Quality Quick Print and Midstates Printing differentiates itself by staying flexible and with value-added services.

Premier Business Partners:

King Solutions

South Dakota sister companies Quality Quick Print (QQP) and Midstates Printing together offer a range of services that serve both local and nationwide customers. CEO Roger Feickert founded QQP in 1979 after working for a printer in college and becoming interested in the field.

The ’80s were a lucrative time for quick printing, he recalls, and the business was quickly profitable. This success allowed Feickert, along with a group of investors, to purchase a second company called North Plains Press Corp. in 1986.

North Plains became Midstates Printing and was launched into the national printing market. Today, QQP continues to focus on the local market, providing “every service that Kinko’s has and more,” Feickert says.

Unlike its corporate competitor, QQP is able to be flexible to its customers’ needs, he adds. As a family owned and operated business, QQP can change instantly with the trends rather than dealing with corporate red tape.

Midstates Printing operates from one location in South Dakota but serves customers across the United States, concentrating heavily on the East Coast.

Feickert estimates 95 percent of its customers are out of state. This operation accounts for 85 percent of the combined business with 60 percent catalog work, 30 percent publication jobs and 10 percent direct mail.

Midstates Printing operates a sheet-fed printing division with lower-run, high-quality coverage and other jobs outside of the quick print realm, Feickert explains.

It also houses Hub One Eleven Marketing & Design, an advertising agency specializing in Web sites, database management, marketing, multi-media services and more.

QQP accounts for the remaining 15 percent of the overall business, focusing on business stationery, large format printing and retail items. It has two locations in South Dakota. In all, the companies employ 300 people.

‘Wal-Mart of Printers’
Diversification sets the companies apart from competitors, Feickert says. “We’re the Wal-Mart of printers – you get everything you need here,” he notes. “We’re not that big by any means, but people can get pretty much anything they want here.”

One new division focuses on envelope insertion, for example. This fits in with the variable data printing services, he says.

“It’s something we’re vertically integrating,” he says. “Hub One Eleven Marketing & Design is going to be the springboard for us to be a complete communications company. We can take a database from any customer and manage it to their advantage with targeted marketing, print and distribution along with online ordering and fulfillment.”

This level of diversification means nearly one in every three persons at the company has a different job description. “We have 90 job descriptions for 300 people,” he says. “Some people say it must be a challenge to run with the variety of personalities and skill levels. You’ve got to understand and like people to run such a diverse company with so many different people.

“We need everyone from the most detail-oriented person to someone who can see the big picture and make common sense decisions without drilling deep into the job.”

Continued Growth
Feickert has brought his two sons into the business and says they have the personalities and interest to carry it on into the future. Matt Feicker is director of production and Justin A. Feickert is director of sales and marketing.

“Overall, our management team is solid,” he says. “Printing is starting to be a commodity as far as putting ink on paper. We have revenue streams from other parts of the business, and may make more of our revenues from the marketing side of it, as well as folding, cutting, bindery, mailing and fulfillment.”

The company has been listed among the top-400 printers nationwide for the past four years by American Printer magazine. It has reached approximately $35 million in sales, and expects to see 50 percent growth over the next five years, he says.