Magna IV Re-invents Mission To Weather Industry And Economic Changes

The printing industry has faced a number of challenges in recent decades from advances in ink processes and chemicals to competition from new mediums to evolving consumer habits fostered by technology.

For Little Rock-based Magna IV, which has been in business for more than 35 years, its top brass decided to get ahead of the curve before the curve got ahead of them.

It happened for us around 2005. Customers needed more,” says Magna IV President Kent Middleton. “If we just did printing, they didn’t want to talk to us,” he said.

So Magna IV broadened its offerings to include more than transactional printing services, such as mailing, fulfillment, and digital printing.   “We’ve always been on the forefront of what people need and that’s helped us grow,” Middleton said.

Kristi Dannelley, Magna IV Chief Operating Officer, says emerging customer needs and a hardening economy led Magna IV to rethink its total business model. No longer a print shop, the firm morphed into a full-service communications destination.

“2008, 2009 sort of became the perfect storm,” she says, as the digital medium began to take over. “We saw less demand for the transactional printing that we had always done and, of course, the economy caused people to rethink their budgets,” Dannelley said.

One of Magna IV’s major transformations came in its work flow processes. Minimizing touchpoints, streamlining from start to finish, getting lean from the printing press to the front office.

With 60 employees and $10 million in annual sales – meet the new Magna IV, which we preview further in this “Made in Arkansas” feature segment.