The Dawn of Digital Printing in Dallas

1991. A couple of guys working at an accounting software company realized that their company – which owned two large Kodak duplicators to print their constantly updated manuals – wasn’t the only one that could benefit from digital printing. On that day, the print scene in Dallas took a turn for the better.

Sounds epic, doesn’t it? Well, it was for us. Flexpress started with 3,000 SF of space, two duplicators, and no sales force, but a lot of optimism for the future of printing. Our first clients were Kee Kopy and Speedy Print. Twenty years later, both are still customers, and additionally Flexpress is now serving advertising agencies, in-house marketing departments and traditional printers in the Dallas-Fort Worth market – and beyond. While our competitors are relatively new to digital imaging, our experience and commitment have kept us at the forefront of the changing technology every step of the way. Even from the beginning we weren’t content to only do black and white prints. Our semi digital Kodak 2110 duplicator (shown in the photo above) could drop in basic colors and print digital addressing and limited variable data. It was part of our commitment to always give the customer more.

As for that photo… well, the 1990s big hair has long since been replaced by big presses. We now have a 12,000 SF facility and four presses, for all your digital print needs. Our DocuTechs are perfect for high demand black and white and can provide variable data and online binding and stapling for those quick turn document jobs. Our Xerox iGen3 and iGen4 are printing powerhouses. They each run 110 pages per minute and can print on a wide range of stocks, from 18pt. coated board to labels, magnetic stock, window clings and plastic door hangers. They can handle a maximum sheet size of 14.33×20.5 inches with a printable area of 14.05×20.25 inches, so our customers aren’t limited by the old 11×17 non-bleed constraints. And, of course, variable data and variable graphics are a breeze on them. We now serve almost 500 different trade clients a year and print an average of 3.5 million pages per month!

In 1991 our bindery offered GBC, Wire-o, and plastic coil binding as well as booklet making and cutting. Now we also have three types of booklet makers and a multitude of machines to 3-hole drill, score, perforate, collate, laminate, perfect bind, and shrink-wrap. We also offer UV flood coating and specialty die cutting on sheet sizes less than 12×18 inches.

As we reflect back on the changes our industry has seen in the past 20 years we can’t help but be excited about the future. New technology is bringing PMS color matching, inline coating, raised dimensional printing and more to digital. Digital printing’s flexibility will continue to be a driving force not only in marketing collateral and direct mail items, but also the emergence of digital web print as we continue to see less and less traditional offset printing.

The one thing that has remained constant over the years is our business philosophy:

1. Give the customer what they ask for and stand by the product.
2. Continue to stay on the forefront of technology and share our knowledge and expertise.
3. Be a part of the community.
4. Treat every employee like family.

But enough about the past, we can’t wait to show you what the future of digital printing holds!