"Most of our dealers seemed to have survived the initial panic and handwringing stages and now seem busy and feel that things will be more robust into the future," he noted. "As far as future growth, I read one article where Hewlett Packard said it was going to be an $82 billion business market for this wide-format and other digital printing capabilities somewhere by the year 2011."
Hessinger echoed Wilbur's thoughts of going big. Simple posters and banners just won't cut it. "We're experiencing growth, but, boy, you really have to dig to find new custom made ideas and products," he said.
One such opportunity happened when the company was given the daunting task of manufacturing a building wrap marking the grand opening of a Dunkin' Donuts in Arizona. The job was anything but boring, Hessinger recalled.
"We brought in an applicator person from Seattle to build the trusses and put everything up, and then we did the graphics and had one of our people go out there to help," he related. "The unveiling of the building took place at 4 a.m. because apparently it gets so hot in the afternoon that you can't do anything. So here we are. And then just a few hours before the unveiling, there was a very unusual wind storm with winds up to more than 100 miles an hour. So we had to take everything down and then still be back up and ready for the 4 a.m. unveiling, which we did accomplish."
Meanwhile, Graphic Litho is receiving requests for store signage. "One hot item is product printed on both sides, with regular thin film lamination on one side—or no lamination—and peel-away adhesive lamination on the other side, to stick to the window," Wilbur said.
And McKinnon has observed a heightened interest in mesh and fabric banners. Furthermore, his company supplies outdoor concrete decals. "Although they have existed for years, they haven't been affordable. We've developed an ASTM-approved non-slip decal to adhere to concrete and asphalt," he added.
Regardless of a company's wide-format offering, it must have the manpower to support its capabilities. Hessinger related another incident where this became an issue. His company recently completed a large project where the customer requested 4x6" bulletin boards made of cork, with its image printed on the piece. Additionally, the customer requested the boards be framed, along with a mechanism put in place to mount them on walls.
First, Hessinger remembered, they found the cork, which they laminated to a fiber board instead of hardwood (like it is typically done) to make it lighter in weight. "Then, we got a beige cork, but we had to have a white background because we're printing in full color, so we painted it with paint on a roller. Then we printed each one using UV inks and a four-color process. We purchased framing (perimeter Trim) that is normally glued in place, but because it was fiberboard we switched to stapling the trim in place," he said.
The last step involved making custom crates out of plywood for shipping purposes. "It was a very successful job, but it sure took a lot of twists and turns, so there is a lot more going on than just running substrates through an inkjet printing device," he added.
With an idea in mind, and the talent to bring it to fruition, see where your burst of inspiration can lead. Who knows...it might be in your own back yard. "It's as simple as little league travel baseball teams needing banners. You might only get one, but my cost on something that's that small is probably under 10 percent as far as the material goes versus the sale price. And there's a lot of handwork involved in all of these still," said Alles. "Bottom line is that's good cash."
Companies Mentioned:
 |
|
