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Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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Finding a Competitive Advantage for Poster Printing

Poster Printing
Productive Displays, Addison, Ill., was able to print high-quality posters cost-effectively with Sunset Photo Satin SUV.

There are certain volumes for poster printing where digital inkjet printing simply can’t compete with offset or screen printing. However, those volume numbers, and the margin where such projects are profitable, inch higher for digital printing companies as time goes by.

Inkjet Poster PrintingBruce Ulrich, president of Productive Displays in Addison, Ill., reports that with the addition of LexJet Sunset Photo Satin SUV 275g, that volume number where his company can compete for poster jobs with offset and screen printing is near 1,000.

“Typically, where we compete most effectively for this type of work is in the 1-800 piece range. Once we go over 1,000 pieces I would need another 20-30 percent off the cost,” says Ulrich. “We used another product in the past, but it was much more expensive. I needed to find an option that would give us at least another 40-50 percent off the cost of producing posters.”

Ulrich found that option with LexJet with Sunset Photo Satin SUV 275g. Moreover, Productive Displays is able to provide a higher-quality, sharper and more color-accurate poster. Sunset Photo Satin SUV is also instant-dry, so that production of multiple-run posters can move quickly and smoothly using the company’s Mimaki JV3 solvent printers.

Inkjet Poster PrintingThe job pictured here for Dish Network is an excellent example as it required three versions with 100 prints of each version. Variable-data print projects, where there are multiple versions of the same print, continues to become more commonplace, fitting nicely into a wide-format digital print company’s wheelhouse.

“With most customers, they’ll come back and ask me for the price for three versions, five versions or ten versions. When they say that to the offset or screen print companies there’s a setup charge. I try to explain to them that where our favorable cost situation comes into play is that it doesn’t matter how many versions they want, the price per poster won’t change,” explains Ulrich. “The client was very pleased with the look and quality of the posters. The Sunset product will allow us to compete more cost-effectively against the offset and screen print companies for poster-related projects.”

Posted on by Regan Dickinson Posted in Case Studies & Profiles
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An Economical Alternative to Dye-Sub Fabrics for Displays

Printing fabric banners with an inkjet printerWhen it comes to display graphics, everybody wants something “different” to help set them apart. That’s exactly what a number of customers were requesting from Productive Displays, Addison, Ill., for their trade show banners.

Some had seen dye-sublimation fabrics at trade shows and liked the look of it. So they wondered if Productive Displays could produce something similar.

“We had a different type of poly fabric in the past that was no longer available. Then we went tried another six or seven materials and none of them were really good solutions for us: they weren’t vibrant enough and the saturation was too high,” explains Bruce Ulrich, president of Productive Displays. “When we traded our aqueous printer for a Canon iPF8300S we talked to Bryce Montisano at LexJet and found the right inkjet fabric.”

Fabric banners for trade showsThe fabric is LexJet Poly Select Heavy, and Ulrich says it’s met their imaging needs and the needs of their customers for nice fabric banner displays.

“The LexJet fabric provides us the ability to present customers with a fabric alternative without the need for a dye-sublimation process. We’re able to utilize the capacity of our existing printers and it’s also a less costly process for the customer,” explains Ulrich. “We presented it to those customers, and we have about half a dozen customers who use that material regularly. The ones who are using it have totally bought into it. The LexJet fabric is a very nice solution, and it’s difficult to tell the difference between dye-sub and this material.”