Innvoke: Always Embracing Opportunity

Innvoke stands out because they made a strategic bet that most printing companies avoid:
Instead of trying to be everything to everyone from a single location with a single technology stack, they built a portfolio of specialist companies and let each operation do what it does best.” That’s how Pat McGrew of McGrewGroup described the company she nominated as one of this year’s most innovative operations.

While the company itself lists Cranbury, NJ, as its base of operations, it also has locations in Pennsylvania and Georgia — each one a strategic acquisition that brought a unique set of capabilities and people to the mix.

Jay Ziegler, president and operating partner, notes that Innvoke was created and grew through a series of strategic acquisitions that paid close attention to the culture and the people, not just the equipment.

“During the vetting process, [we made sure] these companies had similar cultures — very service-oriented, very employee-driven, customer-focused,” he explains.

That made the process of integrating the different businesses much easier in many ways. The result, Ziegler says, is a company that is strong precisely because of the diverse talent all moving in the same direction.

“We’ve got a very strong culture, a lot of veterans on our staff, and people who really want to go the extra mile for our customers,” he notes. “We also have a baseline model of trying to find a way to say ‘yes.’ So we’ve got a lot of mix-and-match equipment and people skills under our three roofs, and, we really focus on finding out what the customer wants and then [we match] our people and equipment capabilities to deliver for them at high quality with almost always short lead times. That requires your people to have a service mindset and be innovative about their approach to the opportunities.”

Always Saying ‘Yes’

Ziegler’s philosophy to always try to say “yes” to everything has led to a portfolio that can handle almost anything. From direct mail, to wide-format, to retail, to labels and packaging, and even to fine art printing, Innvoke has ensured it can do it all.

Innvoke produced this black printed necklace reproductions based on Robert Longo’s original pieces of painted textured art.
| Credit: Innvoke

In fact, McGrew notes, it is this culture of embracing opportunity that made the company stand out the most to her.

“In an industry where ‘innovation’ too often means buying a new press and printing the same things faster, [Innvoke] is genuinely expanding what print can be,” she says. “The combination of screen, offset, and UV flatbed in a single workflow, and the discipline to master effects like droptix and dropgloss at production scale, puts them in a very small category of shops worldwide. They’re not experimenting. They’re delivering.”

And the next major push? The label and packaging space. The Georgia facility was acquired for its abilities in that area, and Ziegler notes they are currently in the process of a major upgrade and overhaul of the flexo line, which will increase their capabilities by large leaps. He currently has the field narrowed to two potential manufacturers, and intends to add a 10-color, 17" line very soon. His hope, once he finishes his research and makes the final decision on what to install, is to “diversify into more regional, multi-site type of customers with medium to longer runs.”

“It initially was our thesis to build, under a buy-and-build strategy, a labels and packaging company,” Ziegler explains. “And that was always going to be our focus. It just so happened that our first opportunities to start building something were in other segments. But now our focus — unless something just came in out of left field that we would consider — we’re now only going to focus on acquiring label or packaging companies.”

He continues, “It’s driven by the fact that it’s what’s most interesting to me in print. It’s where I started in print, although I’ve pretty much been involved in all sorts of print throughout my career. And it’s a segment where sometimes you have one-time customers or people who just buy a little bit from you here and there. But what I really like about [labels and packaging] is you can build long-term customers with repeatable programs. The pipeline of business is a lot more predictable. And when you’re looking to invest in additional capabilities or technologies, it’s much more based on what you can predict to happen versus having a ‘build it and they will come’ type of a situation, which of course, in any business, is the most risky thing to do.”

That doesn’t mean he isn’t making investments everywhere. The company is in the midst of an ERP upgrade that will unify all the sites under one system, making work flow much more easily between locations as the need arises. Ziegler also notes they are investing in upgrades to equipment across the board, such as a new HP Indigo 7K+ digital press replacing an older Indigo 7800, and additional Canon Colorado printers. He is even upgrading to a new Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system that will integrate into the ERP, which he notes will be PrintVis once it’s all up and running. Ziegler says he’s fortunate to work with investors who support him when a customer need arises that requires equipment or software investment.

All this innovation hinges on a mindset McGrew says all printers should embrace: Stop thinking about what your equipment can do, and start thinking about your company’s unique value.

“[They] identified a gap between what brand marketers and display designers were imagining and what most shops could actually produce, and then built the capability to close it,” she says. “That’s a different mindset than chasing volume. It also means investing in application development, not just production capacity. … Differentiation in print right now is less about the machine and more about the mastery. Find one thing you can do better than anyone in your market, go deep on it, and make sure your sales team can explain why it matters to a brand manager who has never thought about how a lens printed in clear ink on acrylic can stop a retail shopper in their tracks.”

Ziegler notes that the best advice he can give to others looking to embrace this mindset is to make it all about the people.

“I think it’s always about listening to your customers,” he says. “We go through a process where I go out with our sales team and meet with our top 10 to 20 customers. And really, it’s just an opportunity to thank them for their business and get a better insight as to what’s going on in their business, where’s their business heading, is there anything more that we could do to support them? I think that you see a lot of companies that are involved in something that seems very unique or strange. And the reason they get into something very specialized is because they’re performing well for the customer. And sometimes the customer asks you as a trusted partner, ‘Hey, we’ve got this opportunity, would you support us by getting the capability to do it?’ Those are the easiest decisions to make because you know that there’s going to be revenue and ROI there.”

“The other thing too is just walking the floor and listening to your employees and making sure they have the best tools to do their jobs,” he continues. “Those are always happier employees. It’s about supporting the employees in the factories with the tools to do the job.”

Innvoke proves that innovation doesn’t have to be one flashy piece of equipment or application. It can be a quiet focus on building something that puts people first, and giving them what they need to stay excited, stay curious, and stay engaged. Start there, and the work will speak for itself.