Butler Tanner & Dennis is one year old!

This last quarter has seen us celebrate the first year of trading of Butler Tanner & Dennis. Thanks to the continuing support of existing customers and not forgetting many new ones, the company is operating beyond our initial expectations. We are currently very busy here in Frome producing many new book titles - some for the Christmas period.

Thanks to significant investment by our owner, Felix Dennis, our equipment and technology is being continually reviewed and upgraded. Most recently we installed a new state of the art jacketing machine which makes the jackets fit more closely onto our case bound books. We also recognise that customer service is of paramount importance and we are both investing and focusing sharply on this area in the forthcoming months.

We have shown that even under extreme time pressure we perform like no other UK based volume printer. Following the sad death of Michael Jackson, we concurrently printed three separate books about the singer’s life – each for a different publisher. And we did this in record time.

Some of our latest books have been entered for print awards and I am delighted to inform you that we have been shortlisted in two categories: Environmental Awards and Best British Book for The British Book Design and Production Awards 2009. As the winner announcements are not made until later in October, we will send out a separate email to keep you informed. We’re proud and passionate about the quality of our work – so fingers crossed!

For the first time we are taking a small stand at The Frankfurt Book Fair, (October 14–18) so if you are attending please come and see us. Myself, Jeremy, James and Jesse will be there.

On a final note – let’s cheer on Jenson Button to success in, The Formula One World Drivers’ Championship. Jenson of course, hails from Frome!

Kevin Sarney
October 2009

Kevin Sarney

Project

Scientific Expeditions to the Arab World

The fourth book in the series of Studies In The Arcadian Library discusses the four major expeditions that assembled scientific data in various parts of the Arab world between 1761-1881. This beautiful large format 256pp cased book is printed on premium bookwove paper stock, with blocking on real cloth and is finished off with a french folded jacket.

Project

Szczesny St. Tropez

A very large format highly colourful book produced for the successful German artist to commemorate the area in France where he lives.

Project

Inspired by Music

A book of images and text featuring a range of celebrities and about what music inspired them and why. The specially commissioned photographs of the celebrities were taken by award winning photographer Cambridge Jones and the book was published for the Princes Trust. Starbucks is a major sponsor.

Project

Michael Jackson books

These three books about the life of Michael Jackson were produced for three separate publishers and were produced concurrently in record time.

Great British Books

As a leading colour book printer, we rely upon the continued support of our publishing clients and their need for a high quality UK based supplier. It is for this reason that, in partnership with them, we have created a new brand initiative entitled, “Great British Books” to promote British Publishing and Book Manufacture.

The concept was created to give credit and acknowledgement to the publishing industry for supporting UK book manufacture. The aim is also to make consumers more aware of where their book is produced.

It is hoped that British authors, publishers and print buyers alike will begin to support this initiative for appropriate books. With increasing consumer savvy and environmental concern it is also hoped that displaying the logo will provide choice and help sales.

The logo is available to all Butler Tanner & Dennis clients and can be applied as a sticker to the cover or reproduced on the imprint page.
We are pleased to announce the Hachette Group (Orion and Headline), Alastair Sawday’s Special Places to Stay Guides, Quiller Publishing (Hero Inside Book for the Help for Heroes charity) and Bene Factum Publishers (Salute to Cooking as featured in the July 24th Bookseller) as our first partners in the ‘Great British Books’ campaign. Sawday’s feel it sends out the right environmental message and will also have a positive impact on sales.

We are particularly proud to announce that Sir Bobby Charlton’s new title – “My Life in Football” – will feature a prominent ‘Great British Books’ emblem and we are delighted to associate our name and ethos with those of a true British icon. Numerous discussions are ongoing with other leading publishing clients with notable additions expected soon.

New marketing initiatives

Although book printing continues to be our main source of revenue, it is our intention to widen the services we offer to other compatible markets. For this reason we have recently launched our ‘new deal’ campaign to appeal initially to buyers of corporate print, such as Annual Reports, and subsequently to Universities and Colleges that produce prospectuses.

Our ‘new deal’ covers five main areas: on-demand digital production; fixed price costing: use of large-scale presses to save time and cost; sustainable excellence; and an unmatched range of in-house production facilities. As part of our zero-waste initiative we are also offering a digital test print to compare against their previous annual report or prospectus.

We believe that these elements combine to offer something distinctly different – with tangible benefits in terms of cost, timing and flexibility.

Our People

‘Investors in People’ is something that is high on our agenda and we are hoping to be accredited in December. We have recently been awarded, ‘Positive About Disabled People’ status. BT&D is one of the few employers in Frome to gain this award.

By signing the Government ‘Skills Pledge’ we are showing our commitment to training and encouraging our staff to attain skills and additional qualifications.

We are pleased to announce two apprentices have joined us, Jack Haskins – Finishing Department and Grant Aven – Print Department. We would like to welcome them aboard and hope this is the start to a fulfilling career at BT&D for both of them. Other new starters include: Paul Veater – Folding Department, Mark Elliot – Finishing Department, Grant Evason – Print Room, Shaun Pomeroy and Garry Lock – Finishing Department.

Environmental update

The company has just undergone its first environmental audit since becoming accredited and we are pleased to announce that there were no, non-conformance points raised against our site in Frome. This is testament to the effectiveness of our environmental management system.

BT&D has joined the Government ‘Cycle to Work’ scheme. Since joining the scheme in July, many employees have signed up, which is clear indication of how our workforce are keen to reduce their own impact on the environment as well as the business.

We have also been working closely with the Carbon Neutral Company to calculate our carbon footprint. We are constantly looking at various initiatives to offset our emissions, thus effectively making us a carbon neutral business.

Duncan Roeser joins us from Cambridge University Press

One of the few printing companies in the UK and still trading, who can claim to be older than BT&D is Cambridge University Press. The academic and professional publisher has been in existence since 1584 that beats us by some 280 years!

Duncan, 41 who is based just outside Guildford, was Head of External Sales at CUP for five years before joining us as our Senior Sales Representative for the South East and London. His main responsibility at BT&D will be to gain new business with a particular focus on academic markets and other areas that could prove to be compatible.

We wish him every success in his new role.

In the factory

In July, we installed a new Kolbus state of the art Jacketing Machine which replaced the previous model as part of a complete refurbishment of our existing cased binding line.

In August, we completed the installation of a Magnus VLF platesetter and relocated all of our pre-press functions into one purpose-built area.

Butler Tanner & Dennis

Caxton Road Frome
Somerset BA11 1NF
Telephone: +44 (0)1373 451500

9 - 11 Kingly Street
London W1B 5PN
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7434 0698

www.butlertanneranddennis.com

We would be pleased to hear your comments on any aspect of the expression newsletter and its content, as striving for continual improvement is a key philosophy at all levels throughout our organisation.

Please contact
sbullus@butlertanneranddennis.com