.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Edwards Graphic Arts Inc. has made the biggest equipment investment in its 41-year history with the purchase and installation of a German-made offset printing press costing $2.5 million. Manufactured by the venerable Heidelberg Druckmaschinen AG, the press extends 60 feet across the production area at Edwards’ 2700 Bell Ave. headquarters; the floor had to be beefed up with thick reinforced concrete to handle the 116,000-pound machine.

The addition is another sign of growth at Edwards Graphic Arts, a family company that hit the restart button after the floods of 1993.

High water caused a $1.5 million loss that year, a month after company founder Jim Edwards had retired. The Federal Emergency Management Agency came through with cash – but in the form of a loan that had to be repaid.

“We had to stop and decide our future,” said Wayne Marshall, vice president of sales and marketing. “To repay and recover, the company needed to grow and change.”

It wasn’t just floodwater affecting Edwards; the printing industry itself was in transformation. The nation has fewer printing companies now than a decade ago. “Some trade houses have gone out of business that used to do what flatbed scanners do now,” Marshall said. “In the mid-1990s, if we didn’t make changes, we weren’t going to be in business.”

The company moved to its current location in 1999, and by then management had started brainstorming about fundamental changes to its business plan. Then, “three years ago we rewrote every job description and restructured the company,” Marshall said.

“The challenge was how to become a strategic partner to our customers,” he said. “Now we find ourselves doing more consultation, finding out what affects their business and changes how they reach their customers. Our goal is not only to be a good printer, but also to help with the things that go along with that, including custom packaging and distribution.”

The operation began in 1966 as Edwards Printing Co. in a rented two-room storage space on Des Moines’ South Side. Jim and Marjorie Edwards landed some printing business from the state of Iowa, then branched out into commercial printing for insurance companies and advertising agencies.

Jim Edwards III, the oldest son of Jim and Marjorie, is now the president, and his sister and three brothers also work for the company.

Marshall said Edwards Graphic Arts is on course to increase its revenues 8 to 10 percent this year after setting a record with $12.5 million in sales in 2006. “My goal is to increase about 8 percent a year for the next three years,” he said, and predicted a proportional increase in staff size.

About 30 percent of the company’s business comes from outside Iowa. “To achieve our growth goals,” Marshall said, “half of our new business will have to be out of state.”

The company had 19 employees in January 1994 and now has about 75 full-time and 30 part-time workers.

The red brick building on Bell Avenue contains about 43,000 square feet. To have adequate space for storage and distribution, Edwards also leases 50,000 square feet in a building on Thomas Beck Road.

The new Heidelberg press can produce 15,000 printing impressions per hour; the previous main press, which remains in use, can turn out about 10,000. The printing crew also saves significant amounts of time in making the new press ready for a job and in the cleanup phase.

To take maximum advantage of the press, Edwards Graphic Arts also purchased a $300,000 platemaking system.

“My parents still own the company,” Jim Edwards noted, “and they had to have faith in us to make this big commitment.”

His dad, now 82, “comes in almost every day,” he said.