Seven over 70: Arthur Frost

This article was first published in the November 2020 issue of Australian Printer magazine

Arthur Frost is no stranger in the print industry. At the age of 77, he is still involved in the The Lamson Group as chairman, even though he has semi-retired.

Frost embarked on his career in print after stumbling into it upon chance. After being homeless as a young man, his first job was with the Commonwealth Bank which was not conducive with his ambition to be a licensed bookmaker.

“My father passed on when I was about three years old but he had been a bookmaker as well so that had always stuck in my mind,” he said.  

He left the bank and got his bookmakers license, but needed a steady income.

“I applied for a number of roles as a sales representative, across a variety of industries, and that’s when the original business of Lamson Paragon Business Forms Printers offered me the job. That was when I first entered into print – purely by chance,” he said.  

“I didn’t know anything about print at that time but I learnt plenty from the business – it was a leader in its field and was quite entrepreneurial and innovative. It was a wonderful learning curve for me initially and I worked with a lot of good people. It laid the foundation in terms of the knowledge and desire that I wanted to get from the print world.”

Frost’s career in print evolved from that point on and he was with the business for 16 years in a number of roles.

“They saw fit to give me a couple of promotions in a few years and that took over my life. I moved from Sydney to Melbourne to take over one of the sales regions, then moved me from Melbourne to Perth to take over state responsibilities, then moved back from Perth to Melbourne into a marketing role,” he said.

Whilst in Perth, a Canadian company, Moore Business Forms, took over Lamson Paragon Business Forms Printers worldwide.

“At that point in time, the Americans got more involved. I was well into the industry. In 1981, I bought a subsidiary off the old Lamson Paragon called Control Systems Tickets because the Americans only wanted to be in Business Forms.”

That is when I, together with my family, moved back from Melbourne to Sydney. Not long after, I resurrected the Lamson Paragon brand,” Frost said.

“At Control Systems, there were many memorable moments but the most memorable was in 1988 – we were the first manufacturer of magnetic stripe tickets in Australia.”  

At that time, Korea had put a new transport system in to Seoul for the Olympic Games, which used magnetic stripe tickets.

“After the games, I went to Seoul armed with pre-encoded tickets. They asked if they could send a contingent of people to Australia to view our operation. Our ‘operation’ was in a Nissen Hut in the munitions area of St Mary’s,” Frost said.

“I was extremely embarrassed when I got a call from Canberra asking me if they could join me to welcome the Korean delegation. Imagine a cavalcade of cars going from Mascot to St Mary’s to look inside a Nissen Hut.”

Frost was also involved in bringing EFTPOS to Australia through a public company called EFTECH.

Soon after, when the sales team of the then Moore Paragon company wanted to start their own print broking companies but had few printers that they considered trustworthy to buy off, Frost resurrected the Lamson Paragon brand to service printers, print brokers, mailing houses, and copy shops.

The reborn Lamson Paragon business was registered in 1983 and started trading on 1 August 1990. Starting with one team member, it gradually created a niche in the marketplace as a trade-only supplier.

“A lot of the sales people who had worked with me previously had joined the broking business in print and I became a trusted partner in manufacturing. That catapulted me back into the print environment,” Frost said.

“We grew the business with a bit of luck and a lot of energy. I grew it from nothing as we had very little money. Back when the business started, we only had a processor which turned paper rolls into continuous paper and our first printing press was a two-colour Ryobi pack-to-pack press.

“We also used to share our old Sefton facility as we couldn’t afford a full factory. We took around a third of this factory and shared it with Precision Printers.”

As the business grew, it added on three other business entities through the years – Paper Rolls Australia, Cheque-Mates, and Integrated Office Solutions. The business expanded its footprint to the Philippines, giving Australian businesses the chance to setup teams in Manila.

The group now employs about 160 people and owns over 50 pieces of equipment, which includes 11 web presses, across its seven facilities.

“I don’t have the personality where I could sit down and do nothing. My son, Rodney, runs the business with me now. He does all the strategy and technical stuff while I back the team up with my experience and knowledge,” Frost mentioned.

Frost has also been recognised with multiple awards in the industry for his efforts, including the PIAA (now PVCA) Legend of Print Award in 2016.

But his passion for print isn’t the only one that drives him – his love for the races hasn’t dwindled all these years.

“I have a brood mare, so I breed one race horse a year. My interest in the races went with me through my life,” he added.

Comment below to have your say on this story.

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4 thoughts on “Seven over 70: Arthur Frost

  1. Arthur,
    Your true champion of the print game always looking out for your mates.
    Looking forward to another ???? with you in sunny ☀️ Qld
    Regards,
    Gillie

  2. What a fantastic story Arthur it was a pleasure to read of your rise to the top. Congratulations

  3. A great article on a magic friend. Arthur is a true legend not only in the print industry but in life in general. Well done.

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