PI 400 Fast-Track Company: Graphic Village's 'Print Shop of the Future'

Graphic Village, Blue Ash, Ohio

Most Recent Fiscal Year Sales: $20 Million
Previous Fiscal Year Sales: $9.5 Million
Percentage Growth: 110%

Graphic Village CEO Eric Kahn has led several acquisitions.

Multichannel marketing solutions provider Graphic Village is on a quest to become the industry leader in the greater Cincinnati area. The fuel sparking its growth is the company’s acquisitions during a five-year period.

In fact, Graphic Village was borne out of the merger of two acquisitions in 2013. Those initial acquisitions included Brankamp Printing, a full-service printer serving the Greater Cincinnati area, and DocuPros, a digital print shop.

“We merged the companies and changed the name to Graphic Village,” Eric Kahn, CEO, says.

During the course of the past five years, Graphic Village has bought seven more companies, which it folded into the growing business. These acquisitions included two mail service companies, a wide-format provider, a content marketing and creative services firm, an apparel decorating service for the ad specialties market, and several competitors. Graphic Village’s most recent acquisition was CTS Packaging, a folding carton manufacturer.

“Acquiring companies allows us to achieve much faster growth,” he adds. “It enables us to hit the ground running.”

So when Graphic Village bought the packaging company, “we didn’t have to learn about manufacturing packaging,” he explains. “We are able to leverage the staff and their expertise, without having the learning curve. It’s a lot easier to acquire than build that expertise.”

Graphic Village’s increasing array of capabilities includes comprehensive print, direct mail, packaging and promotional items, digital advertising, and content for websites and publications.

When deciding upon a company to acquire, “we look for well-run businesses, a good management team, strong employees and a strong reputation in the market,” he points out.

Its acquisitions now firmly in place, as we go to press Graphic Village is moving into its brand-new, 253,000-sq.-ft. facility in Blue Ash, a suburb of Cincinnati. Employing 160 employees, the state-of-the-art facility will consolidate all of the companies into the one manufacturing site, which has been designed from the ground up to optimize productivity and workflow.

“We invested in a lot of new equipment for the new building,” Kahn reveals, citing a recently purchased seven-color HP Indigo 12000 digital press, the first in the Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana tri-state area; a Scodix Ultra2 digital enhancement press with Foil; and a five-color Ryobi sheetfed offset press. On order is an Océ VarioPrint i300 sheetfed color inkjet press from Canon Solutions America.

Dubbed by Graphic Village as “The Print Shop of the Future,” the ultra-modern facility was built to attract both employees and customers. “We want to attract and retain the best employees, to create a great place to come to work,” Kahn says. “And we want our customers, when they walk in, to say, ‘Wow, I want to do business with this company.’”

The Print Shop of the Future is a manifestation of Graphic Village’s approach to its business. Acquisitions will only take you so far; you also have to produce for your customers. What continues to drive Graphic Village’s success is “first and foremost our great customer service and paying attention to satisfying customer needs,” Kahn contends. “Great quality work, of course, and our great employees.”

With the new facility, Kahn adds, we are demonstrating that “we are the technology leader in the region.”

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