Newport, KY, March 3, 2010:  Steinhauser, Inc. announces the purchase and installation of a Hewlett-Packard Indigo WS6000 Digital Press (www.hp.com).  The WS6000 offers cost-effective production of short and medium run lengths that deliver superior color quality with the use of mixed spot inks and 4-, 6-, or 7-color process simulations.  Powered by EskoArtwork (www.esko.com), the color kit assures excellent color matching for the most demanding brand and color requirements for labels and packaging. 

     Additionally, a servo-driven Digicon Series 2 finishing unit with die cutting, cold-foil stamping or laminating plus two flexo print stations from ABG International (www.abgint.com) complements the WS6000 and provides additional capabilities for digital print finishing.

     Steinhauser, Inc. specializes in high-end graphic quality pressure sensitive and in-mold labels for the Health & Beauty, Food, and Specialty Consumer Goods markets.  The addition of the WS6000 to our existing Flexographic technology allows opportunity for portfolio expansion with both short and medium run length labels, flexible packaging, shrink sleeves and folding cartons.

About Steinhauser

     Steinhauser, Inc., established in 1905, is a fourth-generation family owned and managed packaging printing company, and is a certified woman-owned business through WBENC (www.wbenc.com).  We pride ourselves on our passion and the constant pursuit for operational and project management excellence.

For more information contact:

Trevor Steinhauser, Vice President

GOERING CENTER FOR FAMILY & PRIVATE BUSINESS, FAMILY BUSINESS OF THE DECADE
More than one hundred years ago, Albert Steinhauser started Steinhauser, Inc. as a small printing company in his garage. Today, led by brother Trevor Steinhauser and his sister Tara Steinhauser Halpin, the company has successfully been transferred through four generations of family members. Despite being a small business, with only twenty-two employees, Steinhauser, Inc. has the capabilities and knowledge to compete with bigger competitors, bringing in sales close to $7 million in 2008.

Steinhauser's mission is to "ensure its future success and existence by contributing to the success of our customers by providing them with state-of-the-art Technology, Customer Service, Craftsmanship and Quality; creating a healthy and secure work environment for our employees; following the best practice principles of our industry; and being a charitable and environmentally responsible corporate citizen.

Steinhauser considers its greatest accomplishment over the past decade as having a successful transition from the third generation. Today's generation is the first generation to have two owners. However, according to Trevor Steinhauser, "having multiple directors really hasn't changed the dynamic of the company. My sister and I get along well – we have good communication and the same goals and objectives."

Despite being the fourth generation of the Steinhauser family to run the business, Trevor claims there was really no pressure growing up to be involved in the business. "We were always involved in working in it, but choosing to work here was always what we wanted to do."

Mr. Steinhauser believes that the business managed to survive for over a century because of the company's values, integrity, and common goals, along with having good succession and transition planning. "This has never been a place for dictatorship. We foster teamwork. There are a lot of people who you can learn from in the business world, and we have learned a lot from opening doors to our employees," he states.

Trevor and Tara lost their father to cancer in 2005. With the help of their outside Board of Directors and the Goering Center, they managed to overcome their loss and focus optimistically on what's next for Steinhauser, Inc. As co-presidents of the company, they sold a non-profitable division of their business and now focus on premium packaging solutions for the health & beauty, food & beverage, and household industries. In the future, the firm plans on having multiple children involved for the fifth generation. They also hope to see their business double in the next five years.

Recognized as a corporation that is committed to supplier diversity, Steinhauser, Inc. is certified as a women's business enterprise through the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), the nation's largest third-party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women in the U.S. Tara has also served a President of the Episcopal Church Women's Group for the past four years while Trevor is an active member of the Ft. Thomas Lions Club.

Newport, KY – October 21, 2008 – Steinhauser, Inc., a business specializing in packaging and commercial printing, received national certification as a Women's Business Enterprise by the Michigan Women's Business Council, a regional certifying partner of the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC).

WBENC's national standard of certification implemented by the MWBC is a meticulous process including an in-depth review of the business and site inspection. The certification process is designed to confirm the business is at least 51% owned, operated and controlled by a woman or women.

