One would expect book-printing companies to be headed down the same road as newspapers in this time of e-books, digitized documents, and off-shoring. That's not the case for Thomson-Shore.
The Dexter-based printer is growing faster than it ever has as it has diversified its business, allowing it to hire nearly a dozen people this year. It plans another repeat in 2011, and might not even wait until the new year to get started.
"This is the slowest part of our year and we have never been busier," says Kevin Spall, president and CEO of Thomson-Shore.
The 38-year-old company used to focus primarily on shorter runs (about 1,000 copies) of one-color books (black ink on white paper). Over the last few years it has invested in upgrading its presses to handle four-color books (think comic and children books) with bigger runs of about 10,000 copies. Thomson-Shore was one of the first printers to commit to green practices, now using 30 percent recycled paper in its pulp. It's also dabbling in e-books and Bible printing, a bit of work most printers gave up as lost to China years ago.
"We will probably do $2 million in Bibles this year," Spall says. "That's totally new revenue."
Those new revenue streams have allowed Thomson-Shore to expand its headcount from 199 at the peak of the recession to 211 employees, two interns, and 15-20 independent contractors today. The company expects to hire another 10-20 people over the next 12-18 months.
"We seem to be hitting a stride," Spall says.
Source: Kevin Spall, president & CEO of Thomson-Shore
Writer: Jon Zemke
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