For 20 years, Inline has been building more than just a print business.
I’m Danny Silvester, founder and CEO of Inline International, and 2024 sees us celebrate our 20th anniversary!
Starting off from humble beginnings and a tiny garage in Cornwall, to building Inline into the international print business it is today, has been as incredibly challenging as it has been highly rewarding. Here’s how we got here…
A brief history
In 2004, I was working as the sales director of a print company having spent the previous 10 years working for an international distribution company.
It was a phone call from one of my clients telling me that my previous employer had ceased trading that led to the “opportunity knocks” moment. I’d had an idea bubbling away of bringing together a “one-stop” service for clients based on their design, print and distribution needs, and now seemed too good an opportunity to miss.
A whirlwind 24 hours saw me hand in my notice with my employer and register a company which would eventually become what is today, Inline International.
I had no financial backing and no savings, so armed with just a handful of personal credit cards and the young and reckless exuberance of youth, I went about securing our first little premises in Cornwall, a forklift, and as many boxes and envelopes as the limit on my credit card would allow!
Twenty years on and I’m pleased to say the gamble paid off – and our first client, International House London, is still with us to this day!
Looking back
It’s certainly been a journey, and there’s been obvious ups and downs, but it’s never been dull!
The company certainly wouldn’t have made it to this milestone without the effort of some fantastic people, and I’m absolutely blessed to be surrounded by an amazing team who love and care for the company and our clients just as much as I do.
I’m proud that we’ve had the opportunity and ability to provide jobs, opportunities and security for people. We have brought 12 apprentices through the ranks, and seeing many of these talented youngsters climb the ladder at Inline is something that I’m extremely proud of.
Favourite moments and achievements
As many of our clients know, we are a fun loving bunch and we’ve shared so many happy memories, some of which are truly side splitting – from evicting a rather stubborn fox that had taken up residence in our warehouse, carrying a full size cardboard cut-out Harry Potter home on a flight from Berlin, and even personally driving a van from London to Norway at Christmas to ensure a shipment got to a client on time. It hasn’t always been glamorous, but it makers for some good stories!
In 2009, we opened our first overseas hub in Brazil and six others have followed in China, Colombia, India, Russia, South Korea and Turkey. This has allowed us to not only cut our client’s costs and improve delivery times, but also to cut the carbon footprint by producing and delivering locally.
Innovating new products and services has been key from day one and we continue to invest and innovate. This year has seen the launch of our online management and ordering platform, MyInline 2.0. It’s certainly a far cry from the faxed orders we used to receive back in the early days!
2020 saw us face by far our biggest challenge to date with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, but I’d have to say that in my opinion, surviving that period and bringing the company back to a thriving enterprise, has to go down as mine and our team’s biggest achievement. We came together and everyone at Inline should be proud of how we got through it. I know I am proud, and thankful, to them all.
Our suppliers and clients were also incredibly supportive during this difficult period and we’ve formed closer ties because of it.
As the company has grown and we’ve added to our awesome team, my day to day is somewhat unrecognisable from those early days of doing everything from packing boxes and cleaning the toilets, to sales and accounts. So I find myself mostly focused on business strategy and looking for new opportunities, although the team sometimes let me out to the odd client event.
As for the future, we’ll be looking to expand our hubs into more countries, develop existing service areas such as e-commerce fulfilment and branded merchandise, continue to train new apprentices, employ more people, get more involved with the local community, and bring onboard many new customers so we can celebrate making their lives easier in 20 years time for our 40th anniversary!
Thank you to everyone who has been a part of the Inline story!
