Director of Engineering and Logistics Jon Styles describes Cimpress’ fast-paced approach to launching new products with one image: “There’s no runway in advance. We have to essentially be building the plane as we’re approaching the runway.”
To illustrate this, Styles shared memories of two product launches:
Clothing
“When the company decided to get into the printed wearable business, there was just a team of two who did the initial work – a person from Marketing and myself in Engineering. The fact that the company was relying on us to deliver an important new line of products was exciting, and that motivated us to search all over the world for the right equipment. At an expo in Long Beach, California, we met a small company from Israel that had what we were looking for. I clearly remember the dinner when we considered our options. As the sun set over the Pacific Ocean, we enjoyed the relaxing view, but also knew the importance of making the right recommendation. In less than six months, printed shirts and hats were on the website and a major part of the business.”
Magnets
“Marketing asked for car door magnets. We didn’t want to purchase all new equipment just for one product, so we evaluated the capability of the equipment already in-house. Our digital printers were not designed for magnet material and the vender said there was no way magnets could be printed on their machines. We weren’t going to let that stop us, so on our own, we tested and tweaked and figured out how to do what the people who built the equipment said couldn’t be done.”
AIRPLANES | Flickr – Alex Martinez
Even though these are just two examples, they serve to highlight the constant innovation and change happening at Cimpress. Being part of the world leader in mass customization means that teams are always thinking outside of the box when it comes to creating and developing new software, products, or technologies. While other companies wait for the runway to be built by someone else first, Cimpress is creating new products while simultaneously laying the runway down so that they can take off.