Meet Canon inkjet customer and thINK member Hunter Johnson, CEO, JPS Books + Logistics
(April, 2023) “It started with a conversation with my Dad over Christmas break about the family print business, centering around how to regroup and move forward post-COVID and plan for strategic growth,” said Hunter Johnson, CEO, JPS Books + Logistics.
No stranger to the print world, Hunter Johnson grew up working his teen years shipping books out of his Dad’s unairconditioned warehouse, and later took on various roles intermittently during college breaks. After college, Hunter began his 15-year career in business consulting, working at companies including IBM, Deloitte Consulting and Sabre. It was in his role as a business consultant that the conversation about taking over the family business took place.
Shortly after their conversation, Hunter conducted a 6-week consultation for his family’s print business, mapping out a vision and strategic path forward for the company to regroup from COVID. The consultation gained traction and quickly morphed into his current role as CEO at JPS Books + Logistics.
“I am pleased to represent my family’s third generation in the family print business, and to continue executing on the strategic vision to evolve and grow the company,” Hunter said.
“I’ve always loved finding ways to help companies thrive—but this was personal, ” said Hunter. “This was my family’s print business, started by my Dad and Grandparents in 1978. At that time, it was operated by my Dad and three of his five siblings. I was passionate about finding opportunities for optimization and growth.”
When asked about his strategic approach to finding those areas of opportunity, Hunter was straightforward.
“First, determine which single thing you can best deliver to the world. Then, determine how you can deliver it with excellence—better than anyone else—and better than you ever have before.”
Bringing Small-Time Family Values to Big-Time Company Operations
It quickly became obvious to Hunter the “one thing” the company did better than anyone else was helping education publishers and corporate training departments produce printed books and kits, deliver them fast and on-time, and remove the burden of inventory management.
Hunter commented, “It was no surprise to me to find this was the company’s sweet spot. Before establishing what was then called JPS Graphics, my Grandpa was originally a public school teacher. Because of this, lifelong learning has always been one of our core family values. Naturally, that value manifested at the center of the business for the past four decades. I’m quite proud to have that value at the heart of what our company delivers today.”
With a clear vision identified, Hunter then turned to the next task at hand: how to deliver with excellence, better than anyone else, and better than they ever had before.
Adding Value With the Power of Canon
Hunter knew just where to look first — the press room floor.
“Technology can be a game changer,” said Hunter. “If your company is using dated technology, you are at an immediate disadvantage. It inhibits you from delivering to the standard of excellence you could be embodying.”
Recently, JPS Books + Logistics replaced their toner devices (which printed 110 pages per minute at 600 dpi) with a Canon varioPRINT sheetfed inkjet press, which prints almost triple the number of pages per minute at a much higher quality of 1200 dpi.
“We went from the ability to produce 2-3 million impressions a month to being able to produce up to 10 million high quality impressions a month,” said Hunter. “That was a significant change for us. The speed and uptime of the varioPRINT iX is impeccable, and the consistency of the prints is superior.
“In addition, we cut our processes nearly in half, allowing us to have more time for more jobs and the operating costs are considerably lower as well. This gave us the ability to get more pages per productive hour from our employees.”
JPS Books + Logistics has also added a Canon ColorStream 3900Z web-fed inkjet press to their fleet.
“The culmination of the advantages of the varioPRINT iX confirmed we were moving in the right direction, and that our strategy was sound,” shared Hunter. “We saw clear advantages that were a direct result from bringing in the Canon varioPRINT iX, so it was an easy decision to take the next step in our growth strategy and purchase the Canon ColorStream.”
The Canon ColorStream prints up to 417 feet per minute, at over 109k letter impressions per hour. It runs a wide range of uncoated and inkjet-optimized media—40 to 160 gsm.
The Canon varioPRINT iX sheetfed inkjet press teamed with the Canon ColorStream 3900 web-fed inkjet press and two varioPRINT 6000 TITAN monochrome presses.
Complemented by a wide range of binding options including saddle stitch, coil binding, wire-O binding, PUR perfect binding, and hardcover case binding—all delivered through fulfillment services and fast nationwide shipping from their Dallas, Texas hub—JPS Books + Logistics has created a powerful competitive differentiator.
“Updating our press room floor with Canon inkjet has enabled us to offer high-speed black and white pages all the way to high quality, full-color printed materials including schoolbooks and reading materials for K-12 learning organizations, training materials for corporations, and personalized books and gifts for e-commerce companies,” Hunter said.
“We have achieved 30% year-over-year revenue growth for two consecutive years, and I credit our Canon inkjet fleet for a large part of that. We simply could not have grown in the way we did without the powerful inkjet technology we have on our floor.”
Hunter continued, “Canon Solutions America has been a great partner for us. They are hands-on and invested in their customer’s success. That, coupled with thINK (the Canon Solutions America production inkjet user group) has provided us with the training, tools and resources we need to be successful in executing on our vision.”
“Finding out what you can best deliver to the world (and delivering that based on your core values) is not only an admirable goal, but one in which is certainly a sure path to success,” said Francis McMahon, Executive Vice President, Production Print Solutions, Canon Solutions America, Inc.
“I am proud that Canon Solutions America has the production inkjet technology that enables JPS Books + Logistics to deliver their value-based offerings with excellence.”
The Experts at JPS Books + Logistics Are Here to Help
JPS Books + Logistics delivers high quality books and kits to education publishers and corporate training departments, with excellence, fast and on-time.
If you are an education publisher or in corporate training, call JPS Books + Logistics for:
✅ Insight. Our dedicated account managers bring decades of expertise to ensure during the planning stages that you’re in the perfect solution for your needs.
✅ Quality & Speed. Our smart production practices, inventory warehousing, and geographic location in the center of the country give your program an edge to be delivered at maximum speed—all while minimizing risk.
✅ Control. In addition to our responsive account teams, you’ll have at your fingertips an empowering suite of tools that will allow you to manage your document files, material inventory, order processing, and shipping status.
jpsbooksandlogistics.com | (800) 272-7742
