By Melissa Donovan
Print service providers (PSPs) with a specialty service have truly honed their skills on that particular application. Thanks to overlapping similarities between so many applications in the graphic arts they also leverage their expertise and go above and beyond for their customers—offering a one-stop shop.
Above: PhillyIsh-Ish hired Wrapped by SB to create the design and layout for its inaugural food truck. Graphics were printed on Avery Dennison MPI 1105 Easy Apply RS with an HP Latex 365 printer.
Wrapping it Up
Origin stories in the sign business occur in garages, but Wrapped by SB started in a college dorm room. In 2013, Scotty “SB” Bollinger, CEO, Wrapped by SB, was making decals for local car clubs and peers on campus, in addition to visiting car shows and installing roof and hood wraps out of the back of his truck in FL. About three-and-a-half years later, Bollinger decided to move his business to his hometown of Cleveland, OH, where he had noticed a boom in the wrap market.
Today the PSP operates out of a 5,000 square foot space in Twinsburg, OH. It serves most of Northern OH through a network of wholesale accounts—detail shops, sign shops, and other wrap shops. This is in addition to the company’s own list of clientele.
Two employees as well as Bollinger offer a variety of services including graphic design/branding, business cards, commercial wraps, and branded apparel. “My goal is to be as much as a one-stop shop for small businesses as possible,” he explains.
Flourishing with Wide Format
Wide format digital printing plays a pivotal role in the shop’s day-to-day operations. About 80 percent of the business is related to wide format. And of that 80 percent, 75 percent is directly related to vehicle wraps. Of its vehicle wrap offerings, 75 percent are commercial clients and the remaining 25 percent are custom color change related.
The company’s commercial clientele ranges from nationwide brands to small family-owned businesses. The custom color change base involves younger people just entering into car collecting as well as car enthusiasts with rare, exotic vehicles. “Wide format is ideal for both as it gives me the competitive edge to let my creative side flourish and deliver the highest quality artwork, prints, and installation possible,” explains Bollinger.
Wrapped by SB relies on a three year old HP Inc. Latex 365 Printer, which was originally chosen because Bollinger needed to turnaround work as quickly as possible. With the HP Latex 365 the lack of outgassing time was essential to meeting this goal. “The ability to go directly from printer to laminator and/or plotter has been a huge benefit in throughput since we are able to stack a good number of jobs together and not have to worry about having rolls of printed film laying around the production area waiting to be outgassed,” he explains.
When it comes to media, Avery Dennison Graphics Solutions is preferred. A popular product is MPI 1105 Easy Apply RS. The PSP uses it on print/cut decals and partial wraps to semi-trailer wraps.
Food Truck Time
Wrapped by SB strives to offer its customer base everything under one roof. It was able to do this recently for a new client that came to the shop on a referral. A franchise food truck operator, the customer planned on leaving their current job to start their own business, PhillyIsh-Ish.
When the client came to Wrapped by SB, all it had was the name of the business and a general design. “My team and I went to work to completely brand from the ground up, creating the logo, hand drawing and illustrating the design elements, as well as coming up with the overall design and layout of the food truck,” explains Bollinger.
Once approvals were final, Adobe Creative Cloud files were transferred from a Mac to a Windows-based OS that runs SA International Flexi for production. Illustration, design, and file output took around 20 hours total. Everything was printed on the HP Latex 365 with Avery Dennison MPI 1105 Easy Apply RS. The prints were laminated using Avery Dennison DOL 1360Z for a gloss finish. Post-production/panel trimming and installation took around 30 hours. Bollinger personally handled all of the file output and installation himself.
In addition to the wrap, Wrapped by SB also printed shirts, designed a menu, and created business cards. The company offers its customers a range of services, even with a large focus on vehicle wraps.
Efficiency in Small Numbers
At press time, Wrapped by SB was putting a design together for a second food truck joining the PhillyIsh-Ish fleet later in 2021.
Sep2021, Digital Output
