A-Plus Printing & Graphic Center printed and distributed full-color memorial and prayer cards in memory of the victims of the Feb. 14, 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL.
Thomas Horne calls a print job his company executed this past Valentine’s Day “the hardest day for me as a printer.”
It wasn’t the technical aspect of the job that challenged the employees of A-Plus Printing & Graphic Center, located in Plantation, Fla. It was the emotional aspect. On that day, 17 students and teachers from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., were killed in a mass shooting.
Upon hearing the news, Horne waited to hear from his two brothers, both of whom are police officers and are among the first responders. “The rule in our family is to text everyone and let them know that they’re safe,” Horne says of major local crime events.
(From left) Pressman Manny Ruiz and Thomas Horne stand with the memorial and prayer cards.
Assured of his brothers’ safety, Horne’s next action was to memorialize the deceased through a quick-turnaround print job of memorial and prayer cards for each student and staff member who perished.
“I’ve been through losses in my family and know how hard it is. This was a terrible tragedy,” notes Horne, whose father was also a law enforcement officer.
Within a day of the shooting, A-Plus Printing & Graphic Center employees came in at 6 a.m. to work on the job, spending hours trying to source the best photos and information about each of the deceased individuals in an effort led by Horne, business partner Rick Erens, and a company graphic designer.
The employees ran the full-color, 12-pt. memorial and prayer cards with UV lamination on the shop’s KBA sheetfed offset presses. After the project was completed, Horne and Sergeant Ana Murillo from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office traveled to the doorsteps of each of the impacted families to deliver the cards for their use.
The company also printed up an additional 5,000 cards for the city of Parkland to distribute throughout the local community. There were some inherent challenges. Horne was operating on scant information and had to reprint some of the cards to correct some religious information. Horne says the day of the mass school shooting was his hardest day because of seeing the reactions of his staff.
“We’re a large family business and never had to do a print job for so many people that had passed,” points out Horne, adding that everyone who touched the job – staff members like the graphic designer and the printing press and cutter operators – found it to be a gut-wrenching experience.
Horne’s advice to other printing operations that might find themselves in a similar position is for management to “be strong for your employees” at a time like that. “Employees are like family members,” he adds. “This becomes a team effort. That’s how we got these cards printed, boxed and delivered.”
Ultimately, the company’s work and efforts garnered accolades.
“I got a lot of phone calls from the families thanking me and our team members,” notes Horne, saying that it was “pretty awesome” to see the positive responses of various family members who he was able to greet at their doorsteps as he offered them the cards and his condolences.
Horne didn’t take a dime for the work.
“It was the right thing to do,” he stresses. “We were happy that we could help out.”
LSC Communications filed a WARN notice with the Indiana Department of Workforce Development on Sept. 1 announcing its intention to begin shuttering its Kendallville book manufacturing facility located on Marion Drive effective Oct. 1, impacting all 307 employees who work there. The Chicago-based printer's operation on Lester Drive in the same roughly-10,000-resident town in northeast Indiana will remain open. "At this time, the company anticipates that all employees will be permanently separated from employment with the company by December 23, 2020," wrote Rebecca Robertson, VP of human resources, in the WARN notice. "In connection with the plant closure, no employees will have bumping rights to displace other employees working for the company," she added. "We appreciate any support or assistance you or your office can provide to help employees affected by the plant closing in finding new positions."
CJK Group, Inc. has celebrated a year-long journey of growth and realignment with many pivotal events setting the course for a dynamic future in the publishing industry and beyond. February 2024 saw the acquisition of Kodi Collective LLC, a leading portfolio of full spectrum print and creative marketing solutions spanning multiple print facilities and a full-service photography/ videography and creative studio with a network of over 400 validated suppliers. Kodi’s breadth of offerings, capabilities, and core values were instantly recognized as a perfect complement to CJK Group’s market-leading Sheridan® family of print solutions. Perhaps the most strategic developments in 2024 came from the thoughtful rebranding of Kodi Collective’s diverse offerings. In September, the three Kodi commercial digital print facilities were relaunched under the well-known Digital Lizard™ brand. The end of October marked the rebranding of Kodi’s Marketing Execution and Creative Production capabilities, once again under a highly regarded brand – Continuum™.
For those in the magazine and catalog printing and publishing segments, the past year has been nothing short of dynamic. Although there has been considerable consolidation and downsizing, these trends have opened up doors to other possibilities that are being embraced by printers and publishers alike: niche publications are on the rise and catalogs have evolved to tell their own story. Traditionally, magazines were driven by mass-market titles that could appeal to a wide audience, David Pilcher, VP of sales and marketing at Freeport, Ohio-based Freeport Press, explains. The industry has recently seen a shift in the types of titles that are seeing the biggest growth, he says, and its niche titles that are leading the march into 2018. “This year, we’re seeing publishers offloading many of these big titles,” he says. “Some are calling it chaos. We don’t see it that way. We see a definite trend toward niche titles, with viable business models that take advantage of a more selective consumer base.” Click Read More below for additional information.
