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  • Writer's pictureWurth USA

Ink Is Thicker Than Blood



“Perhaps the most important piece of advice my father taught us all was ‘if you put the business above all - it will be good to you.’” - John Santangelo

H&S Graphics, located in Lodi, NJ has been a partner of Wurth USA for over 10 years. On Monday, September 17th our Marketing Team had the opportunity to travel to their shop to meet the talented individuals that work to bring our ideas to life. This includes print materials you may have seen before or even have in your possession. Items such as our annual Würth Racing calendar, Würth Racing Hero Cards, the monthly Spotlight magazine, Würth stickers, and the ECO Line brochure.



Upon arrival at H&S's facility, our main point of contact, John Santangelo, greeted us with coffee and doughnuts which was really a nice surprise. We all enjoyed a laugh at the fact that we’ve been partners for all these years and never had the chance to tour their place of business.


H&S is truly a family operation – John is the youngest of three brothers. Mike, the eldest, handles company finances. Tom, in the middle, is President handling day-to-day printing and manufacturing functions and John is in charge of account management, and the digital pre-press department, along with business development. Finally, Dave a friend of John Santangelo Sr. who has been with the company for 20 years runs all print and finishing equipment, supply management and inspects each job to ensure exceptional print quality and color accuracy. Together they all have one goal - to develop solutions that exceed their customers expectations and meet their individual needs.



The business started in 1986 by John Santangelo Sr., his wife Patricia and son Michel. Two years later son Thomas came aboard, and John, the third son, began in 1998. Thirty two years later the brothers remain in the same building. John told us that as the company grew in the 80’s and 90’s as they expanded and eventually took over the whole building only to unfortunately give half of it back once the Recession hit in 2009.


We were impressed by the shop’s interesting layout and unique characteristics which was representative of a “home away from home” feel. Throughout the building you can find family photos, stickers of their favorite New York Sports teams on top of carts, as well as a collection of artwork and meaningful projects.

John said, “Perhaps the most important piece of advice my father taught us all was ‘if you put the business above all - it will be good to you’”. John has taken his father's philosophy to heart as he raises children in a modest but comfortable lifestyle. He doesn’t overspend or drive a sports car. Instead he chooses to put family first and lead an environmentally conscious lifestyle that continues at H&S. “Three kids – one planet. I want to limit our footprint as much as possible and leave it better than we found it for future generations.”


H&S supports these values by being a Chem Free printing facility with 100% recycled paper, 100% recycled aluminum, and getting Green Works Certified. Wurth USA is also proud to support H&S in their green initiative by providing ECO Line cleaning and maintenance products which earned UL Environment’s ECOLOGO® Certification. This scientifically states that our ECO Line chemicals meet rigorous, lifecycle-based environmental performance standards.


Among the colossal pieces of printing equipment that help John and his team produce quality work is the Komori Lithrone 5 color offset press which can print 36,000 single sided 8 1/2 x 11 sheets in one hour!

Perhaps one of the most impressive parts of our visit was the fact that John still has two printing machines from the 1950’s… that still work!



During our visit we also uncovered several opportunities for John to use Würth products such as razor blades, Microfiber Cleaning Cloths, and NEW! Volcano Hand Cleaner – which John demonstrated for us by dipping his hands in black printer ink. Was John able to remove the ink? Click this link to watch and find out!


All in all, it was a very memorable day for us. John and his brothers spent two hours of their day dedicated to us. In the 10+ years they have been our print vendor, through this one fun day of visiting their facility, we were able to learn more about the family that helps bring our Würth quality to life.


H&S plays such in important role in our mission to be #1 in the eyes of our customers and we’re grateful to have a partner like them.



Wurth USA is celebrating a significant milestone in 2019. As we countdown to our 50th Anniversary we strive to recognize our employees, customers, vendors, and partners – after all we wouldn’t have made it this far without you! Want to be featured? Contact matthew.florian@wurthusa.com today.

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