Thomson-Shore prints books, wins award, invests in Dexter

Thomson-Shore isn’t growing in Dexter as much as it is investing in the town it has called home for 37 years.The company downsized from 260 to 245 people since last year, but has invested about $10 million in its book-printing business. Thomson-Shore prints lots of short-run books, ranging anywhere from 500-20,000 copies, that are usually special orders for universities or religious institutions.”The last year has been a lot about installing new equipment and focusing on our core products and customers,” says Kevin Spall, the president and CEO of Thomson-Shore.The new equipment includes three new sewing machines, web press and multi-color press. This is the type of equipment that will allow the company to perform its job more efficiently and effectively.Thomson-Shore is also looking at breaking into some new markets. These range from graphic novels and comic books to digital printing and ebooks. “We’ll be looking at a lot of new markets,” Spall says.The company expects to use its organic growth from it core products and expansion into new markets to expand its payroll within the next year or two by a handful of people. Spall estimates it could be 2-3 new people for every million dollars in growth.The employee-owned company also recently won the 2008 ESOP Company of the Year Annual Award for Communications Excellence from the ESOP Association. The award recognizes outstanding communications and educational programs.Source: Kevin Spall, the president and CEO of Thomson-ShoreWriter: Jon Zemke