HCPro Reduced Waste with On Demand Print
Background:
Our long-time customer, Massachusetts-based HCPro, is an industry-leading publisher of—in their own words—“integrated information, education, training, and consulting products and services in the vital areas of healthcare regulation and compliance.”
The H&H Group had reliably provided affordable book printing and fulfillment services for HCPro in the past, but changes in both their industry and our own were causing prices for their books to begin creeping up.
Mike Williams, our Vice President here at H&H, attributed rising costs to the fact that HCPro was doing shorter print runs of many of their books and manuals. After all, in our current world of ever-evolving healthcare compliance regulations, it simply didn’t make sense for HCPro to print 1,000 books at a time when they could all potentially be outdated—and have to be disposed of—the next day.
The Challenge:
HCPro’s shorter run book printing orders were actually costing them much more per unit, and their profit margins were becoming untenable. For instance, they had been used to paying a specific dollar amount when ordering printing for a total quantity of 250 copies. If they wanted just 10 copies instead—a much less potentially wasteful number for most healthcare compliance and training titles—it might create a price jump for printing by about 2x (or more) per book. And that kind of extreme cost increase would have to be passed on to the consumer.
Meanwhile, “the self-publishing author explosion started happening, and online on-demand printers were cropping up to provide low-cost services for these content creators,” says Williams. “We knew we had to bring a similar level of savings to our customers like HCPro so they wouldn’t need to raise book prices for their own customers, or worse—consider another printer.”
The Solution:
Because The H&H Group’s core values promote integrity, relationships, and problem-solving, there was no question that we wouldn’t do whatever it took to get HCPro the savings they needed on their printing, and maybe revolutionize their order fulfillment process at the same time.
The H&H Group continued to collaborate with HCPro to work toward building “book of one” print-on-demand services to meet their needs and hopefully will be able to utilize this model for other customers in the future. We began strategically purchasing new printing equipment that would make print-on-demand books better while keeping production costs contained.
Results:
Thanks to our great partnership with HCPro, we were able to meet their need for very short print runs for their books (we also produce and fulfill orders for other items they sell like DVDs and software packages) at an acceptably low cost.
Their books are now truly printed-on-demand products, which means they can sell their products direct to consumers on their website, have them printed later that night, and then shipped out the next business day by H&H.
On-demand book printing further allows the customer to operate on a “zero inventory” model, where items are produced and shipped as needed instead of pulled from a deep inventory that’s taking up thousands of square feet in expensive warehouse space. This model reduces the problem of obsolescence, too, because if content changes and a new version of a book needs to be printed, there is no associated disposal of existing copies of the outdated version.
We’re grateful to HCPro for helping us grow our capabilities in on-demand printing by working with us to address their challenge of rising printing costs and unnecessary inventory storage. Without excellent partners like HCPro, The H&H Group wouldn’t be where it is today.
Want to Improve Your Company’s Profitability, Too?
Is your business struggling with high printing costs or fulfillment issues? The H&H Group is here for companies throughout Central PA and beyond to provide strong support—and savings—on your printing, signage, and more!
Get in touch with us today to start the conversation about how we can work together to bring more value to your marketing.
