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.”
The Board of Directors of Transcontinental Inc. announces that François Olivier will retire from the Company. He will be leaving his functions on December 9, 2021, after 28 years with the Company, including 13 years as President and Chief Executive Officer. Peter Brues, a member of Transcontinental’s Board of Directors since 2018 and Chair of the Audit Committee, will succeed him as President and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Brues will join the organization as of November 1st and will work with François Olivier during a transition period. He will officially assume his duties on December 10th. Mr. Brues’s appointment is the culmination of a rigorous succession planning process led by the Company’s Human Resources and Compensation Committee. “The Board of Directors wishes to acknowledge the exceptional contribution of François Olivier to Transcontinental and to highlight his remarkable career that featured many strategic and significant achievements for Transcontinental,” said Isabelle Marcoux, Chair of the Board of Directors. “His innovative vision, decisive leadership and business skills have helped propel Transcontinental to its position as a leading flexible packaging company in North America and the largest printer in Canada. We sincerely thank François for his invaluable contribution to the growth, diversification and transformation of Transcontinental over the years.”
Following the Superior Court's decision, rendered on April 20, 2022, dismissing its motion to nullify the City of Mirabel’s by-law on the distribution of printed advertising materials, and pending its appeal of this decision, TC Transcontinental (TSX: TCL.A TCL.B) is discontinuing its Publisac service in Mirabel. As already indicated by TC Transcontinental, the opt-in distribution model adopted by the City of Mirabel is not viable for the door-to-door distribution of Publisac. TC Transcontinental is therefore moving the distribution of its clients’ printed advertising material in Mirabel to Canada Post. "We find it very unfortunate to have to discontinue the distribution of the Publisac in Mirabel after more than 30 years of operations in the City, and we regret the disappearance of 16 jobs", said Patrick Brayley, Senior Vice-President, Distribution at TC Transcontinental. "It is important however to continue to allow the population to have access to the discounts offered by flyers, particularly in the context of high inflation, as well as to their local information, and for local businesses to be able to efficiently reach their audiences and compete against the giants of e-commerce."
The ultra-high-speed, single-pass EFI™Reggiani BOLT digital textile printer from Electronics For Imaging, Inc. has received the InterTech™ Technology Award from PRINTING United Alliance. The InterTech Technology Awards honor technologies predicted to have a major transformational impact on the printing industry. The groundbreaking EFI Reggiani BOLT is the very first textile printer to receive an InterTech Award. Thanks to its cutting-edge printhead concept and high-performance ink delivery system for direct-to-textile printing, the 71 inch- (1.8 meter-) wide EFI Reggiani BOLT is the fastest digital textile printer available, delivering a top throughput speed of 295 feet (90 meters) per minute at a 600 x 600 dots per inch (dpi) resolution. It features high-end imaging in drop sizes from 5 to 30 picoliters, and also provides premium-quality 600 x 4,800 maximum-dpi resolution printing, allowing customers to address their full range of design needs.
