Kevin Heslin has an extensive work history in the printing and computer services industries. Kevin started his career in 1984 as a Product Consultant at Xerox Computer Services, where he worked until 1988. From 1988 to 1993, he served as the President of NorthStar Business Systems, Ltd. In 1990, he joined PIP Printing – San Jose, CA as an Operations Manager until 1995. Since 1995, Kevin has been the President of Seaway Printing.
Ian Heslin is currently a Vice President at Seaway Printing. He has been with the company since 2021. He attended Marquette University.
Click here to listen to full podcast
Chris Santomassimo: I’m really excited to sit down today with Kevin Heslin and Ian Heslin, the President and the Vice President at Seaway Printing in Wisconsin. So welcome back to the podcast. As we were kind of joking about, we tried this actually onsite at your facility a month or two ago, and thanks to user error on my part, we’re here doing it remotely again. But thanks a lot for being so flexible too.
Kevin Heslin: Thank you, happy to be here!
Chris Santomassimo: Well, the good news about that visit at the plant that I got to see was just an amazing facility. I mean, you’re talking about a lot of spit and polish, brand new facility, fantastic equipment, just the way you have it set up for purposes of all the processes that you’ve implemented, the technology. So that’ll be sort of a nice introduction to some of the things I’d love to highlight today about your operation. And Heidelberg—one of the suppliers to your company—calls you one of the most productive printers in the world.
So congratulations on that! I’d love for you to introduce the company and the background, what you folks do, to some folks that may not be familiar with it. And also we’ll get into what it’s like to work in a father and son duo with you two.
Kevin Heslin: Sounds good. We’re closing in on 30 years of Kevin and Ian owning the business. Probably about 10 years ago that we really started focusing on book manufacturing. As we talk about it today, we joke that if it’s not bound product, we don’t wanna do it, both for our sake and for our customer’s sake.
So really, we’ve focused in on direct mail magazines and perfect bound books for both the professional and educational markets. And we feel that by really picking one centered focus, we can really optimize our shop floor for that. And then also our team to focus on producing the best product in that market for the demands that our customers have, both turn time and price. […]
Chris Santomassimo: If there’s any indication from what I’ve seen, you’re well on your way to—or you’re already successful—but you’re well on your way to staying that way. What I was about to say is that equally impressive is you two being a father and son duo.
So do you mind to do a little bit of sharing about how that works and, you know, how you’ve been able to teach Ian the business? How do you stay in your roles? And, you know, which are a new set of roles. You had the father and son thing you’ve already done, but how do you work together? And how does it, you know, how does it all play on a daily basis?
No responses yet