For the Pioneer Group in Big Rapids, MI, the Need for Web is Far From Dead

Headquartered in Big Rapids, MI, the Pioneer Group was established more than 150 years ago as a newspaper company. Throughout the years, products were acquired to grow its newspaper holdings and, later, telephone directories were added to its product mix in the 1980s.

On the printing side, the company was one of the first in the Midwest to shift to offset printing when a Harris Cottrell V-15A was acquired in the 1960s. But, in 2000, with increasing page, color and speed demands, the Batdorffs decided to buy a new press and build a centralized printing and distribution facility to house it. With the increased capacity, a commercial printing operation was born.