Tag: dss

Premier Packaging to move to Henrietta

Premier Packaging Corp. plans to move its operations into a new 105,000-square-foot facility to meet growing customer demand. The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Document Security Systems Inc., expects to be operational in the new Henrietta space by the end of 2021.

For more than 25 years, Premier has provided solutions for paperboard packaging from heavy mailing envelopes and photo sleeves to sophisticated custom folding cartons and complex 3-dimensional direct mail solutions. Premier’s designs deliver functionality, marketability, sustainability and anti-counterfeiting technology.

Since taking over in July 2019, the DSS management team has accelerated the transformation of Premier’s operations, investing in new manufacturing equipment, people and processes to increase its capacity, improve quality and delivery and ensure it has the horsepower it needs to support its growing customer base and their evolving demands.

Jason Grady
Jason Grady

“Premier’s continued success is the result of our team’s dedication and commitment to quality and customer care. Leading with this customer-centric approach has paved the way for expansion through new business opportunities and continues to strengthen our organization’s culture. We look forward to the next phase of expanding and investing in our products, service, and team,” said Premier President and DSS Chief Operating Officer Jason Grady.

Empire State Development is assisting Premier by providing up to $700,000 in Excelsior Tax Credits in exchange for job creation commitments, with additional assistance commitments to support continued growth from Monroe County and Greater Rochester Enterprise Inc.

“We are grateful to Empire State Development, Greater Rochester Enterprise and New York Power Authority for providing Premier with an opportunity to advance our business,” Grady said. “As a multinational company we had several options when considering a new location, but with the help of ESD and New York State, we are able to continue to call this area home. The Upstate New York and Finger Lakes region is an ideal place for us to operate our business, service our customer base and further expand our offerings.”

Premier is currently located in Victor.

“We continue to build on our momentum amid growing customer demand,” said Bruce Stratton, vice president of operations at Premier. “We will be able to increase staffing by more than 50 percent when we begin operations at the new facility later this year. With greater access to major interstates nearby and a closer proximity to the strong Rochester workforce, the new manufacturing operation is well suited to support our aggressive growth plans.”

[email protected] / 585-653-4021
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Document Security Systems launches solar development business

Rochester’s Document Security Systems Inc. has launched a new business to develop utility-scale solar farms at superfund sites.

Alset Solar Inc. was formed to provide a clean energy future to polluted or underutilized properties and supplement the power grid or provide small microgrids for independent energy, company officials said.

“Solar energy is a powerful force for good,” said Melissa Sims, director and adviser of Alset Solar. “It has the potential to mitigate climate change, reduce air pollution, expand access to energy for all and contribute to global economic wellbeing.”

DSS officials noted that disputes have arisen over where to locate solar farms as the demand for renewable energies continues to grow. Opponents are concerned about visual aesthetics, noise and property values. For Alset Solar, the more than 450,000 brownfield sites, 130,000 Environmental Protection Agency superfund sites and 19 million acres of Bureau of Land Management property present a major opportunity to put unwanted, unproductive land back into use.

“We are actively identifying eligible sites in key markets and will work closely with communities to put these sites back into use and back on the tax rolls,” Sims said. “By focusing our development efforts on blighted land such as current and former contaminated properties, landfills and mines, we can transform these underutilized sites into assets, providing land resources for clean energy development and diminishing development pressures on open space.”

Sims is an attorney and chair of the environmental division of the national law firm Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman PLLC, and brings extensive experience to her role at Alset Solar.

“We launched Alset Solar to help lead DSS’s clean energy future with a focus on environmental responsibility and sustainability measures,” said DSS CEO Frank Heuszel. “As states push for more renewable energy, developers must consider the environmental and land use impacts of this so-called energy sprawl – the increasing land-use footprint of energy development. We are directly addressing these valid concerns by focusing our development efforts on underutilized properties which are appropriate for solar energy and battery storage for microgrids.”

Alset Solar is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Alset Energy Inc., DSS’s holding company for its energy group projects. Alset Energy is headquartered in Texas.

[email protected] / 585-653-4021
Follow Velvet Spicer on Twitter: @Velvet_Spicer

Premier Packaging to expand, add 37 jobs

Premier Packaging Corp. plans to move into a 105,000-square-foot, newly constructed facility in Wiregrass Business Park in the town of Henrietta.

The company, which provides paper board packaging to some of the country’s largest digital photofinishing, food packaging and medical device companies, also plans to purchase new machinery and equipment. Premier Packaging has committed to creating up to 37 new jobs as part of the expansion project, while retaining 52 jobs.

“The Greater Rochester New York region’s packaging assets and expertise, along with a competitive cost of doing business, made our community the perfect location for Premier Packaging Corp.’s expansion,” said Greater Rochester Enterprise Inc. President and CEO Matt Hurlbutt in a statement.

Empire State Development is assisting Premier Packaging by providing up to $700,000 in Excelsior Tax Credits in exchange for job creation commitments. Monroe County, Rochester Gas & Electric and GRE also will assist with the company’s continued growth. The total project cost has been placed at $6.2 million. Premier Packaging expects to be operational in the new space by the end of 2021.

Jason Grady
Jason Grady

“Premier’s continued success is the result of our team’s dedication and commitment to quality and customer care. Leading with this customer-centric approach has paved the way for expansion through new business opportunities and continues to strengthen our organization’s culture. We look forward to the next phase of expanding and investing in our products, service, and team,” said Premier Packaging President and DSS COO Jason Grady. “We are grateful to ESD for providing Premier with an opportunity to advance our business. As a multinational company we had several options when considering a new location, but with the help of ESD and NYS, we are fortunate to continue to call this area home. The Upstate New York and Finger Lakes region is an ideal place for us to operate our business, service our customer base and further expand our offerings.”

