Our Timeline and History
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1963
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Lithotype was a family owned company founded by Thomas C. Sewell in 1963. His commitment to manufacturing the highest quality flexible packaging for clients has not changed. He long believed that offset lithographic presses offered a distinct advantage in terms of unparalleled print quality and low cost prepress and plating. It started with just a single offset press modified to run roll-to-roll referred to today as web-fed offset. It manufactured printed rollstock for the single serve sugar packet and salad dressing markets in North America. With the advent of multi-layered barrier laminates, Lithotype began printing rollstock for the dry seasonings segment in the 1970s.
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1974
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Lithotype constructed its first of two manufacturing facilities on Oyster Point in South San Francisco. Between 1975 and 1990, the company purchased several offset presses to align our capacity to the marketplace’s burgeoning demand.
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1992 |
The company was an early pioneering packaging converter in the US to invest in Electron Beam (EB) technology. EB inks and coatings are environmentally friendly and emit ZERO VOC’s into the atmosphere.
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2001 |
We purchased Eclipse Packaging, a flexographic based converter located in Illinois. By 2009, production began in Bolingbrook, Illinois. This facility has capabilities to produce printed rollstock up to 8 colors, as well as a variety of preformed pouches, adhesive lamination and patterned cold seal.
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2011 |
We began the transition from a family owned company to an employee-owned company, one that still emphasizes its family values for our 100 employees in California and Illinois.
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2015 |
Lithotype became a 100% employee-owned company.
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2017 |
We commissioned a wide-web 10 color press in Bolingbrook, IL and installed a state of the art wide web adhesive laminator. Additionally, we upgraded our pre-press department with new systems in South San Francisco, CA.
Implemented a significant ERP software upgrade. Surveyed market trends and customers’ future needs. Researched and purchased the next-generation Contiweb Thallo offset Press for the SSF plant to arrive in 2018. |
2018 |
Lithotype’s new Contiweb Thallo was installed and fully commissioned late 2018, adding additional capabilities never offered before on an offset press. |
