ANRO featured in Print Solutions Magazine
Excerpt from “Really Big Printing: Selling Wide Format,” Print Solutions Magazine, May 2010:
Pira International forecasts the market for digital textile printing will grow substantially in the next four years. Susan Larson, director of corporate marketing of West Chester, Pa., printing firm ANRO Inc., understands why. “One of the great things about wide format is that you can print direct-to-substrate,” she says. “You don’t need to print on paper first then adhere to a substrate.” ANRO just began printing wide format last year. Information Technologist Todd Knipe says the decision was made two years ago when the company noticed an increase in demand for higher quality inkjet posters. ANRO outsourced most of the work to various vendors, but considered the high volume of print jobs it could bring in if it printed wide format in-house. ANRO started printing with an HP Designjet Z6100, then added an HP FB6100 last year.
Knipe says the possibilities for printing on unique substrates are just as popular as the possibilities for common applications. Recently, ANRO began researching printable magnetic materials suited for the retail signage industry. Larson says the company is considering magnetically acceptable wall applications, where customers could use magnetic paint or purchase material to install magnetic fields in the walls. Then, ANRO would print a variety of magnets that could be changed easily and frequently. “It’s a popular trend I’ve noticed that would be a great application for retail clients who change their materials on a regular basis,” Larson says.
ANRO is also experimenting with new product offerings by printing two-sided window applications. The company’s HP FB6100 prints two-sided materials with “almost dead-on accuracy,” Knipe says. One customer was making a two-sided window display using two individual signs, then mounting them together. ANRO offered a solution using a material called Stoplight that could be printed on both sides. “It’s a very unique material to handle,” Knipe says. “Everything went well after we figured out how to run it smoothly through the machine.” Knipe says by offering this solution to the client, the company was able to cut out the intensive labor associated with mounting both sides together and provide a more economical product for the customer’s window display.
There’s a big marketing push at ANRO because the company’s wide format capabilities are so new. “The good thing about wide format is there are so many potential applications and so much media to print on that there’s a wide assortment of clients who can utilize these services,” Larson says. ANRO is currently reaching out to its existing client base. The team began a marketing campaign that provides a presentation to all salespeople, sample product offerings to leave behind for customers and samples printed on a variety of substrates.
“There’s so much opportunity for wide format within our client base,” Larson adds. “Most of our customers attend events such as trade shows or outdoor occasions that involve marketing, trade show graphics, banner stands or portable display structures. What we want to do is focus on people involved in these things and communicate with them about our marketing campaign and what we offer.”
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http://www.printsolutionsmag.com/newdesign/issues/may10/PSmay10dig.html