25 Commerce Avenue,
Greencastle, PA, USA, 17225

Graphics Universal has been the beneficiary of extraordinary timing over the years. From the initial decision to invest in the business to entering the world of labels, the Gembe family has been opportunistic in building this printing company into one of the industry’s leaders. 

The company’s success dates back more than 60 years. While working at Standard Register, Gary Gembe became acquainted with the owner of  The Morrison Press – who started the business in 1965. With an owner intending to retire, Gary was faced with the unique opportunity of owning his own business. Gary and his wife, Nancy, purchased half the business in 1970. Subsequently, they purchased the remaining 50% five years later. Gary and Nancy became full owners in 1975.

“My dad grew up in York County as a farmer, and he took a job at Standard Register in the stock room before working his way up in sales,” recalls Garon Gembe, president and owner. “Standard Register wanted to transfer him to a larger city for a bigger opportunity. As a country boy, he didn’t really want to move to a big city. He and the owner of The Morrison Press had done some work together, so he had that opportunity. My dad was in his early 30s at the time, and it was a big decision. But my parents rolled the dice and in the long run it turned out to be the right decision for them and for our family.”

Originally, Garon had not planned on joining the family business. He graduated from college with a computer science degree, and he took employment as a programmer with Mack Trucks in the mid 1980s. Since renamed Graphics Universal, the business was humming along with the improved economy at that time. Gary and Nancy needed to expand. 

“They came to me with an opportunity, saying they needed people. I got first choice, otherwise they were going to hire someone else. In March of 1988, I began working here at Graphics Universal. I started off in the office as an estimator and worked my way up. In the early 2000s, my dad turned the operations over to me and made me president. Then by 2007, he sold me the business, and I’ve been owner ever since,” recalls Garon.

A commercial printing business at the outset, Graphics Universal was the recipient of more fortunate timing after establishing the company. In this case, label printing presented itself. “In 1965 when the business was starting, they just had a couple small offset duplicator presses, producing small commercial work,” says Garon. “In the early 70s, one of our large customers at the time was a packaging company, and they came to us and said, ‘We need labels.’ My dad said, ‘We don’t print labels.’ To which the customer responded, ‘You might have heard me, but you didn’t understand me – we need labels.’ My dad understood, and my parents looked into buying our first label press. In 1972, we bought our first Mark Andy 810 press, which was three colors and had a 7″ web. That introduced us to the label business.”

Graphics Universal still fashioned the business as an offset commercial printing company that offered labels. However, the label segment was growing stronger. In the early 90s, the Gembes invested in another flexo press – a 6-color Mark Andy 2200 with a 7″ web width.

“Labels were always a smaller part of our business, but it was a growing part of our business,” explains Garon. “2006 was another milestone year for us. We hired a sales rep who had predominantly flexo label experience. He came from another label company, and all his customers were in labels. He was a good salesman, and part of the agreement we had was if we were going to bring him on we had to upgrade our label equipment. So, we bought an 8-color Mark Andy LP3000 press, 13″ wide. With that, we were able to produce the kind of work and volume he was selling.

“That was a pretty significant upgrade for us at the time,” adds Garon. “And the timing was perfect. We brought in a new sales rep, who had a lot of label contacts, and it allowed us to really grow
the business.”

Graphics Universal produces the majority of its labels for the food and beverage sectors. The printing company also offers packaging and some industrial label work. On the commercial side, most customers work in marketing departments. End-use products include marketing materials for businesses such as newsletters, brochures, catalogs, operating and user guides, among others. Direct mail is also a part of this offering. Colleges and universities, financial institutions, manufacturing companies, and healthcare facilities are all part of Graphics Universal’s printing arsenal.

Today, Graphics Universal is home to 46 employees in Greencastle, PA, which is several miles from nearby Hagerstown, MD. The company boasts 30,000 square feet of space. 

