The Wide, Wide World of...

IF YOU had an opportunity to attend SGIA or Graph Expo—or both—last month, I hope you took the time to see what is new in the world of wide-format ink-jet. There have been lots of exciting advances that commercial printing businesses should consider taking advantage of to diversify their businesses and drive revenue growth.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with the folks at Lithographix Inc. Located in sunny Southern California, the firm was founded in 1953 as a general commercial printer and is now one of the most diversified graphics companies in the country, generating about $110 million in annual revenues with 330 employees.

Several years ago, Lithographix began to see a trend among its customers. They were asking whether the company could expand its production portfolio to include outdoor advertising and other large-format display graphics, so that they could turn to a single source for all of the materials included in a campaign. Lithographix responded by adding grand- (superwide) format capabilities several years ago. Today, the company has an amazing portfolio of superwide-format ink-jet printers and owns a six-color, 81? offset press, the largest press on the West Coast.

Now, I am not a big fan of equipment lists as a selling tool. They are somewhat of a necessary evil, but certainly should not be used as the lead item in a sales call on a new customer. I’m a firm believer in approaching sales calls from the perspective of the business objectives the customer is trying to achieve, a technique that worked very well for me during my 10+ years in sales before I crossed over to the dark side (marketing!).

But Lithographix has one of the best examples of an equipment list I have seen: six pages long. It is worth visiting their site and downloading it (www.lithographix.com). Sure, it has the usual nuts and bolts, speeds and feeds. But, as a company in the graphic communications industry, Lithographix has done a great job of making it into a marketing piece, rich with graphics, and demonstrating the breadth of the firm’s capabilities, services and customer conveniences.

Wide Adds Value

By offering a mix of commercial printing, superwide-format digital printing, ad preparation and photographic products and services, Lithographix has not only become more valuable to its customers, but has grown its own revenues by 20 percent. This is a terrific example of how wide-format can be adopted as a value-added service. Lithographix has added nine EFI VUTEk superwide-format printing devices and two Durst-Lambda printers, with a blend of solvent and UV.

This is augmented by its six-color, 60x81? KBA sheetfed offset press with aqueous coater, extended delivery and UV printing capabilities. The company produces a wide range of applications, including billboards, signage and displays.

“Even with all of the equipment we have in place,” says George Wolden, the company’s vice president of manufacturing, “we are running 24/7 and looking to expand again. Our belief is that the business is gravitating toward UV digital printing for many reasons, including its improved environmental footprint. We see our business heading that way, as well.”

Adding wide-format can be as simple as putting your ink-jet proofing device on double duty to produce posters and other point-of-sale type materials. Or you can invest in a larger device that is a production workhorse, like Lithographix has done. Projects can be gigantic, or actually rather mundane and still be quite profitable.

One of the more mundane examples I have come across is produced by Nashville, TN-based Fastsigns. “When Goodwill opens a new store,” says owner Scott Snoyer, “there are 400 to 600 small promotional signs that need to be produced, carrying messages such as ‘20 percent off,’ ‘Buy one, get one free,’ etc. Previously, these were cut-out vinyl letters mounted on white plastic. Now we print them in bright, primary colors with a lot more style.”

Most superwide-format devices use either solvent or UV-curable inks. While solvent solutions have dominated the market for many years, UV is growing rapidly because of its fast drying time, durability and smaller environmental footprint. There are also special dye sublimation inks available for printing on heat-transfer material. This is primarily used for textiles, including carpeting.

Easy Conversion

The other advance that makes getting into the market easier is the growing number of superwide-format printers that convert easily from roll-to-roll printing to flatbed printers that can print directly on rigid substrates. This eliminates the need to mount and laminate material after printing. Users are printing on just about everything you can imagine, and most printers will take materials up to 2? thick. Glass, plastic, backlit materials, wood, even stone. The only limit is your imagination.

One very imaginative example was produced using Gandinnovations’ Jeti printer for a real estate firm in Dubai. Ad-Air, a London-based company, has developed a system for placing mega-format digital graphics on privately owned land near flight paths of high-volume airports worldwide. The Dubai ad made it into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s largest ad.

Another great example was produced by Austin Graphics in Austin, TX. Using its EFI VUTEk QS2000, the firm produced 26 tempered glass panels, 15 mirrored panels and several PETG panels that were used in a Samsung semiconductor facility recently constructed in Austin.

“Samsung wanted to use printed glass and mirrors in its locker room and smock room, Level 3 and Level 4 clean rooms, respectively, to eliminate dust, static and contaminants, as well as to provide an attractive employee environment,” explains David Pesnell, owner of Austin Graphics. Panels were 118? tall and ranged from 52-60? wide; glass panels weighed up to 300 lbs. each. With the QS2000 in flatbed mode, Pesnell was able to print directly on the panels.

Superwide-format is also increasingly eating into volumes that were previously produced using analog screen printing. VUTEk showed its new DS Series at SGIA. This UV printer is expected to be available in 2009, and prints at a blinding 6,000 square feet per minute at resolutions up to 1,200 dpi with stochastic screening. With its large refillable ink reservoirs and optional material handling system, this printer can run in a virtually lights-out mode for up to eight hours.

During a recent press event conducted at EFI’s VUTEk operation in Meredith, NH, I was able to see it in action, and it is quite amazing. EFI claims that this device extends the digital crossover point with traditional screen printing by a factor of 4 to 5.

Other suppliers in this market include Agfa, Fuji, HP and Screen. There are also a myriad of suppliers with ink-jet offerings in smaller format sizes.

Now is the time to widen your horizons with wide-format. All projections say that the conventional printing industry will continue to struggle, yet businesses such as Lithographix, which diversify to offer more innovative services, are well positioned to grow at double digits. There will be some new skills required, and these large projects can take up a lot of space. But the return is definitely there. PI

—Cary Sherburne

About the Author
Cary Sherburne is a well-known journalist, author and strategic marketing consultant working primarily with the printing and publishing industry. She is a frequent speaker at industry events, a regular contributor to printing industry publications and has written three books, which are available for purchase through the Bookstore section on Printing Impressions’ Website (www.piworld.com). Sherburne can be contacted at Cary@SherburneAssociates.com.