Denver’s newest printing company was born Wednesday, the offspring of one of the oldest, A.B. Hirschfeld Press.
The owners of Hirschfeld and National Printing and Packaging Co. signed documents finalizing their merger. The combined company’s new name is National Hirschfeld LLC.
The deal marks the first time since its founding in 1907 that A.B. Hirschfeld will cease to operate as an autonomous company.
Merging the two big printers along with two subsidiaries of National Printing makes sense because of competition and excess capacity in the printing industry, said Brett Birky, president of National Hirschfeld.
Printers nationwide have been hit by their customers’ corporate consolidations, leaving fewer large companies with commercial printing needs.
“For a printer to remain competitive and responsive to customer needs, it has forced printers to embrace this type of change,” Birky said.
The combined Denver company has cut about 40 jobs from its predecessors’ previous staffing level of 240.
“We’re left with a very strengthened, very skilled group of managers and employees,” Birky said.
A. Barry Hirschfeld, 63, formerly president of A.B. Hirschfeld, will become chairman of National Hirschfeld and will focus on sales development.
Richard Stein, who started National Printing as a one-man business in 1978 and served as its chairman, will assume the title of chief executive of National Hirschfeld.
Barry Hirschfeld was the third generation to run the printing company started by his grandfather in the basement of a fruit stand at 17th and Larimer streets.
Hirschfeld has two sons who have careers outside the family printing business.
The merger “signifies the continuation of an era and the continuity of our operation,” Hirschfeld said.
The combined company will operate at the Hirschfeld plant at 5200 Smith Road in northeast Denver.
“I wish them the best because Colorado’s printing sector has slipped, and we need a big player to compete nationally,” said Howard Egan, co-president of Egan Printing Co., founded in Denver in 1891. “We’re all chasing the same business, and I’m not sure they had the strength individually to compete.”
Staff writer Steve Raabe can be reached at 303-820-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com.
