Quad/Graphics Center Illustrates Power of Clusters
To get a clear view of what the world of advanced manufacturing looks like, take a trip to Sussex, where QTI operates side-by-side with Quad/Graphics Inc. Originally known as Quad/Tech, QTI uses its 250 engineers to give Quad/Graphics a competitive edge in the marketplace. It is a marriage of commodity printing of magazines with high-tech process engineering, and it works. The recent sales coup at Quad/Graphics in landing the printing contract for National Geographic magazine demonstrates the power of combining production of mature products with cutting-edge technology . It was all the extra options offered by QTI/Quad that carried the day after more than a decade of salesmanship at National Geographic. All told, QTI has 520 people who produce press color controls, post-printing machinery that allows personalized messages on each magazine, and automated equipment for moving materials between the press and bindery. The technologies offered by QTI include optical scanning, sophisticated electronics, precision machining, software development and new approaches to the science of color. The business has exceeded $100 million in sales some years. About half of QTI's products are sold to Quad/Graphics, while the other half is sold into other web printing markets, such as the newspaper presses at Journal Sentinel Inc. and the high-end catalog presses at Arandell Corp. About 75% of the non-Quad business is exported. Some is sold to competitors. Quad's advanced manufacturing includes Quad/CRT (Chemical Research Technologies), which has 30 people working in Hartford to develop inks for the company's own presses. It adds up to making Quad more than a magazine printer. It is also an applied research and development powerhouse. When the late Harry Quadracci and his brother, Tom, now CEO, launched Quad/Tech in 1979, they were ahead of their time on understanding that intellectual capital is as important as a good work force and top-notch plants and equipment . They were looking for a high-tech edge. What makes this so interesting in Wisconsin is that the new centerpiece of the state's economic development strategy is knowledge-based clusters. And the Quad/QTI story illustrates the power of those dynamics in several ways: - Every cluster revolves around market-leading companies and R&D centers. Quad/QTI could be considered such a hub in Wisconsin.
- By definition, clusters have to export. QTI is doing just that, even as Quad/Graphics expands its printing business into Europe and South America.
- Infrastructure gets established to support the cluster, such as the new Quadracci Graphics Center at Waukesha County Technical College, and such as the marriage of the two-year printing program at WCTC and five other technical colleges, with three colleges that now offer four-year degrees in printing or graphics management: Carroll College, University of Wisconsin-Stout and UW-Platteville.
- Technological capability, once started, keeps expanding. QTI recently purchased two mammoth machining centers, adding to the technological prowess at the company and in the cluster.
- The interesting thing about the dynamics in a cluster is that the better it gets, the better it gets. By example, Quad has made three acquisitions in the last six years to pick up additional packages of technology that fit its line of products and services. That has resulted in additional jobs in Wisconsin.
Reinforcing the image of Wisconsin as a technical leader in printing is the strength of the flexographic printing industry in the Fox Valley, with presses being manufactured at PCM Corp. in Green Bay and training being delivered at the Bordini Center at the Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton. The state boasts many top flexo companies . Another long suit is a cluster of market-leading companies in the smaller niche of screen printing. Michael Makin, CEO of Printing Industries of America, said he is impressed by the array of capabilities in the printing industry in Wisconsin. While printing is sometimes thought of as being a low-tech, dirty industry, Makin said, "We are the farthest thing from that." Indeed, one printing expert commented that our growing muscle in the industry cluster could result in Wisconsin becoming "the Silicon Valley of printing."
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