Zenith Engraving Company, Inc.
Chester, South Carolina

THE OVERVIEW
Zenith Engraving Company, Inc. has been in business since 1961 and currently has 35 hard-working employees. They are so hard working because each one of them is an owner of the company. Zenith is an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan), and its employees own 100 percent of the company. They purchased the company in 1999 when it was slated to be closed due to a downturn in the textile industry. Under new, innovative ownership, the company is now growing and has increased its number of employees by about 15 percent this year. The hiring trend is continuing with the addition of graphic designers and customer service representatives, a welcome change from the downturn of the late 1990s and early 2000s.

THE CHALLENGE
Historically, Zenith Engraving made screens for rotary screen printers who produced printed fabric for the textile industry, primarily upholstery and drapery fabrics. The industry began disappearing about 10-12 years ago as consumer trends shifted away from printed fabric and toward woven, leather, and solid-dyed fabrics instead. It became apparent that in order to survive, the company must reinvent itself. Employees bought the company and shortly thereafter, SCMEP became involved.

THE SOLUTION
As a first step, Zenith participated in SCMEP's no-cost Competitiveness Review(TM) where the management, operations and marketing efforts of the company were reviewed to determine any limiting factors. Zenith was experimenting with digital printing and believed its existing customer base would benefit from the speed that digital printing could bring to the proof-approval process. In addition, it seemed reasonable that customized short runs of digitally printed fabric would provide a cost effective alternative to conventional printing for interior design firms. The primary outcome from the assessment was confirmation that the foray into digital printing was a step in a new and exciting direction for the company and what Zenith really needed at that point was more strategic market direction.  SCMEP Manufacturing Specialist Tim Sinclair then used researchers from the University of Minnesota to conduct a market study to see if high-end interior designers would be interested in their custom pillows, fabrics, etc.

In addition, Manufacturing Specialist Rhonda Huskins provided lean manufacturing training and implementation to get Zenith on track to be able to competitively offer customized, short runs of its apparel items.

THE IMPACT
The market research report indicated the concept of customized fabric printing was ideal but that the target market was not ready to move in this new direction. The $50 million market had little, if any, competition back in 1999. The study prompted Zenith to set up an e-commerce site at customprintedfabrics.com with the help of a web site designer referred by SCMEP and sell its finished products through major retailers nationwide. Today, it has given some energy to the textile industry because the operation regularly uses cut and sew facilities to create its pillows, tote bags, and related apparel.

"The marketing study was very useful and told us we were barking up the wrong tree," says Zenith Engraving President Andy Graven. "The Lean work taught us how to digitally produce one product at a time."

Graven reports the positive impact to Zenith is the 250 percent digital growth through Custom Printed Fabrics that he directly attributes to SCMEP's marketing and lean services.