Exports Climb to Over 20 percent of Company Sales

Norcross, GA - When Philip Prieur bought Beaver Paper Company in 1999, the apparel, furniture and textile markets made up 80 percent of his business. Unfortunately these markets quickly started to move offshore, forcing Prieur and his company to search for new opportunities or get ready to close the doors.

In developing his new markets and products, Prieur and his technical staff had one thing going for them. They had been exposed to dye-sublimation print papers early in working with textiles. And as it became a digital printing process, for products made of plastics and other materials, it evolved into a new market.

"In digital sublimation printing, temperatures and heat are critical to the final process," says Prieur. "Truth is, the color management for this process is so complex, you have to be a scientist almost to understand why something doesn't look right and how to fix it."

Prieur said his company's 30 employees include a number of chemists and other technical/engineering specialists since the color management field is so difficult.

Several SBA guaranteed loans have made a positive impact in recent years on Beaver Paper Company. In early 2000, Prieur and Brian Weis, Vice President and head of operations, saw a report about the Y2K computer problem and that the SBA would make loans to help correct the problem. Later, the company would use two bank loans, made under the SBA 7(a) Program, to help finance its transition into its new product line.

"Those loans were critical to our ability to transition to our new markets," said Prieur. "And they became even more important since it took us two years longer than we expected to develop our new product lines."

Beaver Paper also received assistance from the Small Business Development Center and its international trade specialists. Prieur said Charles Boyanton, with the SBDC International Office, helped his company find a good broker for export receivable insurance. This insurance provides up to 95 percent coverage for a company on its payments from overseas customers.

"The insurance for receivables has permitted our export business to grow," he said. "As a small company, we can't afford to take on too much risk with a big piece of export business."

Exports make up about 20 percent of company sales. According to Prieur, that is the fastest growing part of the company's operations.

Prieur says the good thing about his business is that it's a growing niche. "Our market is too small a segment for the big paper mills to fool with because there is not enough tonnage involved."

With its dye-sublimation print paper sold under its "TexPrintXP" brand, Beaver Paper is focused on three markets: The Sewn Products Industry, Dye-Sublimation Printing, and Specialty Papers. Using its specialty papers, the company says the customer's dye-sublimation printers can use one print sheet, providing consistent color production on both fabrics and hard surface transfers.

Most of the papers the company makes now are used in the manufacturing process. An example is the production of air bags for the auto industry. The air bag material is cut to shape with a laser beam and an ultra-sound weld is used to form the material into one bag. The beam, however, turns the cut edge into a melted edge and when this edge is welded together, some of the carbon produced by the laser beam can create a weak spot.

Beaver paper Company developed a special paper for the air bag cutting process that uses a special starch that generates a light weight porous ash. Because it is porous, the ultrasonic weld goes right through it, creating an air-tight seam.

Beaver Paper is shipping this special paper for air bag production at plants in Mexico, Canada and Eastern Europe. "Per square-foot, our product is less expensive than the stuff they were using that didn't work," explained Prieur.

Business is very good this year for Beaver Paper. Prieur said revenues have been up between 30 and 40 percent in the last 90 days. "In March, our company had its best sales month since I became president. "Sales are higher and our margins are higher than ever."

The company buys its base papers made to specifications licensed only by Beaver Paper. Then the paper goes to a separate facility at another contractor where other special coatings are applied. Finally, the paper comes back to the company where final chemical properties are applied.

Prieur, a native of Canada, has been with Beaver Paper for the past 22 years. A resident of Gwinnett County, he and company associate Weis knew each other some years ago when they were both employed with Canadian Paper & Packaging Company.

Brian Weis, Vice President, at left, and Philip Prieur, President of Beaver Paper Company, stand in front of 3,000-pound rolls of specialty paper which is made in Sweden. This paper undergoes several processes locally before it is used for dye-sublimation printing.

Release Date: June 30, 2006
Contact: Jim Hightower (404) 331-0100, ext. 215
Release Number: 06-31