Posts tagged: Metro Matbaacılık

Sezen Tamay stated, “People who maintain their quality, honesty, and continuously serve their customers can sustain this business for many more years.”

Located in Buca Organized Industrial Zone in İzmir, Metro Printing specializes in catalog printing and operates as a successful enterprise that selects its clients, exports its products, and works at full capacity with two shifts. Metro Printing is an example that showcases how specialization, quality, and customer satisfaction-focused work can make a difference even in the commercial printing sector, which is often considered challenging in recent years with downward trends in statistics.

Metro Printing, a family business, is managed by Sezen Tamay. Tamay answered our questions at the facility covering an area of 5000 square meters.

Could you summarize the development of your company since its inception?

I am a graduate of Fine Arts. Printing runs in the family; I have been in the printing business for 25 years, and my father has been in it for 50 years. We approached printing from a slightly different perspective. We focus solely on catalog printing and do not produce other items like labels, chrome cardboard, or boxes as many other printing houses do. We tell our customers to come to us if they only need catalogs because we have specialized in this area. I believe we have come a long way in 25 years.

Do you have design and photography services before printing?

No, we only handle pre-press, printing, post-press, and quality control in-house. From thread stitching to lamination and attaching the cover, everything is done within our premises. The job is completed before it leaves the printing house. We have to do this because when we want such meticulous work, it won’t yield positive results if the job goes outside.

We have strived to choose the best brands for our investments. We made choices like ‘Polar is the best in cutting knives,’ ‘Müller Martini is the best in bookbinding machines,’ and ‘Eizo is the best in screens.’ We are very satisfied with all the investments we have made so far. We have 30% exports. This percentage may not be high for me, but we import paper from Europe, print on it, and export it again. This export is a source of joy for me. When containers arrive from Europe, I feel sad, but when we fill one of those containers and export it, I feel happy.

This work is conducted in collaboration between advertising agencies and printing houses. Convincing the advertising agency shows that we maintain high quality and offer the right price.

When it comes to machine selection, I cannot pass without mentioning the late Şafak Okaygün from Pacific Trading, who had significant contributions in making the right choices and guiding our path.

In the printing house, everything is kept on record. If you had ordered a catalog from us 10 years ago, we can find it, and everyone can see the job that will be printed. We developed software for ourselves and recommend it to all our colleagues.

Could you elaborate on this topic? What are the modules included?

We have two modules. One is related to orders. Orders usually come via email. The colleagues who take the order enter the following information into the system: When was the catalog order received? Who placed the order? How many copies were ordered? When will it be delivered?

This is the order form. The other is the production form. This form contains information about which machine the catalog will be printed on, the production number, the size of the job, the quantity, which company’s job it is, the delivery date, the number of copies to be delivered, and more. It is a very simple software. When we all log into this software online, we can easily see at which stage the job is.

We hold production meetings with the staff every morning at 10:30, including Saturdays. We work in two shifts a day.

What machines do you have in your equipment park?

We are Roland users. We have about 17 – 18 printing units. We are planning to increase this number soon. We also wish to continue our collaboration with Pacific Trading.

Do you differentiate customers based on sectors?

We do not make such differentiation. We have two types of agreements. Some request catalog prices from us, and our colleagues pass on the price offer. The most important ones are the annual agreements we have with our customers. We sit down with them and make an agreement that will be advantageous for both sides. We make annual agreements with 60% of our customers, and we try to persuade new customers to work in the same manner. They come, see our printing house, see the standards at which we print, and then we learn what they have printed during the year and present them with a table. If we agree, there are no disputes or problems during the year.

What is your projection for the future? There are serious issues related to oversupply and competition in commercial printing nowadays. You seem to have surpassed these challenges. What are your thoughts on the competition and business approach between the past and today?

People who maintain their quality, honesty, and continuously serve their customers can sustain this business for many more years. I do not even like to use the term ‘commercial printing’; it is entirely printing tailored to demand. Let me give you a good example. Last year, when I went abroad and visited my cousin in the USA, we ordered cigars online. The USA is the country that uses the internet the most and engages in online shopping more than any other. While we still have around 50 – 60% of the population using the internet, it is around 90% in the USA. When we received the ordered cigars the next day, a large cigar catalog came out of the box. My cousin immediately looked at it and said, ‘How nice, I was about to buy a cigar cabinet.’ A light bulb went off in my mind at that moment. Every order placed on the internet is a channel through which you can insert a printed document into someone’s home. This is a channel that has already paid for shipping, has a known address, and goes to the right place 100%. Even when I order something from a brand in Turkey, they include a catalog with the product. People say the demand has decreased, but since October, it’s already June, and this