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.”
Sun Chemical will increase prices effective immediately across its entire portfolio of packaging, commercial sheetfed, and screen inks, coatings, consumables, and adhesives in Europe, Middle East and Africa, effective October 1, 2022. The current geopolitical situation in Europe continues to upset the unprecedented inflationary trends further, with severe impact onto operating costs—including utilities and labour costs—through the entire supply chain. Sun Chemical continues to strive to find ways of mitigating these costs, but the magnitude and speed of cost increases requires the company to further increase prices. “Sun Chemical’s priority has been to keep supplying our customers, allowing them to keep their facilities operating,” said Mehran Yazdani, President, Global Packaging and Advanced Materials. “Sun Chemical’s global reach has helped secure the sourcing of raw materials and maintain production, however, the costs to secure those materials, manufacture our products, and deliver them to our customers have continued escalating to a level that requires us to raise further prices and surcharges effective immediately for all products. This will ensure we can continue a steady flow of our quality products to customers. Without signs of stabilisation so far, the situation will need to be adjusted as it goes, and no price guarantee can therefore be given for any period.”
R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company announced today that its Board of Directors unanimously determined that an unsolicited proposal from Chatham Asset Management, LLC to acquire all of the common stock of the Company not already owned by Chatham and its affiliates for $10.85 per share in cash constitutes a “Superior Proposal” as defined in the Company’s previously announced definitive merger agreement with affiliates of Atlas Holdings LLC, dated as of November 3, 2021, subject to the condition that Chatham agree to extend the Revised Chatham Proposal until 9:05 a.m. CST on Friday, December 17, 2021. If Chatham refuses to agree to the Timing Condition, the Board will deem the Revised Chatham Proposal as withdrawn and incapable of being accepted by the Company. Under the terms of the Amended Agreement, affiliates of Atlas have agreed to acquire the Company for $10.35 per share in cash. “Today’s announcement is a testament to the robust process we have in place to maximize value for all stockholders,” said John C. Pope, Chairman of the Board. “Our Board and management team remain committed to acting in the best interests of RRD and all its stockholders, and will continue to take actions to achieve this objective.”
ABS Graphics, Itasca, Ill., opened its doors approximately 30 years ago and over time has evolved into a full-service operation that can handle a wide range of commercial print work, from design to offset and digital print to finishing, mailing and fulfillment. Recently, the company installed a new six-color Komori Lithrone G40 (GL640) with LED/UV to expand its already considerable capabilities and to add greater value to its bottom line. The new press replaces a 16-year-old Komori GL640 offset press with H-UV. While the older press continued to run well and produce quality images, the decision to upgrade became a matter of economics from a maintenance standpoint. Comparing those operating costs to the benefits of investing in a new press, the new press won hands down. “The purchase of a new press was really an economic decision. It just made sense from many different standpoints. It offered the technology, run speed and efficiency that we needed to continue on our growth path,” said Russ Babka, president and owner of ABS Graphics.
