CASE STUDY

Al. Neyer inks relationship with national specialty printer

KDM P.O.P. Solutions Group is a point-of-purchase and graphic imaging specialist focusing on producing and fulfilling point-of-purchase and advertising specialties for clients nationwide. KDM has a full litany of screen print presses, offset presses and ink jet digital printers.  It can design and print on nearly any material, including acrylic, which is especially helpful for clients who need outdoor signs and displays. It produces a wide variety of printed promotional banners, signs, displays and decals for food manufacturers, consumer packaged goods, movie production companies and national retailers. In 1970, it was just getting started as a family-owned sign printing company, operating out of a small storefront in the Camp Washington community of Greater Cincinnati. 

Still family owned and operated by the Kissel family, KDM is now just one of a handful of companies that are equipped to produce the kinds point-of-purchase and advertising specialty materials with the quality and precision required by the country's largest retailers. Increased demand for KDM's expertise keeps three shifts of workers busy at its modern, efficient plant on Medallion Drive near Interstate 75 in Evendale, Ohio, a northern Cincinnati community.

By the late 1990s, KDM found itself operating in 73,000 square feet of space on three floors in an old building near its original storefront operation.  The company's executive team recognized that to achieve better efficiency and the ability to add large equipment - some presses are 58-feet long and print signs up to 19 feet long -- they would need to find a better facility solution. 

Design-Build process speeds project

The company began looking at various sites and developers.  "We worked with several firms, but Al. Neyer brought in the best proposal and most complete scenario for what our new plant could look like and how it would function," according to KDM's Mike Murphy.  

Al. Neyer put together a project team based on KDM's unique needs for an efficient plant layout and convenient location.  They targeted 15 acres in Al Neyer's Evendale Business Park, with ˝ mile access from Interstate 75. 

"Everything was designed around our production," Mr. Murphy says, "Our departments and work flow are so well configured that other screen and digital printing companies are trying to find out how we did it."

Al. Neyer architects and pre-construction specialists designed a 95,000-square-foot facility that includes 6,100 square feet of office space in an inviting entrance.  They designed 20-foot minimum clear height in the production area, and 48-foot column spacing consistent with KDM's work flow needs. 

"We appreciated how much time Neyer spent in predesign," Mr. Murphy says. "They put hundreds of hours into building design even before we officially hired them. I was impressed that the architects were involved from the beginning - it saved a lot of time and potential up-charges later on, because they were integrated in from the beginning."

As KDM pursued and received municipal tax abatements from Evendale for the new facility, Neyer began construction, using site cast tilt-up concrete wall panels. By spring 1998, KDM moved in, just a year after start of construction.

Speed is a hallmark of the design-build process, which integrates teams of preconstruction and design specialists at the beginning of a project. For KDM, Al. Neyer assumed single-source responsibility for every phase of design and construction.  "The KDM building underscores the benefits of the design-build process from a cost, quality and schedule standpoint," according to David F. Neyer, president and CEO of Al. Neyer. "On a construction schedule that separates the design and construction teams, this building could have taken at least 18 months to complete."

"Al. Neyer provided us with a superior facility that has had a direct contribution to our growth and success," according to Robert Kissel, president of KDM. "They are true professionals."

Mr. Murphy says KDM appreciated many of Neyer's custom touches to the facility.  "They used a special sealant and hardener on our concrete floors in the production area," he says. "I think we have the cleanest floors in the printing industry, which says a lot about our professionalism and high standards to clients who visit."

Repeat business

By early 2000, KDM managers were making business decisions that would require an expansion.

"We knew early on we might need more space, and Al. Neyer provided for that eventuality from the beginning," Mr. Murphy says.

Again, KDM turned to Neyer to facilitate the project, which was needed to accommodate KDM's offset printing division, bindery and shipping and assembly operations.  Al. Neyer architects also recommended and designed a new employee cafeteria, which looks out onto a manmade lake at the site.

The 55,300-square-foot expansion was completed in December 2001.