Reversing the flow

Kurt Hoge looks at the amount of printing work that leaves the Reno area and hungers to reverse the flow.

His company, Reno Typographers, hopes to battle against what Hoge calls "faceless companies with Web sites" by moving to the edge of printing technology and expanding into new facilities in Reno.

The company last week won approval from the Nevada Commission on Economic Development for incentives to encourage its investment of $286,000 in an offset press with digital functions that allow it to deliver work quickly.

With the new press,Hoge told the commission, he expects that his company will add two to its current staff of one part-time and six full-time workers.

Those new jobs will pay an average of $17 an hour.

"Two employees doesn't sound like a huge expansion, but their salaries will represent a 33 percent increase in our payroll,"Hoge said.

"That's a big increase to any size company."

The company's gross sales in 2004 totaled $710,000, up from $590,000 a year earlier, and Hoge said sales this year are running nearly 50 percent ahead of 2004's figures.

He said the new press will allow his company to compete on price and turnaround times with the printers who are moving work out of Nevada.

"With its installation,we'll compete on a level playing field with our out-of-state competitors," he said."When we combine the capabilities of this equipment with the favorable business environment of Nevada, the scales will be tipped decidedly in our favor."

The press, manufactured by Ryobi, is the first of its type to be installed west of the Mississippi.

Already,Hoge said, about 40 percent of the company's business is transacted on the Internet, and Reno Typographers looks to expand this by marketing its services out of state.

To house the new equipment and to position itself for more out-of-state business Reno Typographers in April will move to new quarters at 1020 Rock Blvd.

That's close to the FedEx center, which already ships about 20 percent of the company's finished work.

"I'm not rich," said Hoge, who worked his way up from the lowest position on the company's staff."I see an amazing opportunity, though, and am leveraging everything I have my house and my business to make this expansion happen."