2024 Fast-Track Firm: Art & Negative Graphics' Inkjet Investments Drive Direct Mail Boom
The “Fast-Track” company profiles provide insight on why some companies on the Printing Impressions annual list of the largest printing companies in the U.S. and Canada have performed so well. We spoke with them to find out how they view their companies and the printing industry in general moving forward.
The businesses recognized as this year’s fast-track firms attribute their successes to a variety of factors, including investments in technology, business acquisitions, strategic relationships, and a narrow focus on the things they do well.
Read below why Printing Impressions recognized Art & Negative Graphics as a Fast-Track Firm.
Art & Negative Graphics | Lanham, Maryland
Most Recent Fiscal Year Sales: $15.8 million
Previous Fiscal Year Sales: $14 million
Percentage Change: 13%
For Art & Negative Graphics, growth didn’t happen by coincidence. Instead, it was the direct result of management — Jim Myers, executive vice president, and his brother, Jason Wilburn, COO — making a conscious decision to invest in new technology. More specifically, in inkjet technology.
“Four years ago we invested in roll-fed inkjet printing,” Myers says. “My brother and myself were very impressed with the quality inkjet was able to do. We partnered with SCREEN USA and purchased a TruePress 520 HD, and [this year] we installed a TruePress 560 HDX. So, I would say the increase in business is due to our investment in the latest technology.”
The company was originally a traditional commercial printer, offering sheetfed offset printing as its platform of choice. It mostly focused on direct mail, with some wide-format and signage applications. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it started using the wide-format equipment for more than just one-off projects. Like most businesses, that push for “stay six feet apart” graphics eventually waned and direct mail surged again. Investing in high-quality inkjet presses has allowed the company to take that part of the business to the next level.
In fact, it has seen its direct mail volume increase by as much as 50%, while the highly automated presses allow it to remove touchpoints and streamline everything, reducing costs even as it increases volumes.
“Direct mail is working,” Myers says. “Our customers are seeing excellent results and response rates — we feel direct mail will continue to grow and become even more complex with variable data.” Variable data has been made possible with the inkjet technologies Art & Negative Graphics has invested in.
The transition to inkjet that has driven the company’s growth didn’t happen overnight, however. Myers notes that initially, the offset equipment continued to run as the team slowly transitioned jobs over to inkjet. Within six months of the initial investment, he notes, the company had gone from two shifts on the offset press to just one. And with the latest investment as the beta site for the TruePress 560 HDX, he expects to see even more of that work transition away from offset, with the goal of eventually eliminating offset entirely.
And, he notes, “the customers honestly couldn’t tell the difference.” The quality of inkjet has gotten so good, he says, that it tends to be speed and turnaround times that determine which press something will go on. He is hoping the TruePress 560 HDX will help fill in those gaps as it moves out of the testing phase and into full production mode.
As for the future, Myers sees more growth through investments. “We will probably make more investments in automation this coming year,” he says. “We have made millions of dollars in investments over the past four years, and we think we are really set up for future growth. We care about our customers and want to give them the best service possible. We care about our employees and want to see them prosper.” Both of those things, he notes, are served by ensuring the company has the latest technologies that can power the future of print.
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Toni McQuilken is the senior editor for the printing and packaging group.