1983
- Open for business in April
- Hire first full time employee — Steve Spencer (still with the company)
- Buy Polar Knife
- Buy Hamada 770
1984
- Stationery letter goes out to agencies
- Double our space to 1200 square feet
- Double our staff from one to two by hiring John Whitley (still with the company)
- Incorporated as Classic Graphics, Inc.
- Buy 2nd color head for Hamada 660
- Complete our second expansion to 2400 square feet
- Double our staff again from two to four including Floogie Gibbs
- Install first Heidelberg press SORK
1985
- Buy first delivery van
- Complete our third expansion to 3600 square feet
- Buy first film processor
1986
- Rick Kraushaar is hired as part time delivery driver (still with the company)
- Buy first plate processor
- Buy first Stahl folder
- Install second Heidelberg press KORD
- Buy a Rosback stitcher
- Print first major promotional piece
1987
- Win 3 PICA awards
- Monthly sales top $100,000 for the first time
- Hire first salesperson — Laura Doyle (now Huelin, still with the company)
- Sales top 1 million dollars annually
1988
- Move to second Location 8100 square feet
- Install third Heidelberg press MOZ
- Buy second Polar Knife and our first Diecutter
1989
- Install fourth Heidelberg press MOZ
- Install the Kluge
- Made Inc 500 List
- Install a Muller Martini Minuteman stitcher
1990
- Buy first Macintosh computer
- Buy second Stahl folder
- Install fifth Heidelberg press MOS 4-color
- Monthly sales top $250,000 for the first time
1991
- Our slowest growth year ever at 11.7%
- Cost cutting is introduced as a strategy and quickly discarded
1992
- Win Best of Show for a 4-color piece
- Start second shift
- Buy first Imagesetter — SelectSet 5000
1993
- Move to third location - 31000 square feet
- Install sixth Heidelberg press 6-color MOS+L
- Install our DS618 color scanner
- First sales month over 1/2 million. Life is good. It will be months before we do this again.
1994
- New sales record is reached and we are finally making money.
- Sales stagnate and the rent increases and the payments kick in on the 6-color.
- Cash flow stinks. It will be this way for the rest of '94
- Another "slow" growth year ever at 15%. Sales are stagnant. 1995 will be better.
1995
- Go to 24 Hours a day 6 days a week
- Install our second Imagesetter, a SelectSet 7000 and
- Start to distribute the "YES" Book
- First sales month over $3/4 Million. Life is good.
1996
- Expand to 40,000 square feet
- Install seventh Heidelberg press 2-color SM102-P 40"
- Classic Graphics Triangle office opens in Morrisville, NC
- Win our first "Benny"
- Our first "legitimate" month over one million dollars
- Buy third imagesetter Avantra 44
1997
- Sales grow 41% from 9.5 million to 13.5 million
- Expand to 59,000 square feet
- Install our eighth Heidelberg press 6-color SM102P+L
- Install ninth Heidelberg press 6-color CD 102+L
- Produced the largest job in the company's history.
1998
- Sales grow 49% from 13.5 million to 20 million
- We post our first $2 million month
- Employee count is 186 an all time high even through 2008
1999
- First year of 0% growth ever but we make more money (a clue!)
- Sales at First Union plummet because of changes there
- Classic downsizes it's workforce for the first time ever, mostly through attrition
- By the end of 1999 we are back down to 152 employees
2000
- Modest growth at 11% and we test a new concept called profitability
- Our biggest customer is Mannington Mills at over 2 million
- Sales at First Union fall again and they are no longer our biggest customer
- Install PCC prepress workflow
2001
- Our first year of "negative growth"
- Our industry faces its worst recession in decades
- We add AGFA Galileo Platesetters in Charlotte and Triangl
- Pricing pressure intensifies and we "go to school" on cost reduction
2002
- Pricing pressure intensifies and we "go back to school" on cost reduction
- Our second year of "negative growth"
- Continued cost reduction, but we still continue to invest in technology
- Sales are a bit under 19 million
- We remain poised for the turnaround that is surely coming (surely..)
2003
- In April we celebrate 20 years in business
- Announce the formation of Opus Direct fulfillment and mailing
- Pricing pressure doesn't exactly ease, but it doesn't get any worse
- Add another automated cutting system
- Add our fastest and most productive folder yet
- Sales grow about 6% and we are pretty happy to have it
2004
- Sales are flat, but our work mix begins to change
- We add mailing services to Opus Direct early in the year
- Mid year we expand our new mailing services with more equipment
- Purchase our first high speed black & white digital printer
- Business seems to be on the upsurge by 3rd quarter
- Order all new multicolor presses to completely replace 3 presses
- We move our Triangle facility from 11,000 sq ft to 24,000 square feet
- In December we install our first new 40 inch Komori press in the Triangle
- In December add an automated cutting system in Triangle
2005
- Sales grow a robust 14% and this becomes our rebuilding year
- We complete the move in the Triangle
- We move Opus out of the main facility into 38,000 square feet
- Expand Opus to 48,000 square feet months after we move in
- Install the 6-color and 8-color Komori presses in Charlotte
- We add our first color digital device, an Indigo 5000 in September
- 2005 has been the biggest year of change in our history
2006
- Sales grow 17% as our ability to handle complex jobs matures
- We post our first $3 million month
- We make the switch from PSI to Hagen Print Management
- Install PrintFlow Scheduling
- Switch accounting systems (no small task)
- Press productivity and quality climb, spoilage falls
2007
- Sales grow 23%
- We have our best year ever with sales of 33 million
- We add additional folding/gluing capabilities to expand our range of products
- Add wide format printing capabilities
- In July we add our first wide format inkjet device
- Install a Zund digital cutter
- Install our second generation of AGFA computer to plate devices