From the management side, alongside Garon is his sister, Nalisa, and his brother, Greg. Both have been with the company for over 30 years. Nalisa handles all of the accounting tasks, as well as payroll and HR. Meanwhile, Greg started in production and has now progressed to sales and customer service. Both have been integral to the success of Graphics Universal. Joe Hulock, plant manager, and Stan Flenner, sales manager, have been with the company for over 45 years. Garon’s son, Jordan, has spent nearly a decade with Graphics Universal and functions as the vice president. 

Labels make up approximately 60% of Graphics Universal’s business, with commercial printing accounting for the other 40%. 

The First Domino

One of Graphics Universal’s major milestones came in 2017. After years of exploring digital label printing assets, Garon and Joe made the decision to invest in a Domino N610i digital UV inkjet press. The decision did not come lightly, either. The management team began researching the technology in 2014, but they did not feel it was quite ready yet. Three years later, Graphics Universal felt confident.

“We knew digital printing was going to be part of our equation at some point in time,” says Garon. “There were a lot of considerations that went into the decision, including whether to go inline diecutting or standalone. We ultimately went off-line for diecutting. We just produce so many different size labels that we didn’t have one big customer where all their labels were a certain size to just put the order on-press and run it. And the advice we received then was inkjet heads will run better the more they run, so we felt it was important to keep them running. Going with Domino has been a decision we haven’t regretted at all. It’s been a great piece of equipment.”

“I’ll never forget the year after we bought the Domino press, talking to Garon and Joe, and the only negative part of the decision was that we didn’t do it sooner,” adds Jordan. “We have zero complaints.”

Graphics Universal needed to find its way in digital. Currently, the team boasts two Mark Andy flexo presses, including a Performance Series P5. Plus, the company relies on CEI for finishing and rewinding. Originally, the leadership team expected digital label runs of 10,000 feet and under. Conversely, the team would run the jobs flexographically. However, the Domino presses have proven capable of far exceeding those numbers.

“In the food space, we just get so many SKUs, where the ability to run one version and immediately go to the next is huge,” notes Garon. “We had an expectation of a break-even point at 10,000 feet – and that could mean a lot of different labels depending on the size of the label. But that number has grown drastically. If the job makes sense, we run it on the Domino. The quality of the inkjet technology just produces a better looking label, and you don’t get the dot gain that is prevalant with traditional flexo. Plus, the registration is much better. There are times where we don’t care what the run length is, we’re going to run it on the Domino just because I think it looks better and it makes sense to do it.”

The success of the first Domino press subsequently necessitated the addition of a second. “When we decided to add another digital asset, we looked at going with a hybrid press with CEI and Domino,” explains Jordan. “Because we had a standalone press with the CEI finisher off-line, we thought we could make our second installation a combination inline press, but it just didn’t make sense for our us. Now we have two Domino N610i presses with two CEI off-line finishers.”

On the offset side, Graphics Universal has relied on Komori. Currently, the company boasts a 5-color Komori and a 4-color Ryobi that can run four colors straight or two-over-two perfecting.

Follow the Leader

Much of the success at Graphics Universal can be traced to strong leadership and a great company culture. From its humble beginnings to today, leadership has been a hallmark of Graphics Universal’s operations. Garon attributes much of his leadership acumen to his parents’ disparate styles.

“Coming here and working for both my dad and mom allowed me to learn positives from both of them,” states Garon. “And they were different positives. My dad came from a large national forms company and was very business oriented. He made decisions that were best for business. Mom was very much a people person and very much wanted to give the employees the world if she could. And she’s still that way to this day. She’s the most giving person I’ve known in my life. Seeing both sides of that enabled me to hopefully land in the middle somewhere, understanding that business is important but so are our employees.

“Trying to find that happy medium and being able to learn from them has led to my success,” adds Garon. “I give both of them a lot of that credit.”

The emphasis on family has fostered a strong company culture at Graphics Universal. Years ago, Graphics Universal decided to add an additional shift. Leadership opted for a night shift because evenings should be spent with the family. “Whether it’s sporting events or church activities or scouting – whatever it is – those types of events happen in the evenings,” comments Garon. “We always wanted to have that time available to our employees. That’s been really important to the success of treating our employees like family.”

