64 Business View - December 2015
tain times of the year. “We’re a seasonal business,” he
explains. “So both during graduation period, and Father’s
Day, and the Christmas holiday, for example, we see a big
spike in demand for our products and services. So we
scale up to double that number.”
While there may be other manufacturers and suppliers of
printed photo-merchandise, Bellamy believes that there
are many reasons why RPI has been listed on the Inc.
Magazine 500|5000 list for the last six years in a row,
as one the country’s fastest growing private companies.
“When you look at what really differentiates RPI,” he says,
“it’s our technology platform that allows us to provide our
customers with a broader range of services and products
that are personalized and delivered ‘just in time.’ And it
also allows us to scale to meet the demands of the mar-
ket, both in terms of time-to-home and quality.”
Even though the company maintains a direct sales force
and does content marketing through a variety of chan-
nels, Bellamy relates that, as a well-known industry leader,
most of the company’s leads come from references and
word-of-mouth. In addition, RPI’s Seattle factory is much
heralded as the first print manufacturing company in its
category to be certified by the Sustainable Green Printing
Partnership (SGP), the print industry’s gold standard in
sustainability. To receive SGP certification, print facilities
such as RPI must exceed compliance with local, state, and
federal laws. Also, they must establish sustainability man-
agement systems, implement best practices across the
organization, and commit to continuous improvements
in sustainability. Today, through its company-wide Zero
Landfill initiative, more than 97 percent of RPI’s waste
is recycled or diverted from landfills, and the company is
striving to reduce its landfill footprint to as close to zero as
possible. Bellamy believes that partnering with RPI helps
a client demonstrate its commitment to sustainability
across its value chain, and is yet another reason why the
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