Orange County’s 29 largest commercial printers combined for $621 million in sales last year, about the same as the group posted in 2015.
The revenue figure stems from production generated at locally based printing presses—110 out of 560 in the U.S.—and is used as the basis for the rankings on this week’s Business Journal list.
Thirteen of the companies reported revenue increases, seven posted drops, and sales for nine firms are Business Journal estimates. Their joint local workforce was flat at 2,591.
The largest seven commercial printers retained their rankings from last year’s list:
• No. 1, Trend Offset Printing Services Inc. in Los Alamitos, posted an estimated $310 million in companywide revenue from its 29 printing presses. It opened a fourth printing location in Walton, Ky. in September, a move that enables it to “cover 98% of the largest U.S. cities within a one day drive of each plant, decreasing shipping costs, as well as greenhouse gas emissions.”
Chief Executive Aaron Day said at the time that “strong customer interest in our new CoMbo mailing software has created the need to expand our reach so that more of our clients could take advantage of our industry leading mailing solutions. We are very excited to enter the Midwest region, with Trend’s signature high-quality web offset printing and finishing.”
About $186 million of company’s sales last year came from its OC operations and 15 presses here, keeping it in the top spot. The company employed 637 people here, a 6.2% uptick.
• Primary Color Systems in Costa Mesa, No. 2, reported $64 million in revenue, a 5.9% dip. The company also decreased its OC staff by 7.1%, leaving it with 325.
• Fontis Solutions in Irvine, No. 3, was up by 1.3% to $40.5 million. It cut its local employee count by 12% to 60. The company operates 37 printing presses, of which four are based in Orange County.
• No. 4, The Dot Corp. in Irvine, which runs all four of its printing presses here, posted a 6.8% sales increase to $31.8 million while reducing its workforce by 5.3% for a total of 180.
• SCNG Printing in Anaheim debuted on the list at No. 8 with $19.7 million in revenue, a 6.2% dip. The commercial printer, previously known as Freedom Printing, became part of the Southern California News Group’s portfolio of assets after the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Santa Ana approved the sale of Freedom Communications Inc. to Denver-based Digital First Media last year for $49.8 million. SCNG Printing, which keeps four out of eight printing presses in OC, employed 61 here, about 8.9% more than in 2015.
• OCPC-an RR Donnelley Company in Irvine retained the No. 9 spot on the list. It grew revenue by 11.8% to $19 million, attributing the increase to “no particular reason except hard work and outstanding service to our clients,” Chief Operating Officer Miguel Jacobowitz said. It also boosted its workforce by 6.3% to 85 workers here. OCPC has six printing presses in Orange County, while its parent company—whose annual revenue is more than $11 billion—operates about 400 nationwide.
The biggest year-over-year gainers were:
• C2 Imaging in Costa Mesa climbed three spots to No. 12 on the list. The company posted $16 million in revenue, a 14.3% increase, and expanded its employment base 11.1% to 140.
• The Castle Press in Anaheim posted the biggest increase in revenue—25.6% to $5.5 million—and moved up five spots to No. 22. The commercial printer acquired a competitor in late 2015, a move that “created the bump in revenue,” according to Chief Operating Officer Robert Miller. The company also added equipment, which enabled it to provide new services, including “in-house design, a broader range of digital printing capability, die cutting, and mailing,” he said. Castle Press, now certified as a female-owned business, was previously known as Lester Lithograph Inc. It operates seven printing presses and has 45 employees.
• Westates Automotive Promotions in Buena Park, No. 26, founded in 1970 “with the sole purpose of servicing the direct mail marketing needs of the automotive dealership” and later expanded to offer “multi-media campaigns,” posted a 11.6% increase in revenue to $4.8 million. It operates four printing presses here and employed 45, a 4.7 uptick.
