Our Story
1965 to Today
How We Got Here
September 1
1965
The Morrison Press Opens
Morrison (Gene) Speaks starts The Morrison Press on Carlisle Street in Greencastle, running a couple of small offset duplicators on local commercial work.
1970
The Gembe Family Buys In
Gary Gembe had grown up farming in York County and worked his way from the stock room into sales at Standard Register. When a promotion came with a transfer to a larger city, he chose not to move his family. Gene Speaks, a printer Gary had been buying from, was thinking about retiring. Gary was in his early thirties when he and his wife Nancy bought half the business.
1972
The First Label Press
The company was commercial only at this point, running small offset duplicators. Then one of its largest customers, a packaging company, came asking for labels. Gary Gembe told them Graphics Universal did not print labels. The customer pressed the point until it landed, and Gary and Nancy went looking for a press. The 3 color Mark Andy 810 they bought, with a 7 inch web, introduced the company to the label business.
1975
Full Ownership
Gary and Nancy Gembe buy the remaining half from Gene and Grace Speaks and become full owners.
1977
A New Name and a New Address
The company moves to Washington Street and becomes Graphics Universal Incorporated.
1983
Commerce Avenue
Graphics Universal moves to the Commerce Avenue building it still prints from today.
1988
The Second Generation Arrives
Garon Gembe had taken a computer science degree and was programming at Mack Trucks. In March he joins the family business as an estimator.
Early
1990s
A Second Flexo Press
A 6 color Mark Andy 2200 with a 7 inch web joins the floor as label volume grows. Around the same period Nalisa Gembe takes on accounting, payroll and HR, and Greg Gembe moves from production into sales and customer service. Both are still here more than 30 years later.
1993
Room to Grow
A major addition and renovation expands the Commerce Avenue building.
1999
Garon Gembe Becomes President
The second generation takes over day to day operations.
2006
Wider, Faster Label Printing
An 8 color Mark Andy LP3000 with a 13 inch web arrives, alongside a new sales hire brought in specifically for flexo label experience.
2007
Second Generation Ownership
Garon Gembe buys the business from his father and becomes Owner.
2012
A Founding Member of FLAG
Graphics Universal joins the Flexo Label Advantage Group as one of its original members, buying and sharing knowledge alongside other independent label printers.
2016
The Third Generation Arrives
On a Wednesday afternoon, Garon and plant manager Joe Hulock stood outside Joe’s office counting up how many people were due to retire within 5 or 6 years. Garon was in his early fifties and wanted a succession plan. None of his three sons had shown any interest. That Friday, Jordan called out of the blue: he wanted to move back to the area, get married, and join the company. The succession question answered itself. He has worked across most of the operation since.
2017
Digital Labels Join the Floor
Research into digital label printing began in 2014. A Domino N610i UV inkjet press is installed with off line diecutting behind it. A second Domino and two CEI off line finishers follow, so flexo, offset and digital now run side by side and a job can be quoted whichever way the run length favors.
2026
The Third Generation Leads
Jordan Gembe becomes third generation President of Graphics Universal.
Today
Where That Leaves Us
46 people in a 30,000 square foot plant on Commerce Avenue. Labels run a little over half the work and commercial printing makes up the rest, for food and beverage producers, colleges and universities, financial institutions, manufacturers and healthcare organizations across the mid-Atlantic, around the country and internationally.
What Hasn’t Changed
Four Things We Have Never Traded Away
Treat people right
Customers, staff and suppliers, held to the same standard of integrity since 1965.
Be a one-stop shop
Adding labels in 1972 because a customer needed them set the pattern. If a customer needs it printed, we find a way to print it.
Answer the phone
A real person, an extension that reaches them, and an answer the same day.
Leave it better
Eco-friendly practices in the plant are part of how we work, not a marketing line.
Sixty years of getting it right.
Put your next project in the hands of the family that has run this Greencastle shop for three generations.