About Flexpress
Looking Back and Looking Forward: 20 Years and Counting
December marks our 20th year in business at Flexpress and we can’t help but marvel at the changes that have taken place since 1991. When we started, Johnny Carson was still the host of the Tonight Show; Michael Jordan was playing for the Chicago Bulls (the first time around) and The Silence of the Lambs was scaring the bejeebers out of us at the movies. The Soviet Union dissolved in 1991 but M.C. Hammer was Too Legit to Quit.
On the technology front, Microsoft released MS-DOS 5.0 and Apple rolled out the PowerBook 100 as well as the Macintosh Classic II desktop computer that came with a 9-inch black and white screen and a choice of either a 40 or 80 MB hard drive. In August of 1991, Tim Berners-Lee introduced us to his “World Wide Web” web browser concept and the National Science Foundation made the Internet available for commercial use. One million forward thinking computer users jumped on the net that year and, odds are, they’ve never signed off.
Things have certainly changed in the printing industry in the past 20 years as well. In 1991 most print jobs were still provided as paste up to traditional printers and set up by strippers in pre-press using film and metal plates. According to highbeam.com, commercial printing was the 5th largest manufacturing industry in the U.S. in 1991, with revenues of $55.7 billion. At Flexpress we knew even then that print-on-demand agility and flexibility would change the future of printing. It comes as no surprise to us that while the printing industry grew by only 1.7% per year between 1991 and 2000, the segments of quick printing, digital, screen and flexography were responsible for 21.7% of the revenue. (Thanks to print.rit.edu for those facts.)
Of course, Flexpress has seen its share of changes during the past two decades in Dallas. We have grown with digital printing’s emergence. And we will continue to adopt new technology and hone our skills as a team to stay in the game. What hasn’t changed? Our business philosophy. We’ve said it before but believe it bears repeating:
- Give the customer what they ask for and stand by the product.
- Continue to stay on the forefront of technology and share our knowledge and expertise.
- Be a part of the community.
- Treat every employee like family.
We can’t wait to see what the next 20 years will hold. Share your thoughts with us here or drop us a line at sales@flexpress.com.
