Quality Comes Home
Dunmore’s Universal Printing demonstrates commitment to excellence while hiring local talent
The Scranton Plan, Universal
Printing obtained a Pennsylvania
Economic Development Financing
Authority (PEDFA) loan to
purchase new equipment.
“The assistance and guidance
provided by our Scranton Chamber
allowed us to compete at a much
higher level,” Ms. McGrath said.
“We acquired press and bindery
equipment that set us on a track
to grow our business and hire
more people.”
If you were to ask Margi McGrath,
owner of Universal Printing, if the
two-person business she purchased
in 1995 would grow to employ more
than 150 people, she would probably
tell you “no.”
“I never dreamed it
would become what it
has become,” she said.
“It’s a challenging
business, but I’ve
really enjoyed it.”
Ms. McGrath explained that
her company’s foray into the
variable data world is thanks to
TMG Health.
“We have had the opportunity to
print, fulfill and mail for them over
the years,” she said. “This kind of work
is very detail-critical and time-sensitive.
There’s an emphasis
confidentiality and
assistance on
accuracy.”
“The
and guidance
provided by
our Scranton
Chamber
allowed us to
compete at a
much higher
level.”
With Universal
Printing’s history
dating as far back
as the 1920s, Ms.
McGrath is now in her
22nd year at its helm,
having guided it from
a small commercial
print shop to a national leader in
variable data printing. Accounting for
more than 70 percent of the company’s
business, variable data ensures that
every piece produced is unique to its
intended recipient. This practice is
especially common in the healthcare
industry, where extreme measures to
maintain privacy are in place.
The company’s first major
breakthrough came in 2003. Through
the help of the Chamber’s economic
development affiliates SLIBCO and
8 • The Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce
“Because we’re dealing with
the health care insurance
industry, we have to make
sure that customers can
trust us and that everything
gets out correctly and
on time,” she continued.
“There can be no question
that our work is done to the
standards they expect.”
Universal Printing’s
commitment to quality was recently
recognized by the Health Information
Trust Alliance (HITRUST) as they are the
first woman-owned printing business
in the country to receive HITRUST
CSF (Common Security Framework)
certification.
“This was a big deal for us,” Ms.
McGrath said. “HITRUST makes sure
vendors can pass strict standards
of compliance. This certification
demonstrates that when we receive
data, we will handle it exactly according
to what the vendor expects. Some of
the biggest printing companies in the
world are working on obtaining this
certification, but they don’t have it yet.”
The HITRUST certification isn’t the
only “first” that Universal Printing has
achieved. It was also one of the very first
American printers to have an HP Indigo
10000 installed on premises. According
to Ms. McGrath, these machines blend
the technology of variable data with
high-end color to give a realistic picture.
Ms. McGrath credits her business’s
success with its location, re