If you know much about the printing industry in the Midwest, you probably are aware of the shared history that many of the printing companies have.  As with other niche services, the people that make up these organizations are connected in a lot of ways and have been for many decades.  Edwards Brothers Malloy would like to share an interesting story about its roots.  The combination of Malloy Incorporated and Edwards Brothers Inc. is more of a reunion than a merger.

Edwards Brothers work force 1949

The Roots of Malloy Incorporated
In the early 1940’s, a man named Jim Malloy worked as a press manager in the Edwards Brothers printing facility in Ann Arbor.  In 1948 Jim left Edwards Brothers, along with Bert Cushing, to found Cushing-Malloy on North Main Street in Ann Arbor.  The year after Jim left Edwards Brothers, the company’s staff had swelled to 150 people.  Edwards Brothers primary facility was located in down town Ann Arbor on John Street. After ten years in business with Bert, Jim sold his interest in Cushing-Malloy to the Cushing family and left that company in 1958.

On July 18, 1960 Jim Malloy and his brother-in-law Dick Dorow founded Malloy Lithographing Inc.  After opening for business, Jim and Dick both worked full-time for Malloy. At that time there were less than a dozen other full time employees of the company. Malloy’s sales in its first full year of operation were $79,254.
In 1966 the company’s sales had climbed to just under $500,000. In that year Herb Upton bought the company from Jim Malloy and the business still sits at the same site where it was built back in 1960 although it has expanded to over 180,000 square feet.

Since its inception, Malloy focused on being a leader in technological innovation. Malloy was the first book printer in the United States to install a Timson T32 web press in 1982. Timson webs are now used by scores of book printers around the world. In 1994, Malloy was one of the first book manufacturers to adopt computer-to-plate technology as its primary process for producing plates. In 1999, Malloy was a leader in providing its customers with on-line access to information on their print orders, including up-to-the minute data on the status of each of their titles in production.

Edwards Brothers Location on John Street in the 1940's

Expansion of the Edwards Brothers Brand

In the decades after Jim Malloy’s departure from Edwards Brother, the company expanded at a rapid pace.  In 1979, Edwards Brothers acquired The Graphic Press, located just a few blocks from the Capitol in Raleigh, North Carolina which was moved to its current location in Lillington, N.C. in 1983.  After the turn of the millennium, the Edwards Brothers brand set up numerous digital print facilities throughout the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom.  Pioneered by John Edwards, these new operations focus on the production of ultra-short run lengths of 1 to 750 copies. The Digital Book Centers offer both case and perfect bound titles using traditional book paper and cover materials.  Combined with its three offset manufacturing facilities, Edwards Brothers digital centers form the nexus of a growing distributed print program that allows customers to print and ship closer to final destination.

The Reunion

Now in 2012, the Malloy name is once again affiliated with Edwards Brothers Inc.  The new company, Edwards Brothers Malloy, is a unique product of the paths that key people took in history.  Despite many twists and turns, superior customer service has remained the hallmark of these two businesses. While innovation, investment in new technology, and creative partnerships have played important roles in continued success, it is the people who have made the greatest contribution.

Edwards Brothers Malloy combines global print solutions with cutting edge printing technology and enhanced web based tools for publishers and content creators.  As one united front, Edwards Brothers Malloy begins a new chapter in history as the 6th largest book manufacturer in North America.

Both Edwards Brothers Inc and Malloy Incorporated have long traditions of being family owned businesses in the Ann Arbor area.  Over the years, each family has helped grow the respective businesses into the multimillion dollar organizations that they are today.  In their own words, Herb Upton and Marty Edwards give some insight into how this was accomplished.

“I Think It’s the Right Move”

A quote from Herb Upton above sums up his thoughts on the merger between the two book printing companies.  Herb helped grow then Malloy Lithographing Inc. from 500,000 dollars per year in revenue to over 35 million today.  According to Upton, they accomplished this with a very “can do” workforce of resourceful people who made it work.  He offers his golden rules for running a business.

Do the best job you can taking care of customers

“Customers are very hard to get and easy to lose and competitors are always around ready to take them away from you.“  Upton also said that it’s important to build strong relationships built on trust with buyers:  “If there’s an opportunity to help them out, to make them look good, it’s a smart thing to do.”

Take care of employees

“You need to be sensitive to employee needs, be supportive,” said Upton.  “It’s a lot more pleasant to work in a place where people are happy.  If people aren’t happy they’re disruptive, they’re not cooperative.  If you can avoid all that stuff it’s not only a whole lot more pleasant place to work, it’s more productive.”

Focus on profitability

Upton believes that if you do a good job taking care of customers and employees, it goes a long way toward achieving profitability.  Part of that formula involves having good people in supervision, which he feels Malloy has always had.

Final words from Upton on the merger

“The merger will bring some change; people should try to pull together and make things work.  They should not think of themselves as Malloy people or Edwards people, bet as being all on one team now.”

Teamwork Makes it Happen

An article written by Marty Edwards in 1981 highlights his philosophy on working together.

You and I spend a high percentage of our waking hours at work, so I think most would agree that we would be wise to do what we can to make work a good experience for each of us.  That suggests the question:  How can we make EB a good experience?

Generally, psychologists and professionals in the management field talk about job enrichment, job security, job satisfaction, and a host of other elements that combine to make us feel “right” about our jobs at EB (or any other job for that matter).

There’s another slant worth exploring.  If we can agree that it’s both an opportunity and our duty to serve customers, we can look at work from another point of view.  Winning customers, satisfying them, and earning more of their business becomes the name of the game.

Winning customers is best accomplished through a team effort rather than as a result of a group of unrelated individual inputs.  That’s what teamwork is all about.  The Japanese have been very successful because they understand this fundamental of business.  Every employee in many of their companies regards himself as a member of the team that exists to win and serve customers.  The result?  Fine products built at competitive prices, growth, job security, job enrichment, and job enlargement.

How do they do it?  Is it merely because their culture is so different from ours that they build fine products and work well together?  I doubt it.  They win because they understand what work is all about—serving customers.

That’s no mystery.  You know that and so do I.  lately, it’s this very awareness and understanding among EB employees that has led to the excellent results we’ve been reporting during the recession.
Who is doing this?  You are.  You , your supervisors, fellow employees, and management.  What does it all add up to?  Very simply, a winning team.  Your team.

John Edwards (left) & Bill Upton (right)

Pictured above are John Edwards and Bill Upton.  John is a 4^th generation Edwards to be at the helm of the company.  Bill is a 2^nd generation Upton to be running Malloy Incorporated.  Together the families open a new chapter in the book printing industry as Edwards Brothers Malloy.