John and Carol Rickey, founders of House Graphics in San Diego, CA, have been selected as the winners of Technifold USA’s 60,000 Tri-Creasers Essay Contest. The contest was a celebration of a milestone marking the production of the 60,000^th Tri-Creaser, the patented creasing device popular in the printing and bindery industries around the world.

A trade shop since 1979, the Rickey’s successfully changed business strategy each time the industry evolved, morphing from the pre-personal computer days of manually assembled art boards and film assembly into a modern digital printer. Today they are dealing with the loss of literally hundreds of printers, their primary customers, in the San Diego region.

Says John Rickey, “If we are to stay in business, we must again reinvent ourselves and become a retail printer, offering our community the professional service and knowledge of the printing industry that we have been offering the trade for 34 years. Your [Technifold] equipment is the missing link in our pursuit of the change to retail."

The Rickey’s selected Technifold’s latest piece of bindery equipment for their winning prize, a desktop creasing and micro perforating machine, the CreaseStream Mini. The Mini is designed to handle the type of short-run, same-day turnaround digital products in which House Graphics specializes.

According to Andre Palko, President of Technifold USA, “Their winning essay is really a story of the durability and importance of family-owned small business. Small business grew this country and I believe small business will drive any real recovery. If the happy coincidence of our contest with their business need helps them to achieve their transformation goal, then we’re delighted that Technifold USA had the good fortune to play a small role.”

Tech-ni-fold USA is the North American retailer for the UK manufacturer’s premium creasing, perforating and rotary cutting solutions. They can be reached online at www.technifoldusa.com or by phone at 973-383-7920.