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Teach and they will come
September 1, 2009 By: Mark Arzoumanian Paperboard PackagingHuston patterson makes continuous customer and employee education a top priority.
Solving problems can often be as easy as getting people together in one room to discuss them and come up with a solution that makes everyone's job easier. That's why label and top sheet printer Huston Patterson (HP), Decatur, Ill., takes pride in not only regularly meeting with but also educating its independent and integrated corrugated box customers.
 A sampling of the litho-laminated corrugated boxes made by Huston Patterson's customers. |
Not long ago a problem was solved when HP had one of its regular Team HPx meetings with a long-time customer in the box making industry. In the course of trying to better understand the customer's needs, it learned this client needed an easy way to track the printed labels that it buys, which it then applies to corrugated sheets. Until then even the box plant's executives never knew there was a problem. But Team HPx always makes certain that machine operators and production department employees are included in these client meetings.
It was during one of these that a client employee mentioned (for the first time) that he was having problems locating specific loads from HP within the plant's warehouse. The matter was quickly solved when HP started putting an internal inventory number on each load it sent this client. So now it tracks the loads easily.
Another client needed to know where the lead edge is located on its HP-made labels. Adding a mark to each sheet solved that problem, too.
 It's All about Morals |
Let's Go to School
Regularly meeting with clients is nothing new for HP, of course. But it took it to another level when in May 2007 it started the HPx Academy. President and CEO Thomas W. Kowa considers it another way for him to differentiate his company. It's dedicated to the memory of Robert G. Kowa, Tom's father, who purchased HP 48 years ago. It is used not only for HP classroom training but also for production, local Rotary Club, and local chamber of commerce meetings. In October 2007, the Association of Independent Corrugated Converters honored HP with the Innovator of the Year Award for this academy.
"Establishing the academy has definitely been a benefit to us," says Tonya Kowa-Morelli, vice president of sales and marketing. "We've taken our courses to clients that only dabbled in high-end graphics. Now they're loyal to us."
 When HP's customers visit the printer for press checks, they can rest in comfort at HP's Owner's Suite. |
The academy, which is open to clients, vendors, and all employees, has 36 courses with three levels of certification. Many of the courses are conducted in the Robert G. Kowa Theatre. To graduate, all employees are required to complete 12 courses, which range from Print 101 to Sustainability 1101.
Four basic classes are taught once a quarter. Depending on the employee's department, there are suggested electives as well as options based on his or her personal interests. The curriculum provides both classroom and hands-on training. One hundred percent of HP's employees that have been employed for six months or more have completed four core courses. HP will even create specific customer curriculums.
HP wants to make it as easy as possible for its customers to visit its operation to do press checks and attend its academy. So in spring 2007 it established HPx Air, a private aviation company that uses small, executive-class airports. Once its clients arrive in Decatur, they're put up in the HPx Owner's Suite, which includes a full-sized kitchen, deluxe bathroom, and king-size sleeping accommodations. The objective is to make conducting a press check as comfortable as possible and to make getting from Chicago (or any other city) to Decatur hassle-free.
 Thomas W. Kowa (center), president and ceo, Huston Patterson (HP), stands next to a painting of his dad, Robert, who acquired the 115-year-old company in 1961. Tonya Kowa-Morelli, right, vice president of sales and marketing, represent the third generation of Kowas at HP. |
In 2008, HP established its "arrive in 5" campaign, which promises customers that if an order comes in on a Monday it will be on their docks by Friday, as long as it isn't more than 10,000 sheets. And that applies to customers coast to coast.
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