Get the job done, no matter what it entails! Meyers, a Minneapolis, MN-based print and packaging supplier, specializing in label and other applications for nearly 70 years, has embraced that philosophy from day one. Its executive management team proclaims, “Meyers’ organizational commitment to innovation, creative problem solving and design allows us to engineer solutions that keep clients one step ahead of their competition.”
Emphasizing that point, the tenured member of Flexographic Technical Association (FTA) declares, “Our culture fosters revolutionary innovation. Our mission, vision and values guide every conversation we have, every decision we make, and every interaction we have among our team members and with our customers. We recognize the ability of our company is truly the sum of the abilities of individual employees. We own responsibilities from start to finish and embrace the lifelong pursuit of perfect performance through improvements in all our processes.”
Gregg Temple, president, explains, “Our brand promise is ‘Collaboration. Excellence. Possibilities.’ We believe collaboration and excellence create new possibilities for customers.” He also notes, “Since 1962, Meyers has supplied high-quality labels to some of the most ambitious customers, under the most intense requirements, in the industry. We’ve made investments in state-of-the-art equipment totaling more than $22 million. This includes some of the world’s largest and most versatile presses that can print on virtually any substrate imaginable. Whether our customer needs are focused around flexo, digital or finishing, we have the skill set and equipment to get the job done.”
[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”Eric Pohl, vice president of sales/new business development at Meyers” link=”” color=”#00ffff” class=”” size=””]”Quality, price and delivery are, in this day and age, non-negotiables with clients.”[/perfectpullquote]
Evolving Business
Gregg cites company history dating back to 1949, when Founder Gerry Dillon bought a single sheetfed letterpress firm from Joe Meyers to start a family business. Generations later, Co-Owners David Dillon and Chris Dillon Sr., who jointly helmed the firm for decades and now sit on its board of directors, recently appointed Michael Lane as CEO. Today, Meyers bills itself as “an international leader in brand marketing and high-end commercial printing.” Revenues have grown to more than $60 million annually and the plant—housing label, card and retail marketing solutions (large-format graphics and displays) divisions—has grown into a 250,000 sq. ft. facility.
“Across the whole business,” Gregg explains, “we provide solutions to customer problems, things that they haven’t previously been able to do. We have a design staff that truly creates new things for the brand owners.” Others, like Matt Evers, vice president of quality and continuous improvement, echo the claim. “Meyers has a long history of doing things other label providers can’t or won’t do.” He and others credit a commitment to technology and innovation with making it possible. One example: “Our new hybrid press [MPS EF SYMJET powered by Domino] really enables us to solve more problems and take on work other producers shy away from.”
Setting Standards
“Quality, price and delivery are, in this day and age, non-negotiables with clients,” notes Eric Pohl, vice president of sales/new business development. “On delivery and lead time, Meyers does a very good job of beating industry standards. We turn quality product around very quickly.” To that he adds, “We believe the new hybrid press will create an even higher expectation with our clients in terms of lead times because of its versatility, ease of setup and makeready, which allow us to produce jobs even more quickly.”
Eric continues, “Customers don’t have patience for inferior quality. For example, we have one particular client in the food industry that will reject the whole lot of labels if it is missing a word, or a character, or a letter inside the ingredient panel. Matt and his continuous improvement team are working diligently to ensure we have systems in place to catch errors, which helps us deliver unparalleled quality and efficiency. When mistakes happen, we have a very robust corrective action program internally that allows us to review everything that went wrong and make sure we are not just meeting clients’ expectations, but exceeding them.”
Such actions are driven by end-user consumers in the marketplace, particularly in the primary product labels market, according to Eric. “Consumers want to buy products that work—items where the product and packaging look good.” Talking to specifics, he says, “Think of all the craft beers and spirits that are coming out now, or any type of high-end haircare products. Brand owners spend a lot of time figuring out what looks good, because at the end of the day, they can do all the advertising they want, but what really sells product is when the consumer walks down the aisle and says, ‘I want to take a closer look at this product because the packaging grabbed my attention… it looks really cool.’”
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