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This is Chris Redgrave for Zions Bank Speaking on Business.
What you hear out there is that print is dead. But that couldn't be further from the truth according to Paul Hudson, president of Hudson Printing in Salt Lake City. He says print is alive and well and still filling an important role.
In an increasingly digital world, it's been critical for print to change with the times. An important focus for Hudson Printing is mass personalization, meaning everything can be unique, individual and targeted, creating new value from existing databases. That's one reason Hudson Printing has hundreds of customers across many different industries. They've grown to include 200 employees at their Salt Lake City facility.
Hudson Printing Company has been around since 1909, meaning this is their 105th anniversary of being in business. Paul's father, Blaine, got involved with the business as a young father searching for a way to support his family. He worked every position until he eventually became a member of the management team and later purchased the company from the original founders.
Paul and his brother, Mark, worked Hudson Printing for years and took over in the 80s when their father Blaine stepped away. About a year ago Mark retired, leaving Paul as the full owner.
To show their progression, Hudson Printing Company is now using a technique called augmented reality. What they do is incorporate trigger images into printed materials, and people then use an app on their smart phone to capture the trigger image, which opens up a video that provides more information or a call to action. They've already used it successfully in a course catalogue for the Academy of Art University, and students love it!
Paul says Hudson Printing Company recently purchased a high-speed ink jet press from Hewlett-Packard. This is a press for doing large volumes of digital color work in the commercial space, and Paul says it's a powerful engine to do mass personalization printing. These printers are so specialized that only about 50 companies worldwide have one. It's significant for a Utah company to be in that total.
For Zions Bank, I'm Chris Redgrave, speaking on business.
Hudson Printing Company 241 W. 1700 South Salt Lake City, UT 84115 801-486-4611 www.hudsonprinting.com
