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Frontier Imaging
Finishing their fourth year of business, Frontier Imaging has
proven to be a successful distributor of copier parts and
supplies. Since 1999, Frontier has served both the US and
international markets. In an industry with many competitors,
Frontier has continued to experience growth and should remain
a contender for many years to come.
Boon Leo, who prefers to be called Leo, is the president
and founder of Frontier Imaging. In 1994 Leo graduated from a
university in Canada and went right to work for an imaging
supply company in Singapore. Two years later he was
transferred to Los Angeles to run a branch office for the
company.
In 1999, he started his own company in Paramount,
California. With a total of five employees and a 7,500 square
foot warehouse, they opened their doors distributing imaging
supplies for Panasonic, Toshiba, Ricoh, Sharp, Riso, Canon,
Lanier, and so on. Frontier now also offers OEM spare parts
for Canon, Konica, and Sharp. These parts include gears,
bushings, thermisters, clutches and other spare parts.
"We also offer generic rollers, lamps and blades, but the
majority of our business is based on the sales of toners,
drums and developers," said Leo. "Most of these
products are OEM, however, we do sell generic and compatible
products. Our large variety of copier products is what helps
us continue to experience continual growth. Our products are
priced reasonably and you can usually find them in
stock," explained Leo.
Frontier Imaging has experienced a significant amount of
growth from the beginning. Their first year in business
brought in just over five million dollars in product sales.
Leo elaborated, "We were very happy with our first year
results and we recognized the importance of facilitating the
snowball effect of our growth. We worked very hard, hired more
people and acquired more inventory. After three years we are
happy to say, we did the right thing because the results were
good," noted Leo. By September 2002, Frontier outgrew
their building in Paramount and found a larger facility to
call their home in Compton, California. Now with twenty
employees, a 17,000 square foot warehouses, and two million
dollars worth of inventory on hand, they are targeting to do
over twenty million dollars in revenue by the end of the year.
In December 2002, James Yang, who is the Vice President of
Frontier, and Ming Liu, who is the Chief Accounting Manager,
were both brought in as partners. This is because of their
tremendous amount of contribution to the growth of the
company. "I believe we have a good mix of experience,
talent, and youth in our team. If we organize ourselves
properly we can certainly continue to perform," said Leo.
Frontier uses mostly UPS to ship out their products and
also will use reputable shipping and freight companies for
those large orders. " We will try to ship out any order
taken by 3:30pm Pacific Standard Time the same day whenever
possible," said Leo. Frontier’s sales staff and
customer service team are very experienced and knowledgeable
individuals. "One reason we feel customers like us is
because we are fairly quick with new model updates and
research. We are always on the lookout for new lines of
products. As soon as there is a new item, we will add it to
our database, and if the product moves, we will stock it. Our
team keeps abreast on industry changes and we are happy that
some customers some customers consult us regularly for product
information." As far as pricing policy is concerned, Leo
says, "We will try to be as reasonable as possible."
When asked about their marketing efforts, Leo replied,
"Right now our customer base is primarily wholesalers. We
are experiencing lower margins, mostly due to a weakening
dollar and stiffer competition. We are trying to develop a
reasonable size dealer base of our own, without affecting our
wholesale customers. We are working to develop a good network
of customers by contacting new leads and ultimately reaching
new international customers and vendors," stated Leo.
Frontier will also continue to exhibit at industry tradeshows
and trade publications such as ENX magazine. "We began to
realize that advertising is important to create a consistent
presence in the industry in order to bring in new
business," said Leo.
When asked about where Leo sees the industry heading he
replied, " This is a very large industry, very matured,
very competitive but there is plenty to go around for
everyone. The competition ahead will increase but the market
will also increase. We believe that one way to enhance
competitiveness is specialization. Within the specialized
field one should work towards broadening the product range and
customer base. What we are trying to do at Frontier is to
specialize in copier supplies by trying to provide customers
with as many product types as we possibly can within this
specialized segment of the industry." Leo
continues," Many in our industry are suggesting that
paper-less technology will very soon replace the imaging
industry. However, I believe we in the imaging industry stand
a better chance to keep up with the new changes in technology
than many others outside the industry. What we need to do is
to pace ourselves closely with changes as they occur. Twenty
years from today, we may not be selling as many bottles of
toner but we may have already developed a significant foothold
on any future markets such as the paper-less industry,"
said Leo.
"As for the future of Frontier Imaging, we will
continue to try to facilitate the snowball effect on growth.
We do not expect growth to be as strong as it was in the first
three to four years of business. If we stay focused by
developing new ways to market our products, such as developing
a user-friendly website for customers, we are confident that
we can remain a growing competitor in the industry,"
noted Leo. "To grow, a company has to plan carefully and
conservatively. At the same time, we need to take care of all
existing customers’ needs while simultaneously adding new
ones. We will continue to supply existing products
competitively while we add new products to our line,"
stated Leo.
Frontier has certainly made their mark in a short period of
time as a leading supplier of OEM and compatible imaging
supplies. Continuing to focus on competitive pricing,
consistent inventory, and exceptional service, Frontier
Imaging will remain a global supplier well into the
twenty-first century. For more information on Frontier
Imaging, please call toll free at (888) 530-8811 or (310)
898-2688.
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