Matthews International Corp Company Profile

Matthews, founded in 1850 and incorporated in Pennsylvania in 1902, is a provider principally of brand solutions, memorialization products and industrial technologies. Brand solutions include brand development, deployment and delivery (consisting of brand management, printing plates and cylinders, pre-media services and imaging services for consumer packaged goods and retail customers, merchandising display systems, and marketing and design services). Memorialization products consist primarily of bronze and granite memorials and other memorialization products, caskets and cremation equipment primarily for the cemetery and funeral home industries. Industrial technologies include marking and coding equipment and consumables, industrial automation products and order fulfillment systems for identifying, tracking, picking and conveying consumer and industrial products.

The SGK Brand Solutions segment provides brand development, deployment and delivery (consisting of brand management, printing plates and cylinders, pre-media services and imaging services for consumer packaged goods and retail customers, merchandising display systems, and marketing and design services). With the acquisition of Schawk, Inc. ("Schawk") in fiscal 2014, the Company significantly expanded its product offerings and capabilities related to brand development and brand management serving the consumer packaged goods and retail industries. The primary packaging industry consists of manufacturers of printed packaging materials such as boxes, flexible packaging, folding cartons and bags commonly displayed at retailers of consumer goods. The corrugated packaging industry consists of manufacturers of printed corrugated containers. Other major industries served include the wallpaper, flooring, automotive, and textile industries.

The principal products and services of this segment include brand development, deployment, delivery, brand management, pre-media graphics services, printing plates, gravure cylinders, steel bases, embossing tools, special purpose machinery, engineering assistance, print process assistance, print production management, digital asset management, content management, and package design. These products and services are used by brand owners and packaging manufacturers to develop and print packaging graphics that help identify and sell the product in the marketplace. Other packaging graphics can include nutritional information, directions for product use, consumer warning statements and UPC codes. The primary packaging manufacturer produces printed packaging from paper, film, foil and other composite materials used to display, protect and market the product. The corrugated packaging manufacturer produces printed containers from corrugated sheets. Using the Companys products, these sheets are printed and die cut to make finished containers.

The segments sales are also derived from the design, engineering, manufacturing and execution of merchandising and display systems. These systems include permanent and temporary displays, custom store fixtures, brand concept shops, interactive media, custom packaging, and screen and digitally printed promotional signage. Design and engineering services include concept and model development, graphics design and prototyping. Merchandising and display systems are manufactured to specifications developed by the segment in collaboration with the customer.

The Company works closely with manufacturers to provide the proper printing forms and tooling required to print the packaging to the users specifications. The segments printing plate products are made principally from photopolymer resin and sheet materials. Upon customer request, plates can be pre-mounted press-ready in a variety of configurations that maximize print quality and minimize press set-up time. Gravure cylinders, manufactured from steel, copper and chrome, can be custom engineered for multiple print processes and specific customer print applications.

The SGK Brand Solutions segment customer base consists primarily of brand owners and packaging industry converters. Brand owners are generally large, well-known consumer products companies and retailers with a national or global presence. These types of companies tend to purchase their graphics needs directly, and supply the printing forms, or the electronic files to make the printing plates and gravure cylinders, to the packaging printer for their products. The SGK Brand Solutions segment serves customers throughout the world, with principal locations in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Major raw materials for this segments products include photopolymers, steel, copper, film, wood, particleboard, corrugated materials, structural steel, plastic, laminates, inks and graphic art supplies. All such materials are presently available in adequate supply from various industry sources.

The SGK Brand Solutions segment is one of several providers of brand management, brand development and pre-media services and manufacturers of printing plates and cylinders with an international presence. The combination of the Companys businesses in North America, Europe and Asia is an important part of Matthews strategy to become a worldwide leader in the graphics industry by providing consistent service to multinational customers on a global basis. Competition is on the basis of product quality, timeliness of delivery and price. The merchandising and display business operates in a fragmented industry consisting primarily of a number of small, locally operated companies. The segment competes on the basis of reliability, creativity and ability to provide a broad array of merchandising products and services. The segment is unique in its ability to provide in-depth marketing and merchandising services as well as design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities. These capabilities allow the segment to deliver complete turnkey merchandising solutions quickly and cost effectively. The Company differentiates itself from the competition by consistently meeting these customer demands, providing service to customers both nationally and globally, and providing a variety of value-added support services.

Memorial products include flush bronze and granite memorials, upright granite memorials and monuments, cremation memorialization products, granite benches, flower vases, crypt plates and letters, cremation urns, niche units, cemetery features and statues, along with other related products and services. Flush memorials are bronze plaques or granite memorials which contain personal information about a deceased individual (such as name, birth date, and death date), photos and emblems. Flush bronze and granite memorials are even or "flush" with the ground and therefore are preferred by many cemeteries for easier lawn mowing and general maintenance. The segments memorial products also include community and family mausoleums within North America. In addition, the segments other memorial products include bronze plaques, letters, emblems, vases, lights and photo ceramics that can be affixed to granite monuments, mausoleums, crypts and flush memorials. Principal customers for memorial products are cemeteries and memorial parks, which in turn sell the Companys products to the consumer.

Marking systems range from mechanical marking solutions to microprocessor-based ink-jet printing systems that integrate into a customers manufacturing, inventory tracking and material handling control systems. The Company manufactures and markets products and systems that employ different marking technologies, including contact printing, indenting, etching, laser and ink-jet printing. Customers frequently use a combination of these methods to achieve an appropriate mark. These technologies apply product information required for identification and traceability, as well as to facilitate inventory and quality control, regulatory compliance and brand name communication.