By including women-owned businesses among their vendors, corporations and government agencies demonstrate their commitment to fostering diversity and the continued development of their supplier/vendor diversity programs.

About Steinhauser, Inc.
Steinhauser, Inc. specializes in premium packaging printing, commercial offset printing and specialty finishing. The company prides itself in establishing long-term partnerships with its customers and is continually finding ways to help those customers conduct their business more effectively.

About WBENC
The Women's Business Enterprise National Council is the nation's largest third party certifier of businesses owned and operated by women in the United States. WBENC is a resource for the more than 700 US companies and government agencies that rely on WBENC's certification as an integral part of their supplier diversity programs.

Contact Tara Steinhauser Halpin

FEATURE ARTICLE: COMPANIES TO WATCH – STEINHAUSER PRINTING
Steinhauser Printing is 103 years old. Since 1905, the company has produced top quality sheetfed offset products – including quite a few labels – from its plant in the Cincinnati, OH, USA, region. A few years ago, when the company was 99 years old, a major customer made a change to its product packaging, and Steinhauser found itself facing a change that its owners suspected would become reality sooner or later: Go flexo.

Steinhauser Printing has annual sales of $7 million. Today, 60 percent of that revenue comes from flexographic printing.

"Getting into the flexo market solidified us in the label game," says Trevor Steinhauser, vice president. "Flexo can offer more capabilities than sheet fed printing can. We still print a portion of our labels sheet-fed."

Newport, KY, July 3, 2008: Steinhauser, Inc., flexographic printing company, announces the acquisition of additional printing equipment. The 16″ Comco ProGlide MSP allows use of either UV or water-based inks in up to 8 colors, with multiple UV rotary screen units available in up to 4 units. This press offers hot and cold foil stamping, as well as in-line die cutting and overlamination. Substrates range from 1/2 mil. unsupported film up to 18 pt. board.

Steinhauser, Inc., packaging division, manufactures pressure sensitive and in-mold labels for the personal care industry. The additional production equipment enables us to add folding cartons to our award-winning product line.

Steinhauser, Inc., established in 1905, is fourth-generation family owned and managed, and is currently in the process of becoming a certified woman-owned business through WBENC. Our partnership approach with customers has afforded us long term relationships spanning more than six decades.

Contact Information:
Trevor Steinhauser [hotlink]

UNDER DURESS, STEINHAUSER SIBLINGS LEARN TO RUN FAMILY BUSINESS
Inheriting the family business isn't supposed to happen tragically. But it did for Tara and Trevor Steinhauser. The untimely death of their father last August made Tara and Trevor the fourth generation owners of their family business much sooner than expected. Tara, 34, and Trevor, 29, said their dad, Robert, structured the company so it could run without him.

"My dad put his blood, sweat, and tears into the company and took a lot of risks" Tara said.

When transitioning into their new leadership roles at Steinhauser, Inc. – the family's 100-year old printing company in Newport, Ky. – they were pleasantly surprised with their father's pre-planning for the company's succession.

Robert Steinhauser's plans for the family business founded by his grandfather included naming Tara president in June 2005. Robert's full intentions were to work alongside his daughter and train her to assume the responsibilities of Steinhauser, Inc.'s top official.

Tara wasn't new to the business. She worked at the printing company summers during high school and college, and officially joined Steinhauser after graduating from Denison University in 1995.

But just five days after Tara was named president, Robert Steinhauser learned he had a brain tumor. The news was shocking, to say the least, and put the family in "complete panic mode" said Trevor, vice president, who joined the ranks after his graduation from the University of Kentucky in 2001.

Tara and Trevor, along with their brother Tyler, pulled together to support their mom, Polly, their dad, and each other during what would be the most difficult time in their lives. Symptoms of Robert Steinhauser's illness started just shortly before his cancer diagnosis but progressed quickly afterward, which didn't give Tara and Trevor much time to get a handle on the complex workings of the family business.