Premier Packaging was founded in 1989 and was acquired by DSS Inc. in 2010. DSS is a multinational company, operating businesses in consumer packaging, blockchain security, direct marketing, healthcare, medical real estate and securitized digital assets. Premier has been a market leader in providing innovative and secure solutions for consumer paperboard packaging for more than a quarter of a century.

“Henrietta has become a hotbed of printing technologies and production companies — often related to the printing degrees offered by RIT — thanks to innovative companies like Premier Packaging. We look forward to the day they open shop in one of the rapidly growing industrial portions of town and are excited that they chose our community for their continued growth,” said Henrietta Town Supervisor Stephen Schultz.

[email protected] / 585-653-4021
Follow Velvet Spicer on Twitter: @Velvet_Spicer

Premier Packaging parent to change name, rebrand

Document Security Systems Inc. is planning a name change and rebranding to better reflect sweeping organizational changes and ongoing business expansions.

Effective Dec. 8, DSS will be known as Alset Inc. The company’s name and ticker symbol change is expected to go into effect after that date, pending shareholder approval. Rochester’s Premier Packaging Corp. is a subsidiary of DSS.

“Over the past 18 months, we have undergone a sweeping change to our organizational structure, operating companies, and business plan,” said DSS CEO Frank Heuszel in a statement this week. “Today, document security products and services are only a small fraction of what the company does. To more accurately reflect our broad portfolio of current and future businesses we are excited to launch the Alset brand.”

In 2019, DSS embarked on a bold transformational vision to build a diversified portfolio of companies to drive cash flow and profitability with the focus of maximizing shareholder value and generating sustainable growth. Under the leadership of Chan Heng Fai, who was named chairman in March 2019, the company formed multiple new divisions, laying the foundation to substantially transform and grow the company through additional mergers and acquisitions.

“We now operate through nine differentiated business lines,” Chan said. “The broad and amorphous nature of the Alset branding will grow with us no matter who we grow into as we continue acquiring exponential growth companies in a variety of sectors, making them better and more profitable, and ultimately sharing the economics of this success with our shareholders.”

The company’s anti-counterfeiting and packaging solutions divisions continue to generate rapid growth and are now joined by business lines in health care, nutraceuticals, real estate, energy, direct marketing and more. These include Impact BioMedical and its multitude of innovations, income-producing real estate through American Medical REIT and high-growth, high-margin direct marketing opportunities through RBC Life International, HWH World and Sharing Services Global.

Jason Grady
Jason Grady

“Our goal and focus are to create and deliver long-term, sustained shareholder value as we continue to identify potential operational cost-reduction opportunities while simultaneously aligning resources to support and build a foundation for strategic growth opportunities,” said DSS COO Jason Grady. “We have already seen success from investments into existing key scalable business lines which are driving continued top and bottom-line improvements. The progress we are seeing on our new business model and expansive strategy should significantly accelerate these trends in 2021 and beyond, building the Alset brand into a global multinational powerhouse.”

[email protected] / 585-653-4021
Follow Velvet Spicer on Twitter: @Velvet_Spicer

Premier Packaging lands $24 million retail contract

Document Security Systems Inc. subsidiary Premier Packaging Corp. has signed a three-year, multimillion-dollar contract with one of the world’s largest retailers to supply photo mailing envelopes, folding cartons for prints and more.

Jason Grady
Jason Grady

“This is a major win for Premier and solidifies our relationship with a long-term customer,” said DSS COO Jason Grady, without revealing who that retail customer is. “The fact that we beat out our competitors for this highly prized contract valued in excess of $24 million is evidence of the strength and capabilities of our printing and packaging division. As we transform DSS into a multinational aggressive growth company, we will continue to pursue new opportunities to land major contracts with national retailers.”

In addition to mailing envelopes and cartons, the $6 million per year contract will provide the retailer with posters, canvas décor, photo books, passport photos and business printing. The contract may be renewed for a fourth year.

DSS added Premier to its portfolio in July 2019 and has since transformed the Victor company’s operations, investing in new manufacturing equipment, people and processes to increase its capacity, improve quality and delivery and ensure it has the horsepower it needs to support its customers and grow with their changing demands.

“Our customer’s commitment to Premier demonstrates that the investments we have made into our business strategy are starting to show,” Grady said. “These resources are the foundation and position this division for substantial growth.”

Production on the contract will begin in the third quarter of this year. Finished goods will ship to the customer’s more than 9,000 locations, and the retailer expects to open an additional 550 stores over the next year, potentially adding to the value of the contract.

Premier serves both regional and national customers in the medical device, consumer goods, nutraceutical, photo marketing and food and beverage industries.

Separately, last week DSS announced the underwriter of its previously announced public offering of 1.029 million common shares has exercised its full over-allotment option to purchase an additional 154,320 common shares of the company. The price to the public was $6.25 per share and the gross proceeds to the company from the over-allotment were $964,500 before fees.

DSS plans to use the proceeds from the offering to fund development and growth of new business lines and acquisition opportunities, general corporate and working capital needs. The total gross proceeds will be roughly $7.39 million. Aegis Capital Corp. acted as the book-runner for the offering.

[email protected] / 585-653-4021
Follow Velvet Spicer on Twitter: @Velvet_Spicer