Cimpress, mass-customization printing company, is coming to Reno

The Reno market has snagged another major company.

Mass-customization printing company Cimpress, best know for its subsidiary Vistaprints, is making Reno its Western manufacturing and distribution hub. The Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN) made the announcement at a press conference today, Nov. 7.

The new 72,750 square foot facility at 9250 Red Rock Road will be Cimpress’ first United States manufacturing operation, supplementing its North American plant in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

“Reno is an outstanding location for us from a logistics aspect.” Lawrence H. Reid, vice president plant development Cimpress, said in a phone interview with the NNBW.

While the Ontario plant — Cimpress’ largest facility — serves customers in the East and Midwest in a timely manner, providing three-day fulfillment to areas west of the Rockies is more challenging, Reid said. “It’s difficult to do that consistently.”

Initially, the Reno plant will manufacture large-format products such as banners, posters and lawn signs, he said, and transition to also producing business cards, fliers, postcards and similar smaller products.

Founded in 1995 in Paris, the Netherlands-based company makes customized print, signage, apparel, gifts, packaging and other products. The company makes its products affordable through a proprietary combination of software development, e-commerce, graphic file processing, content creation, marketing, production technologies, customer service and manufacturing.

Last year the company customized more than 46 million unique items across a wide variety of product categories.

For its fiscal year ending in June 2016, Cimpress reported $1.8 billion in annual revenue.

“The growing and competitive nature of mass customization has changed the printing industry when it comes to quality, affordability, and delivery to customers. Cimpress’ plan to continue expansion in North America by setting up its first U.S. light manufacturing operation in the Reno area will give them the added resources to more quickly service their customers in the Western U.S.,” Mike Kazmierski, EDAWN president and chief executive officer, said in a press release. “We are excited to welcome Cimpress and the addition of these quality jobs to our community.”

Cimpress plans to hire up to 150 new employees over time for the Reno plant to fill a broad range of permanent, full-time positions including plant manager, supervisors, production and shipping operators, human resources and accounting managers.

“I am excited to welcome Cimpress to Northern Nevada as a new economic partner for our region’s growth and employment market,” said Reno City Councilmember Paul McKenzie, representative of Ward 4, where the facility will be located, said in a press release. “With over 17 million customers worldwide, Cimpress’ future is bright and we’re happy to have them as our new neighbor.”

Business partners involved in helping Cimpress identify it’s new home in Reno included Cory Hunt from the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, Kidder Mathews’ staff Michael Hoeck, Michael Nevis, Dave Simonsen and Steve Kucera, and Panattoni Development.