AUGUSTA — When the hammering stops at 15 Darin Drive, a new noise will replace it.

As part of its third expansion since 2007, J.S. McCarthy Printers is planning to install new machinery that makes sheets of paper from giant paper rolls, a change that will increase efficiency for the Augusta-based commercial printer.

“Currently, we buy sheets from suppliers,” Rick Tardiff, company president and chief executive officer, said Tuesday. “We’re going to bring that in-house for efficiency and saving money.”

Typically, local papermakers send rolls of paper to a facility in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where they are cut into sheets to be sold and delivered to commercial printers, Tardiff said.

“Now we’ll be able to control that in-house,” he said.

The expansion will add 14,400 square feet to the existing building at a cost of about $2.5 million. The company expects to hire six new employees because of the sheet operation. J.S. McCarthy was founded in Augusta in 1947. Tardiff bought the company in 2000 and in the last decade has invested about $20 million in new equipment, software and training for its employees. And it has grown by acquiring printing companies, both in Maine and in New England, but keeps the sales and customer service staff in those locations.

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“We bring all of the production back to Augusta because we have a very efficient operation here and we’re able to produce work at a lower cost,” he said.

The company’s major product lines include printed materials for colleges and universities, the greeting card industry, and folding cartons or packaging for a range of products, including packaged food. Seventy percent of the company’s business comes from out of state.

The investment was applauded by Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Ross Cunningham, who noted the expansion will allow J.S. McCarthy to source its paper directly from Maine mills.

“Any time we see investments in a company that increases the dollars coming into the local economy, that’s a win for the entire region,” he said.


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