John Falconetti, CEO of Jacksonville, Florida-based Drummond, goes to work each day with a specific goal: to create a “world-class” client experience. Adopting a service mindset is one way to reach that goal: Be a company that does what it says it will do, exactly when it says it will do it.
That straightforward, yet often overlooked, philosophy has helped earn Drummond — a PRINTING United Alliance member — a reputation as an industry innovator. As the third-generation company has evolved since its founding in 1939, Falconetti has never forgotten Drummond’s humble beginnings.
A Foundation for Growth
Falconetti’s grandparents, Johnny and “Peaches” Drummond, were among those reeling from the effects of the Great Depression. The couple built Drummond, a commercial printing business, out of necessity — they needed to provide stability for their family.
Like many family-owned printers, a young Falconetti spent summers at the shop, moving around departments and sweeping floors before joining Drummond full time in 1989. He was first assigned to operations before his father, who had been with the company since the early 1960s, handed him a box of business cards.
“I remember asking him where my list of house accounts that he was going to assign me were,” Falconetti recalls. “He said, ‘Son, you have a box of business cards, you go get your own accounts.’ I got it.”
Falconetti moved into sales, where he remains active — even with his current CEO title. He refers to himself as a “seller owner.”
Under Falconetti’s guidance, what began as that little print shop currently has six locations (three in Atlanta, Georgia, two in Jacksonville, Florida, and one in Detroit, Michigan).
Shaping the Modern Company
When Falconetti thinks about the modern era of Drummond, he sees clear inflection points. In 2005, Falconetti, a burgeoning leader, made a deliberate decision to lead in operational efficiency and enabling technology. Despite Drummond’s proven success, Falconetti knew the company could be even better. Determining the “how” required some research.
Falconetti, a self-described “process data analytics guy,” was drawn to the concept of lean manufacturing. “We brought in a lean coach for just about a year, and it really began to change our ethos and our culture, the way we looked at process improvement, variance reporting, and so forth in a very different structured way,” Falconetti says.
He went on to say that the whole idea of lean manufacturing has evolved and is now conceptually merged with Lean/Six Sigma, a platform that Drummond adopted.
Read the rest of this story on Printing Impressions, a publication of PRINTING United Alliance, ASI’s strategic partner.
