Leading role for star performer in print: Print21 magazine article

Women in print are all too rare, but doesn’t mean they should be deterred from entering the industry. Mitchell Jordan meets the woman behind Heaneys Performers in Print.

Susan Heaney has always been a standout figure within the printing industry, so it comes as no surprise that when meeting me at the railway station, I am instructed to look for a bright orange Holden.

“I could see you from miles away,” I remark, entering the passenger seat.

Heaney flashes a welcoming smile and replies: “That’s a good thing.”

It is also a fitting analogy for the way that she has run the family business to become a star performer in both Queensland and Australia. Her story is one of both determination and sound business sense that has seen Heaneys Performers in Print cemented firmly as part of the local print landscape.

Not that any of this was ever part of the plan when Heaney, in her late 20s, came on board to help out her father, Rob, with the accounts and looking for equity partners during the difficult late eighties.

“Rob started the business in 1979 [then called Heaneys Printing Factory] as some pocket money for golf so that he could live the Gold Coast lifestyle,” Heaney recounts from her office in Molendinar, surrounded by large-scale photographs she has taken during her various overseas travels. “When I came in, I thought I was here for about two-to-four weeks.”

If anyone suggested to Heaney back in 1989 that she would stick around any longer than that, she would have laughed dismissively at the thought.

“I refused to work in the printing industry,” she says with a tinge of irony, remembering her “slave labour” days as a child helping out after school. “When I had my daughter, I guess dad caught me at my weakest moment.”

For some time, Heaney managed to balance three demanding jobs: working with her father, running her own clothes manufacturing business and, most importantly, raising her daughter, Rebecca, as a sole parent.

When push came to shove, she realised that Heaneys was taking up most of her time so she sold her business and began working in printing on a full-time basis. In spite of the vow she made during her youth, it wasn’t a decision that she regretted.

“I’d spent 10 years doing my own thing, so it was great to have that experience under my belt,” Heaney says. With an astute business eye and strong organisational skills, she also jokes that after months of taking charge of the business’ accounts it would have been torturous to see such a responsibility placed in someone else’s hands.

For most people, the mere thought of working with a parent would be enough to send them running in the other direction. Heaney is the first to admit that it did present some challenges. “Dad and I are too much alike,” she states, “but we both respected what each other bought to the business.”

What Heaney wanted to do was to make the company into “a more modern place” which has been an ongoing process for Heaneys Performers in Print, moving from a general jobbing business through to an A2 house with internal design, prepress and print finishing capabilities.

Along the way, Heaney was joined by new business partners, Greg Lambert in 1992 and Fred Felt in 1994 who helped to grow the business further (both men are no longer part of Heaneys).

Going solo
1998 was a big year for Heaney. Not only did the company move to its new premises in Molendinar but she also bought her dad out, granting him the escape to a life of fishing and golfing that many printers dream of.

Heaney joined the Printing Industries Queensland Regional Council in May 2002 as a councillor. She rose rapidly through the ranks, serving time as Vice President and Deputy President before taking on the Presidency in 2006 where she became the region’s first female President in its 116-year history, continuing the role for three years.

Not long after in September 2007, business partner, Lambert, retired and Heaney purchased his equity, giving her full control of the business.

Heaney’s biography on Printing Industries describes her as “smart” and “vivacious” – two attributes that bode well for anyone running a business. During her time, she has witnessed a massive change in attitudes towards women in print.

“When I first started in the industry I was always referred to as ‘father’s daughter’,” she says.

Not anymore.

“Now, I’ve been involved with so much, and so many groups. Women are coming into the marketplace in much greater numbers now as we see printing become more IT-based,” Heaney adds.

She estimates that at least one third of her staff are women; with the sales team split equally between men and women.

“I’ve had women trainees in admin, prepress and bindery,” Heaney says. “I really try to push the trade to other women and encourage them.”

As a patron for Heidelberg’s annual Women in Print gatherings, she has helped spread the word to others. “I enjoy Women in Print – it’s a good way to get women out networking and introduce printing in a social way and encourage mentoring,” Heaney says.

One of the women who has helped the business go forward environmentally is her daughter, Rebecca, who has acted as a consultant to Heaneys and several other Queensland-based printers.

Heaney insists that she does not want her daughter working in printing as a career and has kept her involvement on the periphery (lucky for her she is studying zoology, a world away from presses and paper). Still, Rebecca can take some of the credit for Heaneys becoming the first printer in Queensland to earn Sustainable Green Print level 3 last year.

“Receiving Sustainable Green Print was a part of a long process and it was great to receive it,” Heaney recalls. “Our industry is showing that it is very proactive in being socially responsible.”

Heidelberg has just done the company’s carbon footprint, which proved better than Heaney expected, though she still sees room for improvement. Level 4 of SGP will involve ongoing work in reducing the carbon footprint over the years.

Heading in new directions
It was last year that Heaneys made its foray into digital printing, introducing a Xerox press into what was previously an entire Heidelberg operation.

“I realised that I just couldn’t put off digital printing anymore,” Heaney says. “The clients all love it and the press complements my small-end offset work.”

Pictured: Susan Heaney with Brent Sidwell, print machinist.

Businesses must change and in spite of her optimistic personality, Heaney is well aware that the market is on a rapid decline.

“There is too much capacity here in Queensland,” she says. “We were all ticking along quite well until October-November last year. Now, everyone in Queensland is feeling the effects. We are seeing some ridiculous pricing; run sizes are down which is making everyone hungry.”

She believes that more mergers or closures are unavoidable. While there are no plans to expand Heaneys through growth, her policy is to never say never.

“You have to always look at – if it was a case of merge or go out of business then I’d much rather merge than close down,” Heaney says.

One day, Heaney plans on following in her father’s footsteps and leaving the industry behind for good; only she reckons that you will be more likely to find her travelling and taking photos than on the golf course, and if that means there are no more Heaneys running the business then that is merely a fact of life.

“I see it as inevitable,” she says.

With a prolific input into the industry and enthusiasm for change, this day is not likely to happen anytime soon, and when it does, Heaney will go down in printing history as a shining example of what can be achieved – to men and women alike.