An Interview with the Chief Operating Officer

Where are your major areas of growth going forward?

We see future growth coming mainly from three key areas. First, we will continue to expand into markets where we do not currently have a local presence. Recent examples are the opening of our sales and service operations in Milan and Shanghai. Second, we will continue to further expand the portfolio of products that we offer our customers either through alliances or acquisitions. Finally, we will grow our position in the accessories and controls market for the global offset printing industry by forging closer working relationships with the OEMs to ensure that in all of our key categories, Baldwin is viewed as the supplier of choice.

Should Baldwin investors be concerned about the challenges facing the U.S. newspaper industry?

Of our total revenue base, less than a fifth is tied to newspapers. Most of those sales are outside the U.S. and doing quite well, I might add. In countries like India, where literacy rates are rising rapidly, and in China, where GDP is growing in the high single digits, the demand for newspapers is particularly strong. In addition, newspapers around the world are increasingly introducing more color pages and using lower grade papers, which in turn drives demand for more accessories and controls such as Baldwin’s cleaning products.

Are acquisitions part of the company’s strategy?

Yes, acquisitions are part of our strategy. We aim to further strengthen our product portfolio within accessories and controls to offer our customers a full range of products. One example of further strengthening our position is the company’s announced proposed acquisition of Oxy-Dry, which will add brush blanket technology to Baldwin’s product portfolio. Another example is our alliance with the German-based company Hildebrand Systeme that added web-cleaning technology to our product range as well as our partnership with the Swiss-based gluing system specialist, Robatech AG.

Do you expect Baldwin to expand its operations beyond accessories and controls?

We pride ourselves as being the technology innovators in the area of accessories and controls for the offset printing market and we will continue to focus our efforts in this segment. We will, however, continue to introduce new products that will serve to expand the product ranges we are able to offer to our customers.

What are your competitive advantages?

Our global presence in all key markets, including Europe, Asia and the Americas is a key advantage Baldwin is able to offer its customers. This provides Baldwin the capabilities to serve the international printing industry with local technical support and service infrastructure. Another major advantage is the breadth of our product line. We benefit from offering some of the industry’s most advanced technology such as highly sophisticated cleaning and control systems, many of which are protected by patents. Finally, we have worked hard to forge close working relationships with major OEMs and printers and publishers, who rely on the standard-setting quality of our products. We are also proud of the high level service that we constantly strive to provide our customers.