Internal and External Factors Driving Padgett Printing to Cease Operations

DALLAS—Padgett Printing, a commercial printing, packaging and direct mail specialist with business roots that trace back more than 100 years, is winding down toward a closure, President and CEO David Torok has confirmed. At press time, no date had been set for the shutdown of the company, which employs about 65 people.

Torok said a number of factors led to the decision to end operations at Padgett (ranked 259th on the 2010 Printing Impressions 400 list with sales of $16.9 million). Along with the pain felt by the global recession and a reduction in direct mail volume, he noted that the company never quite recovered from a case of embezzlement six years ago. A December 2010 sales contest also backfired, bringing in unprofitable work, and this past February’s terrible weather led to a severe lack of revenue for that month.

“We got into a liquidity crisis because we couldn’t get revenue to meet operating costs,” said Torok, a 2007 inductee into the Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame. “It’s a matter of reduced sales and reduced margins. It’s really sad.”

Padgett maintained its high-quality printing standards to the end. It was the overall winner in the 2011 PIA Mid America GraphEx Awards Competition. The company won “Best of Show,” Division III Platinum, Digital Gold and five best of categories awards.