By Melissa Donovan
Narrow and wide format printing make for a powerful combination when operating under one roof. Many print service providers (PSPs) are in a position to offer business cards to car wraps. Use a wide format hybrid device—flatbed and roll capabilities—and you have a one-stop shop.
GAM Graphics and Marketing, based out of Sterling, VA, is one of those companies. It is a full-service design, print, sign, and mailing shop offering high-quality, cutting-edge design, print, and fulfillment services.
Above: GAM utilizes a Konica Minolta AccurioWide 250 hybrid printer for its wide format work.
Quick Facts
Serving clients since 1976 in verticals like property management, homeowner associations, banking, and credit unions to construction, restaurants, and non-profit organizations, the PSP employs 11 staff members that help the company produce a variety of products. A 14,000 square foot location, which houses offices, a production facility, and a warehouse, allows GAM to provide these services to its client base, of which is concentrated in VA, MD, and Washington DC—but shipping is conducted across the U.S.
The production facility holds an array of technology. It has been an all-digital shop since 2013 and added wide format in house about 20 years ago. Today wide format is about eight percent of its total sales.
Owning a First
GAM is the first company to install an AccurioWide 250 hybrid UV LED wide format inkjet printer from Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. The family-run business is no stranger to Konica Minolta, a client of the company’s for over three years. GAM also owns a Konica Minolta AccurioPress C14000, bizhub Press C6000, and AccurioPress 6136 digital press.
Once installed, the printer was quickly up and running. “We found this to be one of the easiest machines to learn to operate. With two days of training, we had employees who had never worked in that department running the machines,” admits Nathaniel Grant, president, GAM.
Solid Proof
Proof the Konica Minolta AccurioWide 250 is a fit is seen in multiple ways. Grant says production turnaround times increased by 100 percent. GAM prints 4×8-foot panels at full bleed in less than five minutes. A 4×8-foot sheet of coroplast is printed in less than three minutes.
The Konica Minolta AccurioWide 250 is a hybrid device, so GAM easily switches between substrates like coroplast, aluminum, Dibond, and PVC for flatbed printing to perforated window films and vinyl using the roll capability. Grant notes that the hybrid nature of the printer is advantageous and the roll-to-roll option even more so because it allows for printing on wider material than the dedicated roll-to-roll printer it currently owns.
Combine for Success
Combining wide format hybrid devices with automation software and automated finishing equipment makes hitting those quick turnaround times even easier.
Nov2023, Digital Output
