New managing director at ProCo

Former ProCo sales director Jon Bailey has been promoted to managing director of the Sheffield-based firm to spearhead growth plans, as founder Mark Schofield becomes chairman.

Bailey said he had no immediate plans for change at the £11m-turnover firm and intended to "continue doing what we do well".

"We have been going through a lot of changes over the last few years, focussing on where we as a business need to be to satisfy our customers’ needs.

"Right now we are where we want to be, things are tough and everyone is under the same pressure so we want to make sure keep moving with the market," he added.

Bailey said that although print remained core to ProCo and its customers, the company - which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year - was increasingly working with new technologies to focus on how it could add value to its offer.

He added: "It’s not about revolution, it’s about evolution of what we currently do. There is an increasing amount of email, text and web output and managing customer databases is also an increasing part of our business."

Additionally an dedicated "technical team" now work with customers to make their marketing processes more effective and efficient, Bailey explained, implementing new systems such as web-to-print platforms, management systems, or ordering portals.

Meanwhile in his newly created role of chairman Schofield will focus on new business opportunities.

He said: "I’m looking forward to a new way of working with different challenges and I’m excited for the business moving forward. This is a very positive move for ProCo."

Earlier this year, as part of a plan to bring more work in-house, ProCo invested £130,000 in a Horizon Stitchliner, securing a contract to produce personalised medial insurance booklets.