General Formulations

General Formulations was founded in 1953 by James Black. Mr. Black started his empire out of his garage like many entrepreneurs. An artist by trade, but a tinkerer at heart, it was the screen printing industry that brought out the pioneering spirit of Jim. In 1948 he invented the General Press, a high speed cylinder screen printing press, which automated the screen printing process. In addition, he invented the first Web screen printing press in 1976 which incorporated the cylinder concept and the feeder and ink application mechanism patented by Mr. Black. Over the years, Mr. Black held more than 40 patents and was the developer of special inks and adhesives widely used within the printing industry.

In 1972, Mr. Black received the Howard Parmele Award, the highest honor given by the Screen Printing Association as one of the principle inventors and developers in the industry. Mr. Black retired in 1984 and passed away in 1995.

General Formulations traded ownership hands in 1984. At that time, Jim Clay had worked at General Formulations as General Manager and purchased the company from the Black family. Mr. Clay has worked in the printing industry most of his career. He started in the paper tag printing segment and moved to General Formulations in 1981. Jim has been with General Formulations ever since and is still active in the day to day running of the company.

GF’s first plant was completed in 1959 for the production of screen printing inks. Our first pressure sensitive adhesive coater was installed in 1965 with 2 more added in 1969. We now have five production coaters and two lab coaters. During the past 50 years, our facility, sales and production capacity has grown significantly.

General Formulations has been known for the production of Pressure Sensitive Films, Screen Printing Inks and Custom Coatings. Over the years, our focus has been on the production of Pressure Sensitive Films for the Screen, Digital, Offset, Flexographic Printing Industries, along with the Sign Industry. In addition, we are well known as a custom adhesive coater for specialty/industrial applications. Today, our focus is on the production of high quality pressure sensitive films.