Co-owner brothers, backed by devoted employees, leadThe RAM Companies to phenomenal 30-year growth,business service diversity, and a bright futureBy Nancy Hitchcock

In a fast-paced world racing withchange, RAM has maintained afirm focus on its commitments:

commitments to its customers, to itsemployees, to providing superiorservice, to the community, and tothe environment. As a result, themid-size offset commercial printerin southern New Hampshire hasexperienced 30 years of growth. Infact, RAM recently celebrated its30th anniversary with an open housegala event and a re-branding of thecompany to The RAM Companies

to unify its four diversified busi-nesses under one umbrella.

Today the company produces thesame sales volume in a week as itproduced the first year that broth-ers Buddy and Wally Zarembabought the company in 1981 whenthey were in their early twenties.

About six months after Wally washired as a salesperson at RAM Printing,Robert A. MacAuley, who founded

the company in 1976, asked Wally ifhe wanted to purchase the com-pany. Wally and Buddy had workedin production at different compa-nies for years and knew how tooperate the equipment.

“We were 22 and 24 when webought the company,” states Wally“We were kids. Because of our agesand our knowledge of printing, we

weren’t afraid of the changes in theprinting industry and didn’t resistthem.”

Being in their 20s when theZaremba brothers took chargeinfused RAM with a vitality and can-do attitude that has persisted eversince. “Back then we never said noto a job, and today we never sayno,” says Buddy, “unless it physicallydoesn’t fit our equipment. If we canproduce it, we will.”

Leading with innovation In the first year that Buddy and

Wally owned the company, RAMPrinting produced mostly black-and-white and some two-color work withsix employees. They generatedabout $175,000 in sales. Today, TheRAM Companies encompasses fourdiversified businesses, employs 65

COMPANY OVERVIEW: The RAM Companies

5 Commerce Park DrivePO Box 900East Hampstead, NH 03826phone 603-382-7045fax 603-382-7629www.ramprinting.com

May 2007 www.pine.org/nepp/nepphome.htm 25

Owners Buddy and Wally Zaremba. Wally, right, is president and Buddy is vice president. They wereoffered the chance to buy RAM Printing while they were in their early 20s.

people, and produces full-colorprojects on a wide array of equipment.

RAM reached its current size byconstantly evolving to meet theneeds of its customers. To keep upwith the growth of its services, thecompany has added on to its facilityseveral times. It moved into its cur-rent East Hampstead, N.H., locationin 1984, however, what once was a4,000-square-foot building is now a28,000-square-foot operation thatencompasses two buildings.

RAM Printing has been commit-ted to innovation by continuouslyimplementing the latest printingand other reproduction and work-flow technology. On many occa-sions, the printer has been alphaand beta sites for various productsand equipment, demonstrating itscharge to be on the leading andbleeding edge. In production, thelist of equipment includes Heidel-berg Topsetters, an Agfa Azurachemistry-free digital thermal platesystem, five Heidelberg presses, anda Ryobi two-color press.

In 2004, RAM installed a Heidel-berg Speedmaster CD74-5 five-colorpress with Aqueous Coating capabil-ities. “The CD has been a nice addi-

tion — it has opened up some mar-kets for us,” says Buddy. “With thepress we can do packaging. We canprint on heavier stocks and onheavy plastics.”

For the New Hampshire State Lot-tery, for example, the companyprinted thousands of die-cut plasticmaterials for store-bound lotterymachines.

As technology offers opportuni-ties to expand, it can also take them

away. As more and more customersmove to PDF proofing, a fraction ofthat business declines. To generatenew sales, the printer added large-format services.

In 2005, RAM acquired ConcordPrinting’s large-format graphics divi-sion and now produces large-formatgraphics on its HP DesignJet 2500and its DesignJet 3500 printers.“We’ve had wide format for two years:it’s another piece of the pie we canoffer our customers,” Buddy said.

For its retail customers, RAMopened Hampstead Print & Copy in1991 in a site across the street, andmoved the operation to the RAMcampus in 1996. With equipmentthat includes a Canon ImageRun-ner 110 high-speed system andCanon Color Laser Copiers, Hamp-stead produces color and black-and-white copies, personalized products,reports, presentations, banners,posters, and displays.

When the company realized in1997 that it was delivering about 35percent of its jobs to mailinghouses, RAM brought direct/bulkmail services in-house. Today, RAM

THE RAM COMPANIES

26 New England Printer & Publisher May 2007

Guestmark International’s Production Coordinator Mellisa Parino and Samantha Wood, accountrepresentative.

