Introducing the 2015 Printing Impressions 400 Outstanding Performer Series: The YGS Group
As an extension of our annual Fast-Track Firms feature on printing companies among the PI 400 that showed solid year-over-year growth, we will be featuring (throughout 2016) additional snapshots of other performers who demonstrated outstanding growth. What follows is one of the original three firms profiled in the December 2015 issue.
The YGS Group
York, Pennsylvania
MOST RECENT FISCAL YEAR SALES: $36.5 million
PREVIOUS FISCAL YEAR SALES: $29.5 million
CHANGE: +24 percent
The former York Graphic Services was purchased by Jim Kell in 2002. The chief executive quickly grew the company well beyond its prepress and printing roots, culminating with the 2014 addition of a new facility in Seattle. YGS went after trade association publications initially, then blossomed into a full-service publishing partner to hundreds of associations and publishers. In 2007, the company rebranded as The YGS Group, complete with a full-service communication strategy and marketing agency.
The YGS Group’s comprehensive product and service menu now consists of digital and mobile marketing, social media strategy, media sales, content sales and licensing, editorial development, brand strategy, event marketing, marketing automation, mailing and fulfillment. On the printing end, the firm provides offset, digital, wide-format and signage solutions to support its customers in a variety of market verticals.
According to Kell, strategically cultivated growth opportunities and a direct focus on talent recruitment played a considerable role in the company besting its previous year’s sales by an impressive 24 percent.
“We attribute this growth to our talented employees, who work diligently and creatively every day to deliver exceptional customer service and the highest caliber of outcomes in customized print, marketing, content and publishing solutions to help support our clients’ growth,” Kell remarks. “We are intent on being part of the vision and future of each client. We have adapted with their changing needs. We have continued to invest in our facilities, our capabilities and our people. It’s that unrivaled focus on our customers’ successes, which fuels our growth and drives our corporate culture.”
The addition of the Seattle plant (a.k.a., YGS West) has enabled the company to create a multi-point distribution system, redundant capabilities and additional capacity, with offerings in marketing, offset, digital and fulfillment services. The YGS Group opened another Pennsylvania plant this year (onsite support for a corporate customer) and plans are already in place to expand facilities and obtain new offset, digital and finishing gear next year.
As much as anything, though, Kell notes The YGS Group is focused on how it can create a better organization that responds consistently and unfailingly in quality and innovation to the customers’ needs and requests.
“Perhaps our most important investment has been and will be in the people that we seek out and incorporate into our team to become part of our vision, which then becomes part of our customers’ continued growth,” Kell points out.
“Like any growing organization, we do have investment initiatives for our workers, equipment and facilities to build a sustainable company that can change and adapt to our clients’ needs. Going back several years, we began working to create and implement employee training and development programs.
“We will continue this focus,” he adds. “Our goal is to invest in the next generation of employees to help develop future multi-skilled operators, professionals and leaders.”
The Printing Impressions 400 provides the industry's most comprehensive listing of the leading printing companies in the United States and Canada ranked by annual sales volume. Click here to view the 2015 Printing Impressions 400.