Garon has also emphasized a level playing field in the Graphics Universal facility. He can often be seen helping out on the shop floor in various capacities, which doesn’t go unnoticed by his colleagues.

“We’re all a team together, and I’m no different than anybody else,” he explains. “I think my employees would tell you that I go out on the floor if there’s something that needs to be done. If our shipping person needs to be off because she’s dealing with something at home, I’ll go out in shipping and put product in boxes and get the order ready to go out the door. I have no problem doing that, and actually I enjoy it.

“I don’t put myself above any of the employees and team members, and I think that is critical,” adds Garon. “I try to treat everyone fairly and not think of myself as being above anyone else. And Jordan really agrees with that and has taken on that philosophy as well.”

That mantra has translated to longevity on the employee side. Graphics Universal boasts numerous employees with significant tenures. “We had an employee where she was here 50 years,” says Garon. “She had a great work ethic, willingness and desire. We have two other employees that just retired after 40 years with the company. We have a number of people with over 30 years here, too. We are very thankful and grateful for our long-term, loyal employees.” 

The same holds true for Joe Hulock, whose tenure predates even current ownership. He has also made considerable sacrifices to continue working at a place he has called home for more than 45 years. “For the last 17 years I’ve driven 94 miles each way to come to work,” says Hulock. “I have family and grandkids in Lancaster County, so I wanted to be there for them. Especially as my grandkids started playing sports. This is a great company, so that’s why I do it.”

Leadership and culture have extended to the label industry, as well. Graphics Universal emerged as one of the original members of FLAG (Flexo Label Advantage Group) and continues to be an active participant. Graphics Universal joined the organization in 2012.

“The thing I like most about FLAG is it’s a family of label converters and vendors as well,” remarks Garon. “The vendor partners are a big part of FLAG and a valuable part of the organization. That combination of people and companies is special. The best part about FLAG is the networking. We’re able to talk to people and everyone is so open. We’re not competing – we’re helping each other out and we’re a family working together. The peer group takes it to a higher level because of what we’ve been able to talk about over the years. What John (McKay) started and what JC (McKay) is continuing is great for our industry and personally for our company.”

The Next Generation

Timing was once again on Garon’s side when exploring the future of Graphics Universal. With three sons, none of whom were originally involved in the business, Garon contemplated every scenario for how to propel the company forward. That all changed on one summer evening in 2016. 

“It was a Wednesday afternoon, and Joe and I were standing out in front of his office, acknowledging a number of employees who were going to retire in the next 5-6 years,” recalls Garon. “I was at a time in my early 50s, and I wanted to know within the next five years what our succession plan would be. As of right then, none of my three boys were interested.

“Friday afternoon I got a call, and Jordan came home and said he wanted to move back to this area, get married, and be a part of the company,” continues Garon. “Right there, that crossed the succession plan right off the list because the question had just gotten answered. It was pretty cool how the timing all worked out.

“My youngest son, Jerrick, came to work here six weeks ago,” adds Garon. “He was working for a beverage company as a sales rep in Myrtle Beach. He had a great job, but he has two young children and he wanted his kids to grow up with my other sons’ (Jordan and Jaren) kids. Once again, the timing was perfect. I had a customer service rep who was retiring on June 6, and I told Jerrick he needed to be here by the middle of May to train with her for a couple weeks. He stepped into that role, which was perfect.”

Since getting involved with the company, Jordan has excelled in numerous capacities. While he didn’t initially envision a future with Graphics Universal, he has hit the ground running. 

After spending several summers during his high school years operating digital sheetfed machines, Jordan joined the company and has worked his way up. He started in estimating and then moved up to customer service.

“I was really fortunate to come out of college with a job, and it was a great job,” says Jordan. “I worked at TPC Potomac as a golf professional for five years. I also had a business degree from Coastal Carolina University. This has been a really good fit. It was important to me when I started that I showed the other employees that I’m not here just to collect a paycheck just because it’s a family business – this company is very important to me. And if I was going to be the next generation to keep the business going, from day one I was going to come in and work my tail off.”

“He’s being humble because he’s done a GREAT job,” adds Garon. “Great in all caps.”