QG Printing II Corp history

Surviving such catastrophes as press breakdowns and expensive press rebuilds, however, by 1973 sales had climbed to $2.8 million and the work force had grown to 25.

In 1974 he added a saddle stitcher to enhance his production capabilities; hired his first customer service rep; and adopted a three-day, 12-hour-shift work week so his presses could run around the clock, seven days a week.

The year 1976 was also the first in which Quadracci began requiring his delivery fleet to locate cargo to haul during their empty return trips.

Quadracci's hands-on approach worked, and in 1977 Newsweek agreed to give Quad/Graphics a try when its regular printer was unable to complete a press run.

Quadracci made sure the magazine was printed perfectly, and by October 1978 Quad/Graphics was also binding a portion of each week's Newsweek as it came off the presses.

When it began printing People magazine in 1987, Quad/Graphics had become the world's largest printer of newsweekly magazines, with more than 3,100 employees and sales of $226 million.

In 1988, it launched Quad/Tech Europe and broke ground on its High Tech Centre in Sussex.

By 1991, Quad/Graphics had become the ninth largest printer in the United States and was operating 43 web offset presses, five gravure presses, 38 saddle stitchers, and 11 perfect binders.

By 1993 Quad/Graphics was printing more than 400 publications and catalogs (100 million magazines a month) and sales had spiraled to more than $703 million, representing ten straight years of double-digit growth.

By 1994, Quad/Graphics' Quad/Imaging division had performed its first live direct-digital-to-plate run, and in 1994-95 Quad/Imaging satellites were operating in Boston, Minneapolis, and New York.

In 1996 it complemented its magazine/catalog niche by adding hardcover book binding to its capabilities and in November of that year it began printing its first multicolor hardcover and softcover books.

Also in 1998, Quebecor and the Aguirre group purchased a majority interest in Impreandes Presencia in Bogotá, Colombia (now Quad-Bogotá), a leading book and Bible printer.

Meanwhile operations and expansion continued uninterrupted – a new manroland Lithoman web offset press was installed in Santiago in 2009, for example.

Transcontinental's three plants officially joined the Quad family on September 8, 2011.