"This new state of the art press has more automation, faster speeds and fast makereadys—all things that are so important in today's commercial printing environment," Mike Ayers, president and CEO of Alexander Clark Printing, told PrintWeek in an interview.

"It's a good stepping stone between a half-size press and a full-size 40" press because it allows us to print 12-page signatures instead of eight pages. Being able to go up to a 32-point board with a fast changeover also allows us to go after some packaging markets we haven't been able to get into in the past."

Founded in 1972 as a business forms manufacturer, Alexander Clark Printing expanded into traditional commercial printing work in 1998 and added its first Komori press, a 28-inch five-color unit in 2006.

"Our business--like just about everybody else--had a few years of downturn," Ayers explained. "But we have a very broad customer base, with customers of sizes. We also still do a lot of business form manufacturing—a lot of products like envelopes our clients use in their regular business—and we do their promotional pieces and direct mail on the color side."

The new press comes only a few months after Alexander Clark's 57 workers completed their acquisition of the company.  "Instead of selling to an outside entity--and they had plenty of opportunities—the previous owner let us purchase the company through an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Program)," Ayers explained. "It was originally a 10-year plan and we finished the purchase in eight years. Now as employee owners we have a tremendous buy-in into making our company successful."