AlphaGraphics Seattle Sets the Pace in Innovation with EFI UV Print and MIS Technology

AlphaGraphics Seattle began offering wide-format printing services in 2003 with the acquisition of a roll-to-roll aqueous inkjet printer. Over the subsequent years, as the business grew, the company continued to invest in wide format, adding latex printing capability.

As demand for wide-format output, particularly direct print on rigid materials, continued to grow, AlphaGraphics Seattle sought out a UV-curable, superwide-format solution that could deliver the level of quality its customers wanted while still having broad flexibility in the range of applications that could be produced. When looking at suppliers, Chuck Stempler’s team had confidence in EFI (Booth 1902). Like many AlphaGraphics franchises, the company had used EFI PrintSmith business management software and EFI Fiery digital front ends (DFEs). In 2010, the company became the first franchisee to switch from PrintSmith to the EFI Pace MIS platform.

Even though there is a successful track record of working with EFI, print quality was AlphaGraphics Seattle’s most important consideration in selecting a superwide-format printer.

Solution

“We are used to very high quality from our Komori offset presses,” explains Reid Baker, AlphaGraphics Seattle’s vice president of sales. “In considering the addition of another wide-format printer, we were looking for quality as close as feasible to the Komori.  We also wanted to be able to easily switch between roll-to-roll and flatbed since we still have a significant amount of roll-to-roll work, but find that printing direct to rigid substrates offers the best margins.”

While AlphaGraphics Seattle already has wide-format equipment from other vendors, the company chose a 3.2m-wide EFI VUTEk GS3250 UV inkjet printer. Baker describes the process behind the selection: “We first look at the application set, and once we are comfortable that the applications align with our culture and strategy, we absolutely want a Class A piece of equipment. The VUTEk GS3250 met all those objectives for us.”

While AlphaGraphics Seattle was the first AlphaGraphics business to install a UV inkjet printer from EFI, franchises in other parts of the country have since followed suit.

AlphaGraphics Seattle’s VUTEk GS3250 joins a host of high-end EFI technologies at the company. The printer and one of the franchise’s cut-sheet digital presses both use EFI Fiery DFEs for efficient production workflow processing. EFI Pace MIS software manages estimating, quoting and scheduling across AlphaGraphics Seattle’s six locations. The company also has created more than 100 print-ordering web sites for customers using EFI OPS web-to-print software.

Results

The new VUTEk printer helps AlphaGraphics Seattle win new business and improve profits.

“Installing the VUTEk GS3250 gave us another opportunity to educate our customers on new capabilities,” Baker says. “As a result, we are seeing significant growth in one of our most profitable products, direct printing on rigid substrates for in-store, outdoor and point-of-sale signs and display graphics. It is not unusual for our VUTEk to be operating almost without pause as we work to meet these growing customer demands.”

Baker also reports that AlphaGraphics Seattle has been able to color match output across its digital, offset and production platform. “Often, campaigns contain components produced on multiple print technologies, and it is critical that the color matches as closely as possible across all of those platforms. Our VUTEk GS3250 has been easy to integrate into the overall color management scheme.”

White ink presents another productivity advantage. “The VUTEk lets us be much more efficient on white-ink jobs, because, unlike with other printers, we can run those jobs without having to change out our ink sets and adding white,” says Stempler.

With the expanded capacity and new applications enabled by its VUTEk GS3250, AlphaGraphics Seattle is successfully cross-selling new products to customers who purchase other types of printing from the company.

“UV-curable wide-format printing with our new EFI VUTEk GS3250 has been a boon for our business,” Baker says. “If you are printing on rigid materials and you want to get the best revenue per hour, UV-curable is the only way to go.”

While the VUTEk printer represents the latest impressive new technology for AlphaGraphics Seattle, the company’s Pace MIS “is the heart and soul of our company,” according to Stempler. Pace also puts Stempler’s business on the leading edge among AlphaGraphics franchises when it comes to using data to enhance profitability.

“We implemented Pace in 2010 and within a year or so, it had contributed $500,000 to our bottom line due to improved efficiencies and better business management capabilities,” says Stempler.

“We are more focused on the data we have available to us now, and our goal is to bring an additional $1,000,000 to our bottom line, directly attributable to the abilities Pace gives us to manage our business,” Stempler adds. “For example, we can do a better job of determining estimating flaws and finding areas for margin improvement. It will also allow us to compensate our sales force not just based on top line revenues, but on margin contribution as well.”