On The Move: PTi Printing Technology, Inc.

For Quality Every Time

Call PTi

             By Jamie Hamilton

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction, and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.”  These words are the driving force behind Printing Technology, Inc. (PTi).  PTi will only manufacture cartridges that either meet and/or exceed OEM quality and performance.  If they cannot engineer a product that will meet the OEM specifications they won’t manufacture that product at all.  It is this kind of dedication that has helped make PTi a global player in the manufacturing industry.

Manufacturing

If you were to spend time in PTi’s operational facility, you would see that product quality precedes all other facets of the company.  From the production workers to the QC inspectors, PTi employees take pride in the cartridges they produce.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that many of the employees have been with the company since it began manufacturing.  “I am extremely proud of the fact that we have over 200 employees,” states Eduardo Garcia de Alba, Senior VP Manufacturing, “Our loyal employees provide us with stability and incredible teamwork which ultimately turns into manufacturing excellence.”

At PTi, they will tell you it all begins with the empty cartridge used for production.  “We only use virgin empty cartridges in our production,” states Garcia de Alba, “all incoming empties are 100% inspected prior to use and those that don’t comply with our standards are rejected, not permitted for use in our production process.  Empty cartridge qualification is the first step in our quality cycle.”

The same rings true with the raw materials they use in their cartridges.  They only test and evaluate the highest quality aftermarket components available to determine the ultimate matched system to be used in their products.  All incoming raw materials are rigorously tested in the inbound QC inspection lab.  These critical elements are evaluated and measured according to pre-designated quality standards prior to being released for the production process.  “We will not compromise our products quality just to pay less in raw materials,” said DeSalay.

PTi has QC inspectors monitoring and auditing quality on each production line.  With separate QC departments for inkjets and lasers, PTi’s quality control technicians are constantly evaluating the cartridges produced using strict AQL standards.  Although they post test their cartridges 100%, each and every cartridge produced must pass an extensive quality control testing before it is cleared for packaging.  The quality control technicians randomly pull cartridges from stock and run them to life tests.  It may seem like QC overkill but these stringent quality control standards have resulted in their ability to maintain a less than 0.5% defect rate for laser cartridges, a less than 1.0% defect rate on monochrome inkjet cartridges and between 2.0% - 3.0% defect rate on color inkjet cartridges. 

PTi’s Expanding

In March, 2004, PTi began to relocate its inkjet and laser manufacturing and R & D and QC departments to a newly acquired 52,000 sq. ft building located in Chatsworth, CA.  Investing over $ 3 Million dollars in technological development and state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment and upgrades, PTi has spared no expense to continue its commitment to excellence.  

“As volume requirements from the cartridge marketplace continue to grow, we can ensure our customers that the production capabilities and service levels of PTi will continue to grow right along with them,” said PTi’s President and CEO Peter DeSalay.  “With our new facility we now have the capability to manufacturer over 400,000 inkjet and laser cartridges per month; in order to fulfill that amount of cartridges we, at any given time, warehouse right around 300,000 virgin empty laser cartridges and 350,000 virgin empty inkjet cartridges.  You have to have the empties in order to produce the products,” said DeSalay.  PTi aggressively seeks out new suppliers for empty cartridges all around the world. 

Research and Development

PTi’s operational facility houses two R & D departments; one for inkjet cartridge development and one for laser cartridge development.  PTi engineers are constantly evaluating OEM cartridges to benchmark OEM performance characteristics.  Not only do they do this for new products in development but for their existing products as well. “OEM specifications can change at any given time.  That is why we constantly re-evaluate our existing products”, states Garcia de Alba, “If you stop benchmarking the OEM just because you have been producing a product for a long time you may miss critical changes that the OEM made in their specifications.” From a products inception to its FINAL release to the production line PTi engineers are continuously monitoring the cartridges to ensure they maintain optimal performance. 

Why PTi?

Since 1990, PTi has been a global distributor of compatible laser, inkjet, fax, and copier supplies.  In 2003, PTi acquired West Coast Wholesale, Inc. a leading OEM and Office Products Distributor.  With this acquisition, PTi offers a comprehensive line of OEM products-specifically those which are hard to get.

PTi also carries a complete line of components for inkjet cartridges such as bulk ink, generic boxes, chips, cartridges clips, and caps which they mold themselves.  Not only do they stand behind these products but they are used on the production lines of PTi’s inkjet department each and every day.

At PTi, they believe it’s the people that will continue to make PTi successful.  Most of the office staff is considered to be industry veterans, coming from the office products and remanufacturing industries.  “It is important to have a staff of dedicated professionals servicing customers,” states Jim Liskay, VP General Manager, “one of the priorities set for our sales people is to meet face to face with their customers and do their best to service their wants and needs, and in order to do that successfully, your sales staff must be knowledgeable about the industry and products they are selling. “   

Marketing Solutions

Need an ad, website, or new packaging?  How about one in another language?  PTi has a design team dedicated to meeting customers’ branding needs, taking them from square-one logo challenges to out-the-door packaging solutions, or simply helping them with any project in between.  PTi can provide all facets of promotional materials—including product marketing sheets and posters—PTi understands image in the imaging industry.

