“I was a salesman for another ticket company. No not one of those familiar to the parking business. We were having trouble meeting deliveries. Another salesman and I joked that we didn’t want to sell, because we couldn’t deliver. I decided then and there that when I started my own firm, service and delivery would be most important to the company. I believe we have kept that promise for the past 40 years.”
Don Nores, founder and currently Chairman of the Board of Digital Printing Systems talks about his company on its 40th anniversary.
“Printing tickets for the parking business isn’t easy. You must be certain about the tolerances, certain about the paper stock. If you aren’t, the machines won’t work reliably and that costs our customers money. The standards must be exact.
“Why do we ship tickets all over the world? In many countries there isn’t enough volume for them to have their own local suppliers, and most vendors won’t accept tickets that don’t meet their specifications.
“Two of us started out in a 1,700 square foot building in 1971, and about every 10 years increased the size of our building by about 10,000 square feet. We built our building in 1997 in Azusa and a couple of years ago, added 10,000 feet more, bringing our total to 33,000. Our company felt it had to grow to meet the requirements of a growing parking industry.
Digital Printing Systems now has over 75 employees and Peter Young is at the helm. “I wanted to begin to retire around 2001 and did an executive search and found Peter. He is CEO, I remain as Chairman but have greatly diminished my role to where now we have periodic meetings to keep up to date. Peter runs the show.”
Trade Shows are an important part of our marketing effort, says Young. “We attend dozens each year both on the national and local level. Developing relationships with parking organizations is important. It allows us to interact with our customers and ensure we are properly meeting their need.”
Digital is a member of the International Parking Institute, the National Parking Association, regional parking associations in California, the Southwest, the Intermountain area, Florida, Georgia and Texas plus Transit Associations nationwide.
There are other members of the Nores family involved in the company, with his son Jim as Vice President, Manufacturing and son Brian as Director of Operations.
The company began by serving the ticketing needs of operators of parking lots and garages, raffles and fairs in Southern California. Today, its product line includes all types of tickets for the parking industry including virtually all major machine readable systems, high security tickets for transit systems, drawing and raffle tickets, validation stamps, sports and event tickets, all types of advertising, decals and hang tags.
When asked about what “type’ of customer he sought, Nores commented that “all customers are unique.”
“Our business is providing the transportation industry with revenue collection and control media. We are intensely focused on the Parking and Public Transit industries. Our purpose has not changed in the last 40 years; we continue to put our energies toward delivering a quality product, on time, backed by the best service in the industry.”
“As the company continues to grow the market appears to support this approach,” adds Young. “No customer is too big or too small. If they need help collecting and controlling their revenue, we want to be an important part of that process. We have many customers who are brand new to us this year and we are still doing business with a number of customers that we did business with in 1971, 40 years ago. We are extremely proud of this legacy and that our team keeps our people, products and processes relevant in today’s market.
“We have found over the years that if we deliver a good product combined with consistently responsive service that you can build a loyal customer base. ”
“Ticket printing is a very specialized process,” Nores went on. The equipment you need often doesn’t exist. The company has had to modify presses and invent processes to meet the exacting requirements of the manufacturers. There are nearly 40 suppliers of revenue control equipment that use tickets and each one has particular requirements and specifications. In a number of cases, we have specialized equipment used for only one supplier.”
Marketplace growth has also created a dramatic change in Digital Printing’s service area; it ships product throughout the United States as well as to over 20 countries, including the UK, Canada and Mexico, as well as countries throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America, the Pacific Rim and the Middle East.
“We are pleased with our success in international markets and with our ongoing development of new products,” said Young. “We are looking forward to building on our relationships with our long term clients, developing new relationships and adapting to changes in the marketplace leading to another successful 40 years.”
