One on One Interview With Ronald J. Rose

Ronald J. Rose is President of Nova Pressroom Products LLC.

Before starting Nova Pressroom Products in 2006, Ron had completed a 30-year career within various divisions of FujiFilm, most recently as the Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Fuji Hunt/Anchor.

Now based in Jacksonville, FL, he currently serves on the Board of Directors for NPES and is also active in local mental health care charities.

Nova Pressroom Products is an independently owned full line manufacturer of pressroom chemicals including water based coatings, UV coatings, fountain solutions and press washes. Nova products are available through a network of graphics arts dealers in the United States, Canada, Latin America and Asia.

Nova Pressroom Products is currently expanding into new markets in Canada and the Asia/Pacific rim. How will your company manage its resources to best serve its customers outside the U.S.?

From the onset, we presented Nova to our customers as a lean ‘doing more with less’ company. Now beginning our fourth year, we continue to look for ways to provide meaningful services without overwhelming our existing resources. Now, as we expand into the Americas and Asia, we are using readily available communication technologies so, regardless of their geographic location or size, we offer all of our customers direct access to our formulators for advice and product questions. We feel that the expert advice provided directly from the formula’s creator sets us apart in the marketplace and offers real value to our users. Meanwhile, we continue to invest in technical training for our dealers, sales representatives and agents since many of them represent a broad assortment of printing supplies, not just pressroom chemicals.

Nova is in its fourth year of operation, relatively young for the pressroom chemical business. What strategies do you engage, and which strengths do you feature, to promote brand awareness about the company and Nova's technical support programs?

Nova was formed by several Anchor LithKemco sales and technical managers who had long-term relationships with many dealers throughout North America. In the beginning, we got the word out simply by making telephone calls. Of course, promoting brand awareness to end-users is not so simple. Our company slogan, “You Know Us,” was chosen to remind the printing community that although our company name is new, we’ve been in the industry for years. We have invested heavily in our website so that our customers can not only find product and technical literature but also interact directly with our technical staff. But, nothing beats long-term brand awareness like word of mouth. We know that printers talk to each other and are fortunate to have experienced the benefits from early adopters in a geographic area who tell others about us. Today, we are finding that more and more printers have already heard of Nova before we initiate a sales call.

Looking ahead, what technologies and trends do you believe will impact the pressroom chemicals part of your business in the next five years?

We used to watch California as an ‘early warning predictor’ of future regulatory trends that will eventually impact the rest of the country. Now, in today’s global business environment, the world has become smaller, and I feel many regulatory changes that have impacted printing in Europe will find their way to North America. Recent regulations have affected UV inks and coatings, fountain solutions and washes. Digital printing will continue to grow at the expense of sheetfed during the next five years, but as long as toner costs more, longer runs will always belong to traditional technologies. Technology often overlooked, but that will continue to influence our business, is the continual improvement of offset printing presses. While there is still a need for a professional to operate the press, equipment manufacturers have taken much of the guesswork out of routine printing. Newer presses require chemical manufacturers to formulate fountain solutions that operate effectively at higher press speeds. This, combined with economic pressures faced by all printers, has led to many to rely more and more on the expertise of suppliers.

How has NPES been able to assist Nova Pressroom Products adapt and grow through our industry’s peaks and valleys?

Actually, I had been active in NPES with another company, so when we formed Nova, one of my first decisions was to reconnect with this preeminent trade organization. Based on the information gleaned from NPES market data over the years, we knew there was a niche for a small, well-grounded operation focused on superior customer interaction. We are pleased that our first three years have proven the model correct, allowing us to grow and plan new, innovative products that printers need. Now we use the NPES Market Data Program and PRIMIR research reports to help us plan our expansion strategy. I consider NPES one of our key partners as we continue to seek out new opportunities and navigate through today’s challenging business environment.

The preceding One on One interview with Ronald J. Rose, the President of Nova Pressroom Products LLC, appeared in the NPES News, Volume XXIX, Number 4, April/May 2010. NPES is The Association for Suppliers of Printing, Publishing and Converting Technologies.

If you would like to obtain a reprint of this interview, please email Ron Rose at rrose@novapressroom.com.