“Small companies without a marketing team at their side can be at a disadvantage, even if they are unique in the industry.  Our team of in-house designers is ready to help create an image that reflects the personality and business philosophy of that company,” said DeSalay.

PTi will create packaging for you  or, you can choose from their two ready packaging options – PTi Brand or the Generic “High Resolution” Brand both in four color and four languages; English, Spanish, French, and German languages are preprinted, but any other language can be requested for your specific needs

“We have the ability to create and implement a box for our customers within two months, and that’s from the initial design to the production floor,” said DeSalay.

By the way, their box is not the only representation of languages spoken all over the world, their sales representatives can speak to you in English, Spanish, Italian, French, Hebrew, Hungarian, and Portuguese. 

Distribution

It was just a little over five years ago that PTi was considered a domestic manufacturer and distributor.  Today, PTi is a world wide seller of imaging products as well as components to other manufacturers to over sixty countries in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.  PTi is one of only a few companies who successfully distribute their finished goods to the Asian market. 

“When we started selling outside North America, everyone approached us by wanting the cheapest price,” said DeSalay, “although difficult, we never gave into to those buyers;  We just keep driving the message of quality; it took a couple of years but it paid off.  Now the PTi brand is recognized world wide!”

“We have successfully negotiated freight contracts world-wide,” states Liskay, “our warehouse are equipped to ship via UPS, FEDEX, DHL Common Carriers, Ocean Freight, and Air Cargo.  We also have 4 trucks available to make local pick-ups and deliveries.” 

If you place an order before 2:00 p.m. they can usually ship the products out the same-day at a 98% order fill rate, blind label drop ships are welcome, and there is no minimum order requirement.  PTi also offers its customers private labeling with their logo or contact information at no additional charge.  PTi is a customer service oriented company who understands the need for their customers to display their own brand identity.  It is this kind of customer service that has been a major contribution to PTi’s success.   

Global Strategy

PTi is a company with a global philosophy.  With the many languages it supports from its US facilities and with distribution centers in Europe, Australia, Belgium, and South America, PTi has successfully placed its brand in front of over 60 countries worldwide.

Putting their product in the global eye has not been easy, but it’s been worth it.  They attend major tradeshows around the world and advertise in various publications; and if you are ever in France, the Netherlands or Australia, you can see the PTi Brand featured in TV commercials. 

“We’ve done our legwork creating the infrastructure necessary to collect and ship to customers all over the world,” said DeSalay.

Traveling has gotten them to these markets, but it is quality that keeps them on the global stage as a major player.

Beginnings

PTi was started on Dec. 4^th, 1990 by Peter DeSalay.  He remembers the date well.  At that time, he was distributing office supplies; the major players like Office Depot and Office Max had begun an industry consolidation which in turn, began squeezing out the mid-sized distributor.  So, Mr. DeSalay decided it was time to find a new product line to distribute.  With a background in mechanical engineering and the experience of owning several businesses at this time (he was also in the wine industry, a business he sold in ’92), DeSalay was ready for the challenge.

Recognizing the potential, he began to distribute remanufactured inkjets and lasers, but he soon realized that the quality standards of the products were very low and unmarketable.  He met and enlisted Bob Zeil from CBR in Switzerland who then built the first 110-volt inkjet filling system. 

Lasers were also jeopardized by inconsistent quality standards in the industry; likewise he looked inward for solutions, beginning to remanufacture those as well.  Eduardo Garcia, head of manufacturing at Nu-kote International took up Mr. DeSalay’s offer in 1998 to become a shareholder and head of manufacturing at PTI. 

Future

PTI looks forward to developing more markets in Asia and Eastern Europe. 

“Asia is the next big market.  They too are looking for quality products.  We are looking forward to having warehousing operations in Asia and Hungary to supply the market,” said DeSalay.

As PTi is looking to expand around the world and here in the U.S, they are also looking for quality people.  Their future goal is to have more engineers and a worldwide sales team that can support their customers all over the world.

“Today, more and more people are looking for a quality product and turning to PTi,” said DeSalay.

PTi is truly a global company, with a quality standard that has taken them to where they are today and, which will propel them into the future.

To Contact PTi:

USA 800-332-7306

Local/International 818-576-9220

Fax 818-882-3527

By Jamie Hamilton— in addition to writing business profiles in ENX, Jamie writes and designs ads, brochures, catalogs, newsletters, and manuals for companies in the imaging industry.  She can be contacted at:  Tel/ Fax 502-896-1051 or e-mail her at: jamiewriter@hotmail.com.