Printing entrepreneur taking empire public. (Joe R. Davis of Consolidated Graphics Inc.)

Consolidation has been the name of the game in the Houston printing business, and a company called Consolidated Graphics Inc. has set a torrid pace in the industry.

Formed less than a decade ago by Joe R. Davis, Consolidated Graphics quietly gobbled up at least seven local companies and became a major force in the local printing business with nearly $50 million in sales.

Now Davis is planning to take the company public and preparing to export his success.

Davis is not the typical commercial printer. A 51-year-old CPA, he had no printing or graphic arts experience when he bought into a small printing company in 1985 after 10 years in Arthur Andersen & Co.'s merger and acquisitions division.

But his accounting background and a reputation for tough business practices has helped him innovate in an industry with strong ties to tradition.

"Joe, at least in Texas, is unique in the printing industry," says Don Piercy, executive director of Printing Industries of the Gulf Coast, a trade association for printers and related companies, from graphic designers to envelope manufacturers.

"He's one of the top two or three businessmen in this town. …