The Challenge Flint Group is a leading global manufacturer of printing consumables and equipment for flexible packaging, paper and board, narrow web, and publication industries. In 2023, the company had over 5,000 employees and more than $1.6 billion in annual revenue.
Print consumables, such as toner, ink, and paper, are essential components in the printing process, directly affecting printed outputs' quality, reliability, and efficiency. High-quality consumables ensure sharper images and text, consistent print quality, longer-lasting prints, and overall better printing equipment performance. Using inferior consumables can lead to poor print quality, equipment malfunctions, increased downtime, and higher long-term costs due to more frequent maintenance and part replacements. Flint Group must diligently maintain the quality and consistency of the rubber compounds used in its offset printing blankets to ensure customer satisfaction.
Joseph Groves, Lead Buyer at Flint Group, highlighted the company's significant challenge: "As the North American rubber compounding market has consolidated, we've found ourselves increasingly dependent upon fewer sources. In the event of quality issues, rising costs, upstream supply constraints or other challenges, recourse to mitigate and reduce exposure was minimal."
This consolidation in the market left Flint Group vulnerable to supply chain disruptions and quality inconsistencies. The company needed a solution that would not only expand their sourcing security but also deliver greater stability and value to their customers while increasing capacity to secure new business.
The Solution Mountville Rubber provided Flint Group with six custom nitrile-based compounds for offset printing blankets. The process involved:
- 1. Conducting an initial meeting to understand Flint Group's requirements.
- 2. Trialing and refining the rubber compounds to ensure they met the high-quality standards required for print consumables.
- 3. Offering a transparent pricing model detailing material costs, conversion costs, and targeted margins.
- 4. Establishing a biweekly meeting routine to ensure ongoing collaboration and address any issues promptly.
- 5. Ensuring a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee, which included taking back and reprocessing any unsatisfactory material at no additional cost.
Groves emphasized the importance of quality in their industry: "Materials required for the printing industry require extremely good dispersion and high purity. Small amounts of undispersed material or cure lumps can cause huge problems. Mountville has repeatedly supplied well dispersed and thoroughly blended material."
Furthermore, Mountville's technical expertise enabled significant process improvements. As Groves noted, "The technical expertise that Mountville has provided has allowed us to move two of our compounds from 2 pass to single pass with no loss in quality." This transition from a two-pass to a one-pass compound led to cost savings and manufacturing efficiencies for Flint Group.
The Results The partnership yielded significant benefits for Flint Group, including:
- 1. Cost Savings: Flint Group realized substantial cost savings by switching to a more efficient one-pass compound process. Groves reported, "Through Mountville's strong efforts to supply to our material specifications and expedite production of greater volumes, we are outpacing our projected cost savings to an aggressive annual target ~10% of raw material spend."
- 2. Improved Quality and Reliability: Mountville Rubber's open and transparent communication ensured that Flint Group received consistently high-quality materials, reducing the risk of defects in their printing blankets. Groves highlighted a specific example: "We have had issues in the past with material coming in with unmelted bale wrap in the mix of our compounds. Mountville's dedication to quality has helped us identify the issues and resolve them so that this problem is one that we don't have to worry about anymore."
- 3. Enhanced Efficiency: Mountville Rubber's streamlined processes and biweekly collaboration meetings improved operational efficiency and fostered a robust, long-term partnership. Groves praised Mountville's approach: "Mountville's technical collaboration, unparalleled quality support, and commercial transparency have been instrumental in driving our shared business in 2024."
- 5. Increased Production Capacity: Flint Group's production ramp-up exceeded expectations, with Mountville Rubber scaling up quickly to meet their needs. This increased capacity allowed Flint Group to secure new business opportunities.
Overall, Mountville Rubber's approach met and exceeded Flint Group's expectations, positioning them as the primary rubber supplier for Flint Group's offset printing blankets. The partnership has been so successful that Flint Group's procurement team now considers Mountville Rubber "A strong contender in the North American rubber market" and "A key value partner for the future of our industry."