Millet The Printer is a family owned company that is located south of Downtown Dallas. For over 80 years this company has been printing for businesses and organizations to provide resources for the community. It all started in the midst of the Great Depression when William Lyle Millet made the decision of starting a printing company with two of his brothers which was a challenge during the time because it was when there was a long and severe recession with the economy, and the percentages for businesses being successful were very low. Lyle had lost his job at a bank and was walking the streets of Downtown Dallas when he was asking himself what everyone needed and the answer was simply paper. He started off with simple forms then expanded into magazines and when the golden age for ad agencies hit, they began printing ads, which means that different types of machinery were needed. As the company expanded they began passing on leadership and until this day, Millet The Printer stills stands and seems to be doing really strong and productive.
The work environment at Millet The Printer is very warm, safe, and comfortable. Everyone seems to work easily with each other, and everyone seems to be close. One important concept that is used at Millet The Printer is teamwork. Without teamwork the company itself could not function to how it does today. The machinery is too dynamic and complex for it to only be used by one person. It requires a team of people that know the machine in and out. Millet The Printer has a staff of 60 people who are considered “family” and have known each other for an impressive amount of time.
The following paragraphs explore the printing industry’s relationship with their most important tool: the press. There are two types of presses still in use by Millet: the letterpress, and the offset press.
In my opinion, the letterpress is the coolest so I will begin with that. The letterpress was invented in 1440 by a German man named Johannes Gutenberg, not to be confused with Johannes Kepler, whose contribution to history is way less important #LOL. The letterpress works by stamping ink onto your material using small blocks that must be individually set and spaced or printing plates that can simply be PRESSED onto the paper. The rubber sheets used in the latter method are known as blankets. The Johannes Gutenberg version of the letterpress used flat printing beds with screws to apply pressure to the type; however, many advancements were made during the industrial revolution which left us with the modern letterpress.
The offset method of printing was invented in 1902 and soon after became the industry standard for printing as it produces clearer, sharper, images. The offset press works in almost the exact same way as the letterpress, but it has an extra roller that the image is rolled onto from the blanket before it is printed onto the paper. The advantages to offset printing are many, colored images, crisper, clearer, and more efficient to name a few. The Picasso quote “Good artists copy great artists steal.”
By: Alex J, Yulisa V., Ethan T.