Carol Allen, prepress operator, at Hampstead Print & Copy.

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Mailing Service can help turn printjobs around much faster.

Another major expansioninvolved purchasing long-timeclient Guestmark International, amarketing company servicing thehospitality industry, in 1998. Nowinstead of just providing the printedmaterials that go inside guest serv-ices directories found in hotelrooms, employees help customerscreate and customize their directo-ries to fit with the décor of thehotel rooms. Hard Rock Hotel andCasino ordered directories for their600 rooms, for example. HiltonGardens also requested menus to beprinted and delivered.

“Many times we get contractsbecause customers know [Guest-mark] is owned by a printing com-pany,” explains Buddy. “Margins aregoing down and customers need tocut their costs. They know that cut-ting out that middle party and work-ing directly with one [solutionsprovider] saves money.”

Leveraging the capabilities of itsfour diversified businesses — RAM

Printing Inc., RAM Mailing Service,Hampstead Print & Copy, andGuestmark International — RAMdelivers a wide range of services toits customers. It prints jobs such asmarketing pieces, publications, and direct mail for New Hampshirecolleges, marketing collateral forcorporations, and guest directoriesand menus for hotels and restaurants.For the Timberland Company, forexample, the printer produces signpackages, promotional materials,and sales collateral, and distributesthe products throughout the country.

Customer satisfactionRAM’s commitment to its cus-

tomers is evident in the many long-term relationships it has established.“We will do anything for our cus-tomers,” says office manager, KathiDunn. “We have three trucks on theroad. We’re delivering and pickingup proofs and delivering completedprint jobs.

“We offer the quality of print andthe quality of service,” adds Wally.

Buddy remarks: “We don’t givethem a reason to go anywhere else.”

Protecting the planet, attractingbusiness

In addition to its unwavering support of its customers, RAM hasdemonstrated its commitment tothe environment by proactively taking charge of its impact on theplanet.

In March 2006, RAM became thefirst commercial printer in NewHampshire to receive Forest Stew-ardship Council (FSC) Certification.FSC, an international, non-profitorganization, supports responsiblemanagement of the world’s forests.

Being FSC certified enables com-panies to place a logo on theirmaterials that portray that they’retaking steps to help preserve theenvironment. When RAM purchasesFSC-certified paper, the printer fol-lows a chain of command thattracks the paper back from the dis-tributor to the manufacturer to theforest — all ensuring that the paperoriginates from sustainable forests.

May 2007 www.pine.org/nepp/nepphome.htm 27

THE RAM COMPANIES

Dave Charron, pressman, at one of the company’s Heidelberg presses.

THE RAM COMPANIES

To become FSC certified, an inde-pendent third party, the RainforestAlliance, with its SmartWood pro-gram, audited RAM and verifiesthat it operates with excellent envi-ronmental and social practices.

To continue the chain of promot-ing environmental responsibility,RAM encourages its customers toselect papers that have been FSCcertified. More and more customersare interested because their prod-ucts can carry the logo as well.

“We’re helping educate people,”says Wally. “A lot or our customerscan use the FSC logo to markettheir own company to say they’reenvironmentally sound. Many customers say ‘What’s it going tocost me to put the logo on there?’But there’s no extra cost to beingenvironmentally correct or to usethe logo.

“We had to pay for the certification,which took about six months,” he

continues. “That gives us the author-ity to put the logo on our materials.It’s not easy to do. It costs us time andmoney. When the paper comes in, wehave to record the tonnage we use,and let the distributor that we buyfrom know they have to mark it, so

it’s a chain of custody command.We’re the last in the chain of custodybefore the customer.”

RAM recently produced anannual report for Northeast DeltaDental on certified paper, enablingthem to place the FSC logo on theirprinted products. “They’re tellingtheir stockholders and readers thatthey’re helping the world by usingenvironmentally sound paper toprint their report,” states Buddy.

RAM has even gained new busi-ness as a result of its green prac-tices. One potential customer, apropane company, called to inquireabout printing a quarterly newslet-ter. When the CSR informed herabout being able to place an FSClogo on the printed pieces, the cus-tomer didn’t just bring on boardone or two newsletters, but 11 —amounting to 50,000 printed pieceseach quarter or 200,000 additionalpieces a year.

