Quad to Close Saratoga Springs, NY, Printing Plant and Bolingbrook, IL, Mail Processing Facility

A hub for thoroughbred horse racing, Saratoga Springs is home to the Saratoga Race Course.

The company will close its Saratoga Springs, New York, printing facility at 56 Duplainville Rd. by May 4, impacting approximately 435 employees. Quad originally built the Saratoga Springs facility in 1984 for newsweekly magazine production. According to a Quad spokesperson, work currently performed in the facility will be transferred to other Quad locations, including Hartford, Wisconsin; The Rock, Georgia; and Springfield, Massachusetts. The one million-sq.-ft. plant will eventually be sold.

Saratoga Spring employees were informed of the closure during an in-person meeting on Friday morning, Jan. 19, and were sent an email afterwards, which was obtained by The Daily Gazette.

"This is a strategic business decision that reflects several industry trends, including volume contractions in certain print categories like newsweeklies (on which this plant built its reputation) as well as increases in postal costs, which Quad is offsetting through enhanced co-mail solutions that require centralized volumes for optimal processing,” Kevin Brasser, the Saratoga Springs plant manager, stated by email to employees following the morning meeting.

"Saratoga has played a critical role in Quad’s print operations over the last four decades, and as such, you have all deservedly earned a stellar reputation for quality, service and overall performance within our company, among our client base and within the printing industry. I am very proud of this and am sincerely grateful for the privilege of working with all of you. You are experienced and skilled printers."

In 2017, Printing Impressions reported that the Saratoga Springs facility was the company’s first plant outside of Wisconsin, and was opened to help bring the production closer to its customers. It extended the company's reach into the Northeast, where many of the nation’s top catalogers and magazine publishers are concentrated. At that time, the Saratoga Springs plant was said to print Time, People, and Sports Illustrated magazines, among others. On the retail end, it printed catalogs for LEGO, Lord & Taylor, and Dover Saddlery, and also produced retail ad inserts for brands such as CVS, Hannaford, and Lidl.

The Times Union indicated that Quad received $1.05 million worth of tax incentives in 2020 from the Saratoga County Industrial Development Agency for $45 million in improvements that were made at the plant, which included new printing equipment.

As part of the same announcement, Quad also plans to close its Bolingbrook, Illinois, mail processing and logistics facility by Feb. 24, impacting approximately 75 employees. Work currently performed in Bolingbrook will be transferred primarily to Quad’s Sussex, Wisconsin, and Martinsburg, West Virginia, facilities, which already process large volumes of client mail that integrate with U.S. Postal Service operations, according to a Quad spokesperson.

Quad Closures: Not an Easy Business Decision

Quad’s decision in no way reflects the quality and performance of employees at these locations, all of whom have performed well, the company noted.

Joel Quadracci

“Quad continues to optimize our platform for our future as a marketing experience, or MX, company that provides all the resources companies need for frictionless marketing execution,” Joel Quadracci, Quad chairman, president, and CEO, said in a prepared statement. “Print remains an important and strategic part of our integrated marketing platform that includes solutions across all channels – traditional and digital.

“Since our company’s founding, we have prided ourselves on prioritizing our people and our communities," Quadracci added. "We took great care to discuss and evaluate all options before making the decision to close these plants, and we communicated the news in-person to employees. I would like to once again thank all our employees in Saratoga Springs and Bolingbrook for their hard work and many contributions over the years. They are true professionals who should be proud of everything they accomplished as a team and in service to so many clients.”

The company said it is offering skilled employees incentives to relocate to other Quad facilities, noting that their expertise is needed due to the ongoing industry-wide labor shortage. It indicated that the remaining employees will receive a comprehensive separation package that includes severance pay, continuation of healthcare benefits, and career transition assistance through a career counseling company.

Worldwide, Quad operates approximately 40 manufacturing and distribution locations, and employs approximately 15,000 employees. The majority of its operations are in the U.S., where it employs more than 11,000 people and operates approximately 30 printing facilities (including Saratoga Springs and Bolingbrook) and 80+ client-based on-sites.

Quad was ranked Number 2 on the recently published, 2023 Printing Impressions 300 list of the largest printing companies in the U.S. and Canada, as ranked by annual sales (click here to access the complete list). Quad reported sales of $3.22 billion for its most recent fiscal year, a 9% increase over the $2.96 billion in revenues it generated the previous year.