Midstate Printing moves on

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Aug 31, 2007 by Carbonaro, Maria

DeWITT - Midstate Printing Corporation has been a staple in the Central New York commercial-printing community for more than 69 years. John (Jack) Williams has been a lynch pin at the company for more than five decades of that time. Williams has decided at 83 it's time to spend more time with his wife, and hand over the reins to his sons, John Williams III, and Robert Williams. He leaves it in capable hands, since both of his sons have been with Midstate for over 20 years.

After graduating from Syracuse University in 1950, Williams began his career at Barlow Advertising Agency. Williams was introduced to the commercial-printing business by an agency he worked for in Rochester, and by taking advantage of the contacts he had made with the marketing people through his work with the agency, a cornmercial-printing guru was born.

In the late 1940s, Midstate was owned by three partners James Barber, Roland Briars, and Mark Tuttle. In 1960, the owners sold the business (with no money down) to Vern Harrison, Roland Briars (who already owned 10 percent to 12 percent), and Jack Williams. That was in April, and in October, their biggest customer at the time, Smith-Corona, moved its offices to New York City.

By also setting up an office in New York City, Midstate solved its problem and continued to provide printing for Smith-Corona. With weekly trips (and often more) to New York, it became a very successful subsidiary of Midstate, now called NIS Printing Group. It now handles sizeable accounts in the New York City metropolitan area, and is operated by two salesmen in Connecticut.

In 1974, Williams lost one of his partners, Vern Harrison, to cancer, at the age of 48. The business was really taking off by then, and it dealt a significant blow to the remaining partners. Williams notes, 1974 and 1975 were tough years."

Roland Briars served as president of the company until his retirement in 1981, when Jack Williams took over as president.

Williams has seen many ups and downs in the printing business. The rise and fall of the printing business is in direct correlation with the rise and fall of area businesses. At one time, Oneida Ltd. was Midstate's best customer, along with Nettleton Shoes, and Carrier Corporation in Syracuse, and Brewer Titchner and Wickwire Nail in Cortland. He remembers Syracuse Ornamental Company before it came Syroco, and a time when "good typesetters were gods."

There are times when many in the industry question their longevity as independent companies. Williams says, "It is both capital and labor intensive, and you wonder how long you can go on without being involved with a larger corporation to help [pay the bills]."

Refusing to succumb to what Williams calls the "printing desert," as so many other printing companies have, he has always reinvested in the company, buying new equipment and maintaining state-of-the-art technology in order to not only successfully compete, but also to excel.

"Reinvesting our money is what has kept us alive," Williams says.

Midstate Printing Corporation prints a variety of items, from annual reports and medical journals to calendars and art books. It is dedicated to providing custom-designed, multicolor. sheet-fed offset printing.

Midstate's current customers include Oneida Ltd., again, with Williams noting the comeback of Oneida Ltd. Pfizer is Midstate's biggest account at this time, along with Carrier Corporation, whose marketing department continues to order new, high-technology print products. Midstate just produced a new, 184-page, color brochure for Welch-Allyn. Midstate also gets a lot of business from advertising agencies and the academic community, including Le Moyne College, Syracuse University, and Connell.

The Williams family at Midstate Printing Corporation has certainly held its own. Sales grew from $10 million in 2005 to $11 million in 2006, and are projected to break $12 million this year, according to Jack Williams.

The company is still in its 29,000-square-foot facility on Ainsley Drive, as it has been since 1965. "The next time we add space, we'll have to move," says Jack Williams. "There's no more space for expansion here."

Williams now passes the baton to his two sons. John Williams III, a graduate of Ithaca College and vice president of sales, is now president. Robert Williams, a graduate of SUNY Cortland, became vice president and general manager. And Jack Williams? He continues to serve as a "consultant." The "printer's ink in your blood" isn't just an expression.