PPB September 2021

How did your company get its start? AutoTran was founded by Doug Parker in 2001. Having been in the industry for more than 40 years, in 2001, Doug saw an opportunity to bring his own ingenuity and vision to the pad and screenprinting market. As the market has changed into other processes like heat transfer and digital, AutoTran has grown its vision to accommodate these shifts and has found itself as a leader in the digital printing market. By using a foundation of extensive applications from the pad- and screenprinting markets, Doug and AutoTran have created some of the most innovative approaches to equipment in the industry. What led your company to enter the promotional products market? AutoTran has been involved with the promotional products market from inception. As one of the largest markets in consumables and a wide range of applications, AutoTran feels it has much to offer the promotional products markets by conveying that knowledge from experience. Over the years, AutoTran has been fortunate to assist in many large projects for this market and feels there are a lot more companies to assist in doing the same. What’s your favorite thing about being in the promotional products industry? It’s something new every day. You could be working with a candle company one day and fidget spinners the next. This market presents so many different applications which creates a lot of thought in the approach of equipment for those jobs. AutoTran’s sales and engineering team enjoys a challenge and has come up with some unique, proprietary ideas while brainstorming for some projects within the promotional products market segment. Why did you join PPAI? AutoTran has a lot of new and industry- shifting pieces of equipment, primarily within the digital equipment market, where we feel as though we can help a lot of customers within the promotional products industry to not only increase efficiency and productivity but to also drop their costs significantly. We feel it our responsibility to get this information out to the market so they are aware, especially coming off a year where cost savings are critical for a lot of promotional product companies, and upgrading to new technology serves as a focal point in achieving that goal. Brad Parker Vice President of Operations AutoTran, Inc. Naples, Florida PPAI 796159, S4 NEW MEMBER SPOTLIGHT UFO Teez PPAI 638176 Wave Printing & Embroidery PPAI 711294 Wolf Promotions Ltd PPAI 796348 ZELDAS EMBROIDERY PPAI 678465 Suppliers Autotran PPAI 796159 Edoughble PPAI 796322 Lazzar USA, Inc. PPAI 796121 Millennium Mat Company PPAI 796142 108 | SEPTEMBER 2021 | CONNECT