Orange County’s biggest commercial printers held their ground in the past year.
The 30 printers on this year’s Business Journal list posted a 5% increase in total OC sales to $563 million. OC employment inched up 1% to 2,619. Most reporting periods were for the 12 months ended March 31.
It was a relief for printers to post a second consecutive year of sales growth. Last year printers reported an 8% gain after several grim years hit the industry.
Printers were pinched by hikes in workers’ compensation and electricity costs, and had to juggle budget-strapped clients wanting fast and good work for cheap.
A turnaround emerged last year along with the improving economy. But printing executives say the market remains tough.
Print is predicted for moderate growth in 2005, said Doug Grant, president of No. 14 Westamerica Graphics Corp. in Foothill Ranch. A survey by the Printing Industry Association found that printers expect a 7% rise in sales this year.
“But it’s not like all printers are going to grow,” Grant said. “There’s still overcapacity in the industry.”
Competition remains fierce in OC, where printers are competing for a smaller piece of the marketing pie, Grant said.
Customers have more options, including Internet-based services, for marketing in lieu of print, he added.
That’s put more pressure on printers to increase their services and invest in technology.
Several on this year’s list have expanded their Internet and e-commerce capabilities to give clients the ability to check press runs and make orders online, among other things.
“We’re getting the customers and ourselves more Internet savvy,” said Rick Blomquist, general manager of No. 28 Main Graphics in Irvine. “There’s a lot more proofing done on the Internet, which is one thing that notoriously slows down production.”
In all, 13 printers on this year’s list posted sales increases. Five reported decreases and four saw no change. The Business Journal made eight estimates for companies that declined to report sales figures.
Factoring out the estimates, OC sales at the remaining 22 companies rose 7%.
No.1 Trend Offset Printing Services Inc. in Los Alamitos again led the pack with $130 million in OC sales, up 8% from a year earlier. Trend president Todd Nelson said the company invested more than $15 million in new press equipment.
“We are now seeing the large dividends from this acquisition,” Nelson said.
Plus, Trend saw a “large increase” in work from national publishers wanting a presence in Southern California, Nelson said. The company boosted local employment just 1% to 560. But Nelson said “we are continually upgrading and hiring.”
At No. 2 was R.R. Donnelly & Sons Co. in Irvine with an estimated $50 million in sales. The company bought Moore Wallace Inc. in February 2004.
No. 3 Webtrend Inc. in Santa Ana had an estimated $45 million in sales.
No. 4 The Dot Printer Inc. in Irvine posted a 4% increase in sales to $27.8 million for the year ended Dec. 31. OC workers were up 7% to 181.
Meanwhile, No. 5 ColorGraphics in Costa Mesa, which posted a 12% jump in OC sales to $26 million, has big expansion plans.
ColorGraphics is set to more than double its size and move into a new 40,000-square-foot headquarters in Costa Mesa, said Craig Evans, director of sales and marketing. ColorGraphics’ OC staff jumped 19% to 56 workers.
The company has picked up a lot of new work and “added people in every department” to handle it, Evans said.
ColorGraphics also is adding prepress capabilities and printing equipment, including an eight-color press.
The biggest percentage gainers on this year’s list included No. 8 Myprint Corp. in Irvine, which saw a 43% jump to $19.6 million, and No. 21 Industrial Printing Group in Santa Ana, which posted a 43% jump in OC sales to $9.7 million.
Chief Executive Scott Rettberg said Industrial Printing bought another company last year and picked up a big client, Medtronic Inc. The company also added gluing, finishing and dye-cutting services, he said.
No. 28 MainGraphics in Irvine posted the biggest percentage jump. Its OC sales grew 141% to $5.6 million after it bought the printing operations of Orange Ink and Pace Publications last November, Blomquist said.
The company more than doubled its staff to 30 and plans to grow, he said.
MainGraphics moved its operations into Orange Ink’s former 14,000-square-foot Irvine operation, which was bigger, Blomquist said.
“We’ve been at it for six months in our new environment and we’ve done well but we’ve got a ways to go,” he said.
Two companies didn’t qualify and dropped off this year’s list: Burnett Engraving Co. in Anaheim and Studio Two Printing in Lake Forest. Newcomers included No. 18 Orange County Printing and MainGraphics.
