By Bill Esler, Editor in Chief — Graphic Arts Online, 2/12/2009 8:28:00 PM
When investors read spice firm McCormick & Co.’s 2008 annual report, they may find themselves getting hungry. Because this year 24 pages of otherwise straightforward financial results have bSchmitz Press Maryland printing McCormick Annual Reporteen given an aromatic addition—seasoned with cinnamon. For more than 30 years McCormick has tried to make its annual report rise above other firms’. (The numbers are good, too; McCormick reported $3 billion in revenue.) The Sparks, MD spice firm is assisted in the effort by an inventive and high-quality printer, Schmitz Press, based in nearby Sparks Glencoe, MD. McCormick selects one of the many exotic spices it sells around the world, blends essential oils derived from it with a varnish, then supplies it to Schmitz for the run. Over the years, investors have discovered clove, nutmeg and Chinese five spice emanating from the pages. The cinammon aroma for the 2008 edition, now in the mail, comes from a hand-harvested spice taken from the bark of a tropical tree grown in the highlands of Southeast Asia. Joyce Brooks, VP Investor Relations at McCormick, says Schmitz Press applied the varnish at the end of the run. The project is overseen each year by pressroom foreman Angelo D’Anna. The aromatic varnish is the color and consistency of honey applied just before delivery on a Heidelberg 4-color Speedmaster 102 VP. The treated financial section (pages 41-64) is printed on a 70-lb. Domtar Feltweave stock in Ashe color. Quality control manager Mike Billian pulled a job jacket to report the cover was run on another of the firm’s Speedmasters, a 102 SMP. The 22,000 run also included NewPage Sterling Ultradull Text and Cover, with flecks embossed and coated in register with the printing.
Reprinted from Graphic Arts OnlineÂ
