Thomas Printworks
Editor’s Note: In the last edition of APDSP Today, we wrote about Thomas Printworks’ acquisition of Dynamic Reprographics in Houston (click here to read that article). However, the original interview with Trevor Hansen, Thomas’ chief revenue officer, about the acquisition went well beyond that topic. This article looks at other aspects of Thomas’ growth.
By Ed Avis
Like most APDSP members, Thomas Printworks began life as a blueprint shop. The company was founded in 1956 as Thomas Blueprint in Dallas. It eventually became Thomas Reprographics, and evolved into Thomas Printworks in 2015. (Click here to read a Q&A with Bryan Thomas about the name change.)
“We are not the reprographics company we once were,” says Trevor Hansen, the company’s chief revenue officer. Thomas Printworks now has 25 locations spread across four states, Texas, Arizona, Minnesota and Florida.
Perhaps the most obvious difference between what Thomas Printworks is today and what it was before is the firm’s greatly expanded large-format color department. The work that pours out of their fleet of color printers ends up on the walls of sports venues, construction sites, hospitals, retailers and countless other businesses. And that work is poised to grow, Hansen says.
“We are expanding our offerings for branded environments, such as custom wallpaper, murals and banners,” Hansen says. “For example, we did a lot of work for the South by Southwest [music and film festival] in Austin.”
Much of that work was done on an Océ Colorado printer in the firm’s Austin location. They tested the Colorado there, and have since added Colorados to their locations in Phoenix, Dallas, Houston and Orlando.
“We also have HP latex printers in all of those markets as well,” Hansen says.
The increase in that kind of work has necessitated space expansions. In December the company relocated their wide-format division in Houston into their 110,000-square-foot commercial print building, Hansen says. That space now includes commercial printing, wide-format, direct mail and fulfillment capabilities.
“And in the next couple of weeks we will announce that we’re relocating our Orlando location into a new, larger facility as well, and adding some new equipment,” he says.
Thomas’ growth in large-format color doesn’t mean it’s leaving the AEC community behind. Some of the color work the firm does is for that segment.
“AEC is still a significant part of our business,” Hansen explains. “The revenue from those customers comes from some of the same capabilities as before, but also some new ones. For example, in some cases we’re a subcontractor on the job, not just the printer. When we do work such as custom wallpaper, window film, wayfinding signage, directional signage or branded environments, the architects will spec us. We even have wallcovering books that we put in our clients’ offices so they can spec us into the project. It’s really just taking the same customers and finding new revenue streams.”