Signet LLC is adding another page to its printing and publishing companies.
The Akron investment and development firm announced it has acquired Sheridan Specialty Bindery (SSB) of Church Hill, Tenn., from CJK Group Inc. and will merge it with its BindTech company.
Terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed.
Signet owns BindTech book manufacturing divisions in Cleveland (formerly Finish Line Binderies) and Nashville, where BindTech is headquartered. Signet also owns Publishers Storage & Shipping Corp., which specializes in inventory management, fulfillment and warehousing, and operates out of Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor, Mich., and Fitchburg, Mass.
Founded in 2006, SSB, which formerly operated as Kingsport Book until CJK purchased it in 2018, employs about 50 people and runs a 120,000-square-foot facility that has the capacity to produce hardcover and flex-cover books.
Signet plans to keep all SSB employees, a news release said, and SSB founders Rick Jennings and Fred Cooper will serve as division managers. SSB also will take on BindTech branding.
The acquisition of SSB will allow BindTech to utilize more capacity, especially in high-end book manufacturing, according to the release. The move also means that divisions can share jobs to improve turnaround times and logistics.
“We’re thrilled to add SSB and its employees to the Signet business family,” Signet chairman Anthony Manna said in the release. “Their commitment to service is a philosophical match with us and we are excited about the strengthened market position we will see as it merges with BindTech.”
Signet merged the former Cleveland-based Finish Line Binderies with BindTech in August 2018 to gain a stronger market position and leverage the strengths of both operations. Now, the same ideas are behind the SSB acquisition, the company said.
“This addition will allow BindTech to provide our customers with the ability to make one call for any and all of their finishing, warehousing and fulfillment needs,” said Chad Dillon, BindTech’s vice president of operations and sales, in a statement. “It also eliminates conflicts for the client base with the two binderies in potential competition for market share.”
Signet said it expects the merger to be completed by the second or third quarter of 2019.
| Read the original article on Crain’s Cleveland Business. |