"Dad already was several steps into the succession planning process, and we were ready to begin our discussions of executing his plan" Trevor said. "He was so willing to pass on the reins."

One of Tara and Trevor's first business decisions was to seek the advice of Steinhauser, Inc.'s outside board of directors, which Trevor said was their "saving grace." Both Tara and Trevor credit their father for having the foresight to hire the three-member board nearly 30 years earlier.

"They (the board of directors) took some serious time out of their schedule to make sure we were okay," Trevor said.

One of the single best pieces of advice the board gave Tara and Trevor was to join the Goering Center for Family & Private Business, known for its expertise in Succession Planning.

Tara and Trevor's involvement with the Goering Center started with the Next Generation Institute, the center's highly interactive flagship program that covers a comprehensive curriculum of issues unique to family firms.

Tara said the Next Generation Institute also served as a "kind of support group."

"We totally poured our hearts out," she said. "Everybody was so comfortable opening up to people they never met before."

Trevor said the Next Generation Institute was "a very cohesive group which provided us with extremely valuable information."

Tara and Trevor graduated from the Next Generation Institute in 2006. A year later, they graduated from the Goering Center's Leadership Development Institute. Designed exclusively for the Goering Center by Cincinnati-based Leadership Excelleration, Inc., this program equips participants with the critical leadership and business skills essential to improving performance in an organization.

"It taught us how to identify what kind of leader we are and as a result, how to structure our communication more effectively with people who have different personality types," Tara said. "We also learned how to improve our relationships with our employees and our customers."

Tara and Trevor continue to remain active in Goering Center programs and events and have shared their story more than once, including at the May 2007 Next Generation Institute graduation.

In retrospect, Tara said taking over her beloved father's job so soon after learning of his cancer was gut-wrenching. But with help from Steinhauser, Inc.'s board of directors, the Goering Center, and through Robert Steinhauser's savvy investment in a new printing press, Tara and Trevor were able to "rise above it."

This past year, under their leadership, Steinhauser, Inc. saw revenue grow more than 50 percent.

But perhaps even more empowering for Tara was her personal growth in the company that came just a few months ago. That's when Tara decided it was time to begin working out of the president's office at Steinhauser, Inc. – a room last occupied by her dad.

"Until now, I couldn't work in here," she said. "But I know dad would want me to be here."

From the president's chair, Tara points through the open door into an adjoining conference room. A wall portrait of her father and mother is in direct view.

"I can see my dad from here," she said. "And I ask him for help and guidance."

UV FLEXO PRESS, EQUIPPED WITH DIGITAL DEFECT INSPECTION, LETS PRINTER TAKE CARE OF LONGTIME LABEL CUSTOMER
In 1905, the same year Wilbur Wright flew his “Flyer III” aircraft for 38 minutes, covering 24 miles, Albert Steinhauser opened a family-owned commercial printing company in Cincinnati. His son Wilbur would eventually become the second generation to run the company. In 1983, Wilbur’s son Bob would assume command, and in July 2005, Tara Halpin and her brother Trevor Steinhauser became the fourth generation to manage this remarkable printing company. Along the way, Steinhauser, Inc. has grown into a company of about 30 employees that prides itself on customer service, quality, reliability and responsiveness.

Steinhauser is a full-service commercial printer with two Komori sheetfed-offset presses, a Heidelberg direct imaging press, a complete digital prepress department and a variety of finishing and converting services which serve both their customers and the regional trade. Their products include in-mold labels, general commercial printing, self-mailers, packaging, and as of 2005, flexo-printed pressure-sensitive labels.

Why the decision to buy a new flexo press? “You can’t survive and thrive for a century without providing customers what they want and expect,” says Halpin. “Our largest sheet-fed customer indicated they were going to do an overhaul of their graphics. They told us what they wanted and what kinds of graphics they were looking for. We knew very quickly that the equipment we had at the time could not produce those labels for them.”

FLEXO FITS FOR NEW GRAPHICS

Kao Brands Co., formerly The Andrew Jergens Co., has been a Steinhauser customer for more than 60 years. Steinhauser has produced both cut-and-stack and in-mold labels for the Jergens® lotion product line for many years.