“We told the customer that puttingthe FSC logo on was great advertisingfor them because they’re energyconscious,” explains Dunn. “We got11 different newsletters. She wasthrilled that we brought it up.”

Another new customer, GraniteState Conservation Voters Alliance,called for a quote for a newsletterand after hearing about the FSClogo, brought on quarterly newslet-ters with a run of 25,000 each.

To educate others about its envi-ronmental practices, RAM hosted atour of its facility co-coordinated byJohn Sobczak, sales representativefor RAM for over 16 years, for mem-bers of New Hampshire Businessesfor Social Responsibility. RAM is amember of NHBSR, an organiza-tion of businesses leading socialresponsibility in New Hampshire.The organization provides a net-work of businesses that can learnfrom other members how theirbusiness practices can enrich theirown operations and the community,and sustain the environment.

As more attention is placed onenvironmental stewardship and conservation, many companies wantto participate and show their ownawareness and use of environmentalfriendly practices. Today about 181printers are now FSC certified, com-pared to just 80 a little more thansix months ago.

28 New England Printer & Publisher May 2007

Sharon Chadwick, large format graphics.

Employees gathered for a picture during the company’s open house last year. From left, Mark Silva,shipping; Joe Prima, driver; Dominick Fauth, head of shipping; and Dave Charron, pressman.

THE RAM COMPANIES

Consequently, finding earth-friendly papers is getting easier. Lastyear about 30 percent of the papersRAM purchased were FSC certifiedand this year that number is grow-ing fast. “Every month there’s moreand more FSC-certified papers.“Right now it’s easy to compare tolast year when we had to search forpaper and then call up and see if itwas available. That was the hardestpart: we couldn’t always get thepaper when we needed it.” says JohnOlson, RAM’S general manager.

Even before being green hadgained wide public support, RAMhad taken steps to reduce theeffects of global warming. In 1989,the printer implemented a compre-hensive recycling program for itspaper waste, in 1991 it converted

to soy-based inks and today uses veg-etable-based inks, and in 2006, RAMinstalled the AGFA: Azura chemical-free plate processor — all movesthat reduce the company’s environ-mental impact.

Over the years, RAM has demon-strated that it is a socially responsiblecompany. Committed to communityinvolvement, the printer strives towork with organizations such asPortsmouth Children’s Museum,New Hampshire Public Televisionand New Hampshire Philharmonicto enrich the community. RAMprints the wrestling books, football

books, and playbooks for schools inthe district, for example.

Through the years of growth andconstant change, the company hascreated a culture of teamwork, hardwork, and constant improvement.Many of RAM’s 65 employees havebeen with the company for about 20years.

Four-member executive team setsthe course

Major decisions are made by thefour members of the executive com-mittee: owners Wally and Buddy,General Manager John Olson andOffice Manager Kathi Dunn. “Fourminds are better than one,” statesBuddy.

The sales team comprises fouremployees and an ambassador,Allen Gilbert. “Allen goes aroundthe area and stops into companiesto introduce the RAM Companies,”explains Wally. “He drops off calen-dars, notepads, and pens, forinstance. He doesn’t sell; he justgives us a presence. He keeps a logand qualifies the leads and sendsthem to the sales team.”

To support the executive teamand employees, Printing Industriesof New England provided helpful

information to the company sincethe beginning. “There’s a lot ofvalue in the organization, especiallyfor the knowledge and educationbehind it,” says Buddy. “It’s beenreally good for the employees. Weutilize the credit unions, seminars,and training on OSHA rules andregulations.”

The RAM Companies have manyreasons to celebrate. This mid-sizecommercial printer in southernNew Hampshire has been growingsteadily for 30 years while stayingfocused on its commitments. Dedi-cated to providing its customerswith a wide range of print andprint-related services in high qualityand with fast turnarounds, RAM has developed relationships withcustomers who keep coming back.

Furthermore, RAM reachesbeyond its own business model totake measures in protecting theplanet and enriching the community.

About the author: Nancy Hitchcock is afreelance writer who writes extensiveabout the printing and graphic commu-nications industry. She can be reachedat nancyhitchcock5@mac.com.

May 2007 www.pine.org/nepp/nepphome.htm 29

The four members of the executive committee — John Olson, general manager, Wally, Kathi Dunn,office manager, and Buddy.

“We were 22 and 24 when we boughtthe company. We were kids. Because ofour ages and our knowledge of printing,we weren’t afraid of the changes in theprinting industry and didn’t resist them.”

Wally ZarembaPresident

The RAM Companies