from 1993-1998, with McCaw Cellular as General Manger of Oregon operations from 1988-1993, and as Regional Director for Marketing for McCaw from 1986-1988. Previously, Mr. Begert served in sales and sales management positions with Xerox Corporation.

Despite the pressures from the new technology economy, Begert has led ImageX into high levels of leadership. The company was founded in 1995, began generating revenues in 1997 and went public in 1999. ImageX was named as one of the fastest growing companies since 2000. The company was #3 in 2000, #5 in 2001 and #7 in 2002 in an economy that has challenged many a CEO.

“We at ImageX are really blending the old and new economies. Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press represents one of the oldest technologies,” said Begert. “We have combined the two technologies. Printing since Gutenberg invented the printing press in 15th century hasn’t evolved much since that time. The technology operates on the premise that oil and water don’t mix. Printing operates by image pressure transfer technology and generation of metal plates to affect that transfer. It is still cost effective for long run lengths (in the millions).”

Speaker Rich Begert (L) with President Kim Shrader

Begert continued: “Printing is a $300 billion market. Commercial printing, creative and pre-press services, publishing and specialty printing result in a very fragmented industry. This fact has allowed our company to utilize the power of the internet to offer printing to large-scale users and deliver products at competitive prices.”

Rich laid the groundwork of how traditional printing works. First comes order entry, a custom-manufactured product. The job ticket and sales order are created. Then comes layout, where the copy is created and typeset. The customer must proof and approve of the work. Then, the project is put in the Queue, where it waits in line. Several things happen at this stage, where there’s an opportunity to batch the printing with other projects. The imposition of the layout goes onto a plate, and things such as”trapping” and color separation result in a print-ready file.

“Our company has made numerous acquisitions and filings for patents,” Begert observed. ImageX isn’t profitable yet, but we’re forecasting we’ll reach that plateau later this year.”

The ImageX print system combines innovative technology and is reinventing the way major corporations use printing. The ImageX overview:

Automated print production and distribution with four major categories:

• Online procurement
• Print manufacturing automation
• Sophisticated financial data and reporting
• Vendor integrated model

A client logs on to the ImageX system to something called “e-procurement,” which consists of a profile of each client. “We leverage technology to save time and money,” explained Begert. Some of the pluses for using the ImageX system include:

• Convenient online ordering regardless of location
• Orders are created and proofed online
• Orders are approved and submitted – email sent
• ImageX prints, fulfills and delivers, with the print job often sent to vendors
• Online reporting and tracking progress
• World class customer service

“Our goal is to simplify the management and distribution of printing,” reports Begert. We have more than 350 customers within the window of our 5-years of experience. The internet has allowed us to customize this business. The Internet is another medium. It’s just another evolution of a medium. The evolution went from print to radio to television to Internet. The older mediums are still around. We are learning to build on the tool of the Internet. The Internet is a tool and is not a business model.”

During question/answer time, Begert was asked how they were able to build the company so fast. “We’ve acquired printing plants and with them came customers. This has allowed us to produce cash positives in this early going. Our patents are mostly of the automation of the pre-press process to generate the plates, automatic file conversion, and accessing the database of new information entered.”

What about capacity? “Our turnaround time is quick, mainly due to our batching of projects. Changeover on the press from one job to another creates downtime. Our goal is to eliminate changeovers. Our vendor network fills the need of capacity. We are constantly seeking much more rapid turnaround time.”

Shipping and inventory? “We try to standardize the requests of clients, so we can provide a high quality service and rapid turnaround. In order to do this, we have to have the paper stock on hand. So, we work towards standardization.”

Bob Vallat introduces the speaker.

“We’ve found a high standard of reliability working through the Internet. With less than a 5% revenue growth, we’ll be cash-flow positive. As we add new clients, we’re also aware that re-branding projects by existing companies is a valuable part of our business.”

On the horizon in this industry? Continue to develop new technologies, with expanded interfaces of the company with customers. For international business, tariffs and shipping costs are almost prohibitive for international customers at this point. We are working hard to make the domestic model work, then we’ll look at the world market.

Rich Begert joined the many presenters during 2002-2003 to receive a certificate that the BBRC has donated 240 doses of vaccine in his name to help eradicate polio. Thanks to Bob Vallat for his introduction.