Founded over 95 years ago as a general commercial printer, KP LLC has shifted its focus over the past decade to data-driven critical communications in healthcare, banking, financial services, legal breach, and government.
Today, KP has about 400 employees operating out of nine facilities across four states with its headquarters in San Leandro, California. The company generates annual revenues between$80 and $100 million and provides a wide range of services within its target industries. According to Brett Birky, the company’s Chief Operating Officer, “The bulk of the work we do has compliance and regulatory components, is highly personalized, printed on demand, delivers through the mail, and demands an extremely high level of accuracy, since most of it contains highly sensitive personal information.”
The transition to more data-driven applications required a reconfiguration of KP’s operations. For example, at its Sacramento facility, KP transitioned the bulk of its printing to roll-fed production inkjet presses, while maintaining some cut-sheet toner-based presses for specialty work, including book covers. Chris Howton, the Vice President of Operations for KP’s Sacramento Division, notes, “In 2007, we onboarded a new client and helped them migrate from a pick-and-pack fulfillment operation to print-on-demand, with fewer touch points and less inventory obsolescence. To accomplish this, we worked with our Horizon dealer partner, Print & Finishing Solutions, and made several investments with Standard Finishing, bringing in two Horizon BQ-470 Perfect Binders with integrated camera matching systems that ensure covers are perfectly matched to book blocks. We also invested in two HT-70 Three-knife Trimmers. We wanted two of everything for redundancy, and that equipment is still in service today. As we and our client base grew, we’ve put in additional equipment over the years to accommodate a variety of peaks, including a third BQ-470 and a BQ-460 which has since been transferred over to the San Leandro facility. We also run a Horizon SPF-200A Bookletmaker in San Leandro.”
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