RIPPLE/Lindsay Craven
Samuel Williams demonstrates the Chandler Price hand fed print machine.
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Samuel L. Williams stands beside his companie’s latest addition, a Xerox Digital Press.
RIPPLE/Lindsay Craven
A Heidelberg press that is used at James Williams & Co.
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A Kluge press that is used at James Williams & Co.
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Darrell J. Ring, vice-president of James Williams & Co.
RIPPLE/Lindsay Craven
Darrell L. Ring (left) and Samuel L. Williams (right)
James Williams & Co. has been providing Yadkin County with printing and office supply services for the past 80 years, and now the company has added a new machine to its arsenal, a move that will allow for the some of the highest quality and fastest printing available in the area.
New Technology
The Xerox Digital Press allows the highest resolution possible in print. It can also print 70 pages per minute and create booklets that are folded, stapled and/or two or three hole punched. This press also allows for multiple file format scanning.
“This press will make high-speed copies in black and white and color,” said Sam Williams, owner and president of the company. “It will automatically make books and fold and staple them. We can print faster, and we can do it more economically than the competition. They have older equipment, and this is state of the art.”
The Evolution of a Company
After graduating from high school amidst the depression, James Williams set out to start the family business.
“There wasn’t any money in the family for him to go to college like the rest of the kids so my grandfather started him a business with a small printing press,” said Sam Williams, owner and president of the company.
Williams worked for the family business in the summers growing up but went on to pursue a degree in chemistry at North Carolina State University. After graduating in 1973, Williams moved to Ohio where he worked for several years before ultimately returning home to take over the family business.
“I decided [Ohio] wasn’t where I wanted to raise kids; [I realized] this town wasn’t so bad after all and it’s a good place to raise children,” Williams said. “My father retired then and I came back to work here with my brother Jim Williams and a couple years ago I bought him out.”
Jim still comes to work for business in the mornings but Williams and Darrell Ring, Williams’ nephew and vice president of the company, now lead the company.
Williams is currently preparing Ring to be his predecessor when he is ready to retire.
Ring worked at a large printing company in Winston-Salem before coming to Yadkinville to work at the family business.
“I enjoyed [working in Winston] but it was very stressful and I much prefer the small town life,” Ring said.
Looking Ahead
Once he takes over, Ring has plans to continue modernizing the company to keep up with the changing times as well as spread awareness of their presence throughout the community.
“The printing industry in the last 10 years or so has really changed a lot and there are a lot less of us than there were but those of us who are surviving have to be able to continue surviving while still growing,” Ring said.
For many years majority of the company’s business was its sale and delivery of office supplies. A variety of office supply needs can be found at the office but they will also deliver any orders of $10 or more to Elkin and even Winston-Salem.
James Williams & Co. is located at 1025 West Main St. in Yadkinville. For more information, call 679-8751 or visit its website at http://www.jameswilliams.com.
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