ORLANDO, Fla. — After years of inconsistent service to newspaper clients, Goss International Corp. wants to be a bigger and better player in its own parts market again.

As Goss struggled through its two bankruptcy filings over the last few years, the company developed a reputation for not supporting the presses it had sold in this country with both parts and technical advice. It wasn’t uncommon to wait 12 to 16 weeks for a Goss part order.

“Over the years, Goss has taken its eye off the ball in its parts business,” said Allen Pratt, director of customer parts for Goss. He has been appointed to help turn the parts effort around at the Westmont, Ill.-based U.S. headquarters.

“We want to improve customer service. I recognize we have lots of room for improvement,” Pratt said.

He estimates the Goss parts industry, including commercial, to be over $100 million. Judging by inventories and the number of employees involved, Pratt said Goss remains the largest seller of Goss parts.

As part of the new effort, Goss has reduced prices on many parts, such as bearings, gears, shafts and rollers, by as much as 30 percent. It beefed up its Oracle inventory system earlier this year, improved customer communication through Internet monitoring of stocks and increased its Goss parts inventory — most of it in its 45,000-square-foot Westmont warehouse — by one-fourth, Pratt said.

In addition, by the second year of the program Goss is committed to ship all orders within 24 hours. In April, the 24-hour ship achievement was 59 percent; 80 percent in May and 85 percent in June, Pratt said.

Pratt allowed that certain parts, for example, blanket cylinders for models that are not in current production (and even some that are in production), can take longer to make in a U.S. machine shop or in the Goss factory in England.

Storeroom Solutions

Goss has also signed an agreement bolstering its relationship with Storeroom Solutions. At Nexpo 2002, both companies announced they had signed a “national accounts agreement” that would “enhance our availability and service of genuine [original equipment manufacturer] parts provided to Storeroom Solutions customers,” a joint statement said.

Conshohocken, Pa.-based Storeroom Solutions is an on-site parts and inventory management service that specializes in the U.S. printing industry. It counts the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Boston Globe among the company’s 26 newspaper clients.

Through the use of a proprietary software system, large volume purchasing power and inventory management expertise, Storeroom Solutions promises to save customers money, take care of the paperwork and ensure parts will be there when they’re needed.

Storeroom Solutions places its personnel on a customer’s site, and on some sites those employees become union members if necessary. Storeroom Solutions does not warehouse space or act as a conventional wholesaler.

Neither Storeroom Solutions or Goss manufacturers Goss parts, but both have relationships with reliable machine tool shops to make the parts to Goss specifications, said Ken Wellington, vice president of professional services. He added that Storeroom Solutions buys most of its parts from Goss.

“We have been working with Goss for seven years. We feel that Goss is still a very important manufacturer to the industry. We’re here to help the client and help facilitate Goss parts,” Wellington said.

Wellington added that his company works with all press manufacturers and that the agreement with Goss positions his company as a “preferred provider,” which translates into cheaper wholesale prices and a close working relationship.

Storeroom Solutions earns its money in two ways: through mark-ups on inventory sales and direct cost pass-through labor fees. Of the 120 company employees, 100 are in customer sites, with about 30 of those union members, Wellington said.

Storeroom Solutions charges its customers only for parts that are issued, not purchased. The company owns about 25 percent of a customer’s inventory. Storeroom and the customer determine pre-set margins on inventory sold.

Storeroom Solutions’ contracts with its customers stipulate that Storeroom has complete control over the inventory. This means that Storeroom can use inventory from another customer’s site to fill an order, allowing for more flexibility in the system. Storeroom custom orders directly from select tool shops. Storeroom Solutions also provides warranty tracking and recovery services to its clients.

Parts industry watches

“The biggest point of what happens with Storeroom is how knowledgeable are the employees and what type of resource they are,” said Andy Heim, manager of customer service at Dauphin Graphic Machines in central Pennsylvania. Along with manufacturing and installing presses similar to Goss Community designs, Dauphin tools its own parts and resells others.

“Can you come up with an answer to a question? Crunching numbers is not a good support or resource. It’s about, ‘Hey, I have a problem with this piece.’ He has to say, ‘Yes, I know what that is,’ without having to take a picture to the manufacturer,” Heim said.

Heim said the comment he continues to hear from customers is that part orders for older, non-production presses, such as the Mark IV or Cosmo models, can still take 12 to 16 weeks to ship. The new push on parts is a good thing, he added.

“I never wanted to see Goss go away. Everybody needed Goss. It’s an old company and a good product,” Heim said.

Randy Coakley, president of All Press Parts and Equipment in Oshkosh, Wis., said he buys Goss parts “off the shelf and resell it and have it manufactured for me in a machine shop just like Goss does.”

Goss auctioned its Cedar Rapids, Iowa parts plant and shut it down earlier this year.

“They have the technology, which is great. Going back to the 1960s, Goss has gone through making them in-house or subbing them out. Either way the part can be fine,” Coakley said.

“From the Goss point of view, it remains to be seen how well they will do over the next six to 12 months. I’m still not convinced Goss will be here in 12 months,” he added.

Pratt countered, “We’re owned by a company and investors that take the long-term view. I’m very bullish on the Goss Co. and Goss parts in particular.”