Kao Brands overhauled the graphics for its lotion line, which were to hit the market in mid 2006. “Offset lithography simply cannot produce brilliant colors on clear material,” says Trevor Steinhauser. It was shortly after Kao launched its restage initiative that Steinhauser began to investigate the feasibility of installing a flexo press to enable it to print the new graphics. They chose to commit to UV flexo as opposed to a waterbase or combo press.

“We wanted to be able to guarantee the quality level of the products we were shipping,” says Halpin. “Our customer’s stated vision is to become a premium health and beauty supplier, and we want to help them accomplish that mission through premium graphics. So it was very important to be able to provide consistent top quality labels.”

Said Steinhauser general manager Rod Baehner, “We considered several press manufacturers, but it became evident quickly that Mark Andy/Comco was the way to go. Not only for logistical reasons-as they are right in our backyard-but we also felt that the piece of equipment they proposed would best serve our customers’ needs in terms of flexibility and product quality. It turns out we were right.”

EXTRA SET OF EYES

Steinhauser managers knew the new press needed visual inspection capability, but they also wanted to take their inspection and quality control to a higher level. They wanted a proactive device on the new press, one that would allow them to manage the print process in real time and allow the operator to take immediate corrective action. They knew it was just a matter of time before all of their customers would be demanding capabilities such as automatic defect detection, color monitoring, and in-line bar code verification. Having these capabilities on the new press would give them an advantage over other flexo label printers.

“It became clear early in our evaluation process that BST Premius was the way to go,” said Baehner. “The company (www.bstpromark.com) was very flexible and willing to work with us to put together a system that would allow us to insure our customer that the labels they were receiving were meeting their high quality expectations.”

The l0-color Comco ProGlide MSP (www.markandycom) was installed in June 2005. The 16-in. Comco has hot- and cold-foil capabilities, rotary screen, in-line lamination, a three-station rotary die module and a roll-to-cut-sheet station. The unwind is equipped with a BST web guide, Wandress web cleaner and in-line corona treating unit. The list of extensive capabilities is topped off with a BST Pro Mark Premius Digital print-inspection system.

“The biggest advantage of this machine is the incredible flexibility it gives us as a supplier,” says Baehner. “Not only for our existing customer base, but also for customers in other markets we want to pursue. We are currently running pressure-sensitive material, but we have the capability to run unsupported film, SBS board up to 18pt., in-mold film and polypropylene. We can run just about anything you can throw at it.”

EVERY JOB, EVERY DAY

The press is equipped with a Premius Digital 3 Chip inspection system, with software modules that do defect detection, color monitoring, barcode verification, and roll reporting, all of which Steinhauser uses on every job, every day. “We are very careful about the quality of the product we produce,” says Baehner. “Defect detection is all about insuring quality. I like that it gives us an extra set of eyes on the product we are producing. The system has been an integral part of our Quality Assurance efforts, and it provides our operators with a valuable tool to assist them during the press run.”

Barcode verification is also very important to Steinhauser, according to Baehner. “Our customer’s domestic and international distribution networks have very stringent UPC verification guidelines. It is imperative that we provide our customer with labels that will scan accurately at the retail level.” The Premius system automatically locates every barcode on the repeat and grades them to ISO standards.

Steinhauser evaluates color in the Lab spectrum. The printer produces many special color matches for its customers. The Premius system monitors the actual print color on press, compares it to a preset standard, and then alerts the operator when the actual color varies from the standard’s acceptable range. “It gives us a considerable advantage in maintaining the level of quality our customers have come to expect,” says Baehner. “We have had a measurable decrease in waste and an appreciable increase in quality. The Premius system has been an invaluable tool thus far.”

Steinhauser looks forward to continuing to serve longterm customers, as it continues to demonstrate its commitment to quality printing and superior customer service. Concludes Baehner, “We do things the big guys cannot, and we think that’s the niche that will serve us well into the future. That is what we are all about-service and quality. “