About AtLasta Specialty Ink Co., Inc.
In 1987, Charles Harrison, Ph. D. was working with a company which had many shortcomings. He saw a need for greater CUSTOMER SATISFACTION AND SERVICE in a Specialty Ink Manufacturing company. He recognized also a need for greater employee satisfaction and involvement in the production effort. He resigned his Department Head status with that company and set out to develop a company which would offer GREATER CUSTOMER SATISFACTION, GREATER CUSTOMER SERVICE AND MAJOR INVOLVEMENT OF THE EMPLOYEES.
As a Quality Control Chemist in both education and past work experience, maintenance of tight quality control standards was set down as the basic corner stone for the manufacturing activity.
Background
The first major developments were accomplished in Charles' garage. There a Oil/Water emulsion fluorescent ink was developed. Following the acceptance by the US Postal Service, this red ink had become THE WATER BASED Postage Meter Ink now known internationally.
A second major break through come when a Hog Tattooing paste was developed. This paste was the first to be made thick enough to apply, strong enough color, and yet not contain the prohibited substance, Carbon Black. Several such inks for stamping and branding have been formulated and accepted by the U S Dept. of Agriculture.
These products were offered to various distributors and dealers and AtLasta Specialty Ink Company, Inc. was formed.
In the spring of 1987, AtLasta Specialty Ink Company, Inc. rented its’ first manufacturing site, a concrete two-car garage at 5632 Telegraph Road, from area printing company. That site is now occupied by a Dierbergs Food Store & Shopping Center. Mr. Jerry Goff and Charles watched as many houses were demolished to make land available for this Center. "We were forced to move as the bulldozers were pushing at our door." The second manufacturing site for was found in Cedar Hill, Jefferson Co. We shared a very cold metal building with a machine shop, and not too friendly owner. The remanufacturing of toner cartridges was begun here.
In September of 1989, the company rented 2400 sq. ft. in High Ridge, MO. We soon outgrew that space and when the building at 4600 South Square Dr. became available in December of 1991, Charles bought it. The 5000 sq. ft. building is now leased from the owner. Space became tight here also as the purchase of National Laser Cartridge Co. has expanded the business more than 30%. Continued growth in NLSC with the addition of employees, laser printers, copy machines, and ink jet printers encourage us to conserve space.
Now, AtLasta Specialty Ink Co. was at a point where QUALITY CONTROL has made a real difference. The Toner & Ink Jet Service now uses more than 2 dozen different laser printers, eight different copy machines and fifteen+ different Ink Jet Printers from four different manufacturers for testing recycled products. National now uses several cartridge cleaning and filling machines to keep up with demand. Our customers receive a thoroughly tested product, so we can guarantee it with confidence.
Our laboratory facility maintains the state-of-the-art quality assurance testing instruments. Our methods and instruments are continually being improved. Quality control remains the corner stone of our operations.
AtLasta’s operation was producing 20 gallons of Tattoo Paste a month by the fall of 1987 and paid no salary to anyone that year. Since that time AtLasta Specialty Ink Company, Inc. has grown steadily. Revenue projected for fiscal year 2000 without external funding is expected to exceed $1,500,000. AtLasta Specialty Ink Company, Inc,. produced and sold over 3000 pounds of Postage Meter Ink, and 300 gallons of Tattoo Paste a month. Our five different Postage Meter Rollers are now being sold in Europe and Canada. Additional revenues are generated with the manufacture of marking, stamping, stenciling and branding inks for the food industry.
The Toner Service with a local storefront, serviced well over 500 customers in the St. Louis area and surrounding 48 states. National Laser & Ink Jet Cartridge Service recycled cartridges from Lexmark (IBM), Hewlett-Packard, Canon, Sharp, Panasonic, Epson, Xerox and others. We manufactured our own inks for the ink jet cartridges and sold them along with cleaning solutions.
Additionally NLIJCS employs Hewlett-Packard trained technicians to repair both laser printer and DeskJet ink jet printers.
We also purchased and sold empty hard copy cartridges in excess of our customer needs.
Our presence on the internet is maintained at " www.inkmkr.com " There we offer online ordering and interactive feedback forms for our customers’ interface.
In the summer of 1999, the TherMark Corporation, while searching the internet for a specialty ink company, found AtLasta. Since then we created a joint venture to research, discover and invent marking materials which reacts with low power laser light and creates a surface enhancement of ceramic nature, leaving computer generated characters, designs and markings on most all materials including steel, aluminum, glass, and ceramics.
All Rights Rserved
AtLasta Specialty Ink Company, Inc.
4600 South. Square Drive
High Ridge, MO 63049 USA
Voice 636-677-5353
FAX: 636-677-3813
e-mail: Sales@inkmkr.com
Copyright 1987-2005/ 2023