By Chris Betros

Executive Impact Feb. 01, 2010 - 05:26AM JST ( 17 )

TOKYO —

For companies that print annual reports, brochures, flyers and other materials, printing costs can soar if they don’t keep a tight control. But for many companies, it is a time-consuming process. This is where Synergy Communications Corporation comes in. A joint venture between Vanfu Inc, a supplier of business print and creative services, and Canon Marketing Japan Inc, an independent marketing arm of Canon Inc, Synergy was founded in January 2008.

Synergy offers a one-stop service for its clients’ print-related needs through a print management process that is still somewhat new to the Japanese market.

Japan Today editor Chris Betros visits Synergy Communications in Tokyo’s Iidabashi area to hear more about the business from company director Shinichi Kamata.

The company got off to a start as the recession hit. Has it been tough?

It takes time to get a business up and running. It was tough but fortunately we had clients from the beginning. This year, it will be tough but most companies want to save or cut their printing costs more, so in a way, it is a good opportunity for us.

What are your main services?

We are a print management company, not a printing company. We help clients streamline their printing costs by outsourcing print materials and improve the quality of their materials through cost-saving and inventory controls. We engage with our clients on a consulting basis, but unlike other consultants, we build solutions to run them and are hands-on in implementation.

Are you a unique company?

I would say we have very few competitors in Japan. The Japanese market is different from Europe or the U.S. Here, the printing industry is still very conservative and Japanese companies value vendor-customer relationships. In Japan, there are maybe 15,000 printing companies, so it is very difficult to change that structure. On the other hand, print management is different overseas, where price and cost-saving today are more important than a long-standing relationship when a company chooses a supplier.

What are Synergy’s strong points?

Because we outsource, we can save clients from having to do the complicated and bothersome process of finding a printer and managing the process. We negotiate with suppliers to reduce their prices. Print price has hidden factors such as planning, designing, and writing. Additionally prepress, print, paper materials, freight and production methods make prices more complicated. We also can replace poorly performing suppliers with better ones.

Another advantage we offer is that we provide clients with an on-site manager who handles overall print management. Our staff are experienced people from Vanfu who have a lot of experience in the printing business and have long relationships with printing companies.

How much saving can you achieve for clients?

On an annual basis, 10-30% in costs annually. Moreover, we work under a contingency fee system, so we do not receive any compensation until our cost reduction plan works out.

Who are your clients?

Most of our customers are foreign financial institutions, like investment and insurance companies because they don’t have long-established relationships with Japanese printers. They use us to outsource printing of presentation materials, annual reports, brochures, posters and so on.

How do you market your company?

We do some banner advertising and networking at chambers of commerce. We also take part in trade shows. Another method is to look for introductions from persons who have connections with prospective customers. 

For more information, visit http://scomms.jp/en/