Corporate Information

The Phillips Group, central Pennsylvania's leading independent office products company, has acquired Progressive Forms and Label Systems Inc. of Harrisburg.

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Progressive, which began in 1994 as a business forms company, later added advertising specialties (also known as promotional products) to its offerings.

Progressive's business operations have relocated from 200 Corporate Circle, off North Progress Avenue in Harrisburg, to Phillips' corporate office and distribution center at 501 Fulling Mill Road, Middletown.

Progressive's two principals, Mike Esworthy and John Christensen, are now part of Phillips' new custom forms and promotional products department. Esworthy is general manager of the department, which operates under the umbrella of Phillips' office supplies division.

“Phillips has continued to look for ways to diversify and to provide ways to meet the needs of its customers,” said Robert W. Chilton, president of Phillips' office supplies division. “Custom forms and promotional products are businesses that we've been talking about entering for a couple of years. This acquisition gives us another avenue for building relationships with current and future customers.”

Esworthy and Christensen bring with them more than 65 years of experience in the business forms and ad specialties business. Phillips also is a member of the Advertising Specialty Institute, the leading group representing distributors and manufacturers of ad specialty products.

Business forms comprise everything from sales slips and invoices to brochures and stationery. Ad specialties represent any item that is printed with a logo or slogan to promote a company, organization, product, service, special achievement or event. T-shirts, mugs and pens are popular examples.

Based in Middletown, The Phillips Group (www.buyphillips.com) is a provider of office supplies, office furniture and document management products. Phillips serves Adams, Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties from offices in Middletown, Chambersburg, York, Hanover, Lancaster and Reading. Phillips also has an office in Hunt Valley, Md., that serves Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties.