Byline: Tim Christie The Register-Guard
Buffeted by competitive pressures from Internet publishers and low-cost printers in Asia, old-school printing firms are finding they need to change the way they do business to keep up in a rapidly changing industry.
The owners of long-time Eugene printers IP/Koke Printing have been seeking to adapt, but when they received an overture from an ambitious competitor about whether they wanted to sell the business, they decided to listen.
"The timing was right," Jason Pierce, the company's CEO, said Friday. "Printing is getting tougher and tougher."
IP/Koke, whose Eugene roots date to 1907, has reached an agreement in principal to be acquired by Core Communications of Corvallis. The deal, announced Thursday, is expected to close within 30 days.
IP/Koke has refocused its sales strategy and sought to broaden its geographic reach in recent years, but Pierce said he and his father, Dick Pierce, the board chairman, decided it made sense to sell the business to Core Communications.
Dick Pierce is already semiretired and "looking to simplify things for himself," Jason Pierce said. And Jason Pierce said he lacks the experience and background to take IP/Koke where it needs to go - particularly compared to Lou Butera, owner of Core Communications.
Butera has worked in the printing industry for more than 30 years and has a solid understanding of "where printing has moved to, not just where it has been," Jason Pierce said.
Like more and more competitors in the industry, Butera likes to say he's in the communications business, part of which includes printing, but which also involves helping customers with Web site development, data base management and mailing.
Butera bought Cascade Printing in Corvallis about a year ago and changed its name to Core Communications. He said he's not done growing the company and will likely make additional acquisitions.
Butera said IP/Koke will keep its name and estimated 73 employees and continue to operate at 2895 Chad Drive in Eugene. The deal does not include IP/Koke's property, which Butera will lease from the Pierces.
Jason Pierce said he and his father have agreed to stay on at IP/Koke for a limited period of time to help manage the company.
The Pierces will continue to own and operate a separate business, My Little Salesman, which publishes photo classified advertising publications for heavy equipment.
"I'm going to have to focus the majority of my time over there now," Jason Pierce said.
My Little Salesman had its best year ever, but the Internet is rapidly changing the nature of that business, and the company needs to change as well, he said.
Koke Printing was founded in 1907 by Joseph Koke. In 1987, Dick Pierce bought a majority interest in Koke Printing, and in 1990, he merged it with a company he founded called Industrial Publishing Co., creating IP/Koke.
Industrial Publishing is nation's largest publisher of auction materials for antique, collectible, estate and equipment sales.
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