Paul Carroll brings a whole new meaning to going above and beyond. In September, the owner of American Printing Co. in the Rumford section of East Providence put together a large order for a major retailer. To make sure it reached its destination in New York City on time, Carroll climbed into his personal single-engine plane at North Central State Airport, flew to LaGuardia Airport, rented a car and delivered the order just in the nick of time.
“I couldn’t wait for FedEx,” said Carroll, sitting in the offices of the company his father Harry Carroll started in 1971.
Back then Carroll went on sales trips with his dad as the duo sought to link businesses needing printing services with commercial printers. After about 13 years, the two grew frustrated at printers that failed to deliver quality or rapid responses. Thinking that they could do better, the two started printing themselves. Slowly, the company that started in a one-room office in Lincoln entered new markets and grew and grew, moving from one location to the next as it acquired more equipment.
Today, American Printing’s 20,000-square-foot plant and offices tucked off Narragansett Park Drive contain two presses, digital copy machines, a flat-bed printer and a host of other equipment. The smell of ink drifts around racks 20 feet tall that hold supplies, and a forklift stands ready to shuttle pallets of paper from one end of the floor to the next. The staff can churn out everything from business cards to books to magazines to product displays. There is even a machine that can apply double-sided tape to items meant for hanging. Carroll said production can sometimes ramp up to 24 hours a day depending on the projects in the queue and customers’ deadlines.
“This is not your typical print shop,” Carroll said as an automated machine cut out signs behind him.
Much of American Printing’s work heads to major retailers, an industry in which the company found a niche many years ago. Carroll remains tight-lipped about its clients because of confidentiality and to protect its market, but Carroll said his company’s products can be found in the aisles of almost every major retailer in the country. From major discount stores to technology retailers, chances are you have seen at least one of Carroll’s products that include everything from posters to display rack tags and coupons.
“They demand a great deal of attention, both in detail and exactness and precision,” Carroll said.
But printing is merely one piece of a larger operation that evolved over time as technology advanced and the printing industry changed. To compete, American Printing entered new markets, including building Web sites, readying e-mail campaigns and helping clients utilize Facebook and other social media to reach customers.
“I like to think of us more as a media company,” Carroll said.
Carroll said his 35 employees, which include his son, Stephen, have progressed along with the company. When technology made one employee’s job obsolete, Carroll trained him in a job that did not exist years before.
And thanks to the Internet, American Printing can receive jobs from clients virtually anywhere in the world, print them and ship them to their ultimate destination. There are some clients Carroll has never met in person, but he prints their orders and ships them around the world. Of course, that also works the other way around, and Carroll finds himself competing with printers across the country instead of around the neighborhood.
Still, Carroll said although his growth has slowed along with the economy, his business remains robust. And Carroll said that despite today’s electronic communications, many companies still consider printed direct mail effective. And someone needs to print those pieces. Carroll said he can do that, and also offer clients a full suite of services.
“I like to think of it as a holistic approach,” Carroll said.
And if that involves flying an order into New York during rush hour or flying to New Jersey to pick up a special product, so be it.
“Every day’s a challenge and that’s the unique part of the industry,” Carroll said. •
COMPANY PROFILE
American Printing Co.
PRESIDENT & CEO: Paul Carroll
TYPE OF BUSINESS: Commercial Printer
LOCATION: 260 Narragansett Park Drive, East Providence
EMPLOYEES: 35
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1971
ANNUAL SALES: WND
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