Strategic Planning at Branch-Smith Printing Division

Case Study

STRATEGIC PLANNING AT BRANCH-SMITH PRINTING DIVISION

Submitted to:

Dr. Josephine Concepcion Mendoza, DBM

Submitted by:

Darla Kricia A. Valerio 

1. BRIEF COMPANY HISTORY

1910 ~ Smith Printing was founded in Fort Worth, Texas by Aaron Smith. Aaron Smith was born with no arms, learned to write and type with his toes and worked as an editor of the Weatherford Democrat in the early 1900’s. He began his professional life by earning an attorney’s certificate in 1889.

1915 ~ One of Aaron’s printing accounts was Southern Florist magazine published by the Texas State Florist Association. After it ceased publication during World War I when coal was not available to warm greenhouses, Smith and other investors revived it and published it weekly thereafter.

1954 ~ Smith Printing was incorporated as Branch-Smith Printing, when Aaron’s daughter Carrie Beth and her husband Oscar Branch joined the business.

1964 ~ Branch-Smith Printing completed a capacity expansion of 7,500 square foot addition built next to the house then used as an office and plant.

1978 ~ David Branch, now Chairman / President joined the company as a full time employee to manage the growth of the printing company.

1983 ~ Branch-Smith Printing purchased a larger building next door to increase its manufacturing facility to a total of 45,000 square feet, while completely remodeling both the corporate office and the plant. During this expansion, the company’s first four color press was installed as well as a perfect binder for soft bound publication work.

1990’s ~ Our customers and Branch-Smith Printing moved to desktop publishing. To support this undertaking, the company greatly expanded the bindery services and the prepress services as well as the electronic infrastructure to give the company the ability to be an Internet Service Provider (ISP).

1999 ~ Branch-Smith Printing makes a significant investment of over $2 million in capital improvements into equipment to increase sales and expand services. Reconfiguring its printing plant through the purchase of new equipment, the institution of more efficient work processes and by hiring additional staff, the company sets goals to double sales in the next two years. New equipment included an eight -color Heidelberg Press, which allows process color inks to be printed on both sides of a sheet at one pass. Computer-To-Plate, CTP the latest in prepress technology which enables direct conversion of computer files to printing plates without film. In addition to the capital investments, five sales reps and three customer services reps were brought on board and twenty additional employees were hired over the next year.