Edwards Brothers, Malloy Merge Operations

ANN ARBOR, MI—In a stunning development for the book printing industry, Edwards Brothers (EB) and Malloy Inc., two prominent book manufacturers based here, merged effective Feb. 6. The new firm will be called Edwards Brothers Malloy and will have combined sales of $115 million, making it the sixth largest book printer in the United States.

The newly-created firm offers publishers a global distribute-and-print program and fulfillment services that combine to form a single print supply chain solution. It will have three offset facilities—Edwards Brothers’ plants in Ann Arbor, MI, and Lillington, NC, and Malloy’s operation in Ann Arbor—along with 11 digital printing plants in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. With Edwards Brothers’ gps Global Print Solutions distributed print partnership with four other international printers, publishers will be able to print and distribute books with one order, one file, and one invoice around the world.

John Edwards, president and CEO of Edwards Brothers, says the merger brings two strong family-owned businesses together with more than 170 years of book making experience between them. “I’ve known the Uptons my whole life, and I’ve always respected Malloy as a competitor. They have a great reputation for service and a very strong financial foundation. I’ve been amazed as we put this merger together how similar our companies are. We share a strong commitment to our employees, our customers and the craft of book making.”

Edwards also noted the fact that Malloy has roots in EB. Jim Malloy, who founded Malloy in 1960, was production manager at EB in the 1940s. As Edwards puts it, “In a sense, we’re being reunited.”

John Edwards will be the CEO of Edwards Brothers Malloy. Bill Upton, president of Malloy, will become the vice president of operations for the new unified company, and Joe Upton, vice president of sales and marketing at Malloy, will take over that same role with Edwards Brothers Malloy.

The focus of the new company will be on pursuing growth opportunities. To that end their current sales and customer services teams will remain largely intact. Both Bill Upton and Edwards noted that they have relatively few common customers, which they believe will lead to new business as their respective customers become familiar with the capabilities of the other company.

Edwards Brothers Malloy will have more than 950 employees and will maintain its headquarters in Ann Arbor with eight sales offices located across the United States.