The year was 1975, and by all accounts, it was quite a year. Jaws was the summer blockbuster movie that kept children and adults alike out of the water for several years. Shark sightings were being reported everywhere, even lakes hundreds of kilometers inland!
A massive Great Lakes freighter sank in Lake Superior in November, you might have heard of it? The Edmund Fitzgerald was later immortalized in song by Gordon Lightfoot, a tune you hear on Classic Radio today!
Closer to home, Pink Floyd played a concert at the PNE Coliseum, and the second Bennett to lead BC politics roared back into power.
Something else happened in 1975, the company that would eventually evolve into Micro Com Systems was formed in a crowded office on Powell Street in Vancouver. Back then, while it definitely was a service bureau by any definition, they offered only one product, Computer Output Microfilm. At the time, COM, as it was known, allowed organizations large and small to reduce computer processing time and vastly diminish paper printing and distribution costs.
Business was good, and in the early 1980’s they moved into a much bigger (but ultimately still crowded) location off Kingsway and hired this writer to expand their service offerings to include a full range of traditional micrographic services.
The business grew over time, even absorbing a few smaller competitors along the way. In 1992, the original owner wanted to head to warmer climates to sell racing and luxury yachts. Two enterprising key employees bought the company (really long story) and started adding digital services such as document scanning and larger format scanning to compliment the micrographic offerings.
The business flourished, and MCS moved again, this time to a four story building, in the Mount Pleasant neighbour of Vancouver. Over time, more and more services were added such as microfilm/microfiche scanning and Aperture Card scanning and we quickly filled up most of the 22,000 square feet we had at our disposal.
In 2010, one of the original managing partners of the 1992 takeover decide they would rather move to the Caribbean to pursue fishing and boating (even a longer story) leaving just myself to run and own the business.
To last 50 years in a competitive marketplace, we must be doing something right!
Craig Hollingum
President, Micro Com Systems Ltd.