Anaheim Signs

WHEN TO USE IT? A client calls with a complaint or question, you’re not ready to respond, but promise that you will. Don’t tell them to call you back. Follow-up phone conversations should always be initiated by you — not the customer. Don’t forget to call when promised.

SOURCE: Karen Leland and Keith Bailey, Customer Service for Dummies

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Piedmont Plastics®, a premier wholesale distributor of plastic sheet, rod, tube and film, is pleased to announce that it will be opening a new branch location in Chattanooga, Tennessee this fall.

This new location will mark Piedmont’s 51st branch in North America and fourth location in the state of Tennessee. The Chattanooga branch will operate as a full-service distribution facility with a comprehensive inventory, cut-to-size services, routing capabilities, and local delivery options.

“We are proud to be expanding our coverage in the Chattanooga market,” says Randy Blankenship, Region Manager at Piedmont Plastics. “This new branch location will allow us to better serve our existing customers in the area, as well as provide us with the means to facilitate further growth in this region.”

The new Chattanooga location will enable Piedmont Plastics to serve more customers with the same business philosophy that has driven the company’s growth for many years – local stock, local decision-making, and excellent customer service.

The post Piedmont Plastics to Open New Location in Chattanooga, Tennessee appeared first on Sign Builder Illustrated, The How-To Sign Industry Magazine.

Published first here: https://www.signshop.com/news/piedmont-plastics-to-open-new-location-in-chattanooga-tennessee/

By Jeff Wooten

To provide commuters and passengers with better access to the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) Main Concourse and New York City Transit subways, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Construction and Development Company (MTA C&D) put together the recent design and build of the East End Gateway entrance at New York City’s Penn Station.

This towering glass and steel, A-frame canopy, located at 7th Avenue and 33rd Street, is an architecturally impressive achievement that now provides the LIRR Concourse with a “true entrance,” as multitudes of daily visitors now traverse its three state-of-the-art escalators and a stairwell.

The underside of the glass and steel canopy forms a compound curved shape, known as a “spandrel,” and the East End Gateway’s spandrel is composed of sixty individual steel panels of varying sizes.

However MTA C&D officials also wanted to find a way to incorporate an additional immersive, dramatic effect for this particular spandrel.

Their solution was to commission a spectacular, 1,988-square-foot map of metropolitan New York made up of sixty-five printed sections covering the East End Gateway spandrel that would enhance the experience as well as further brand the entrance. This massive interior graphic features detailed geographic information from West Point, down the Hudson River to Staten Island, and out to the Robert Moses Causeway on Long Island.

“When riding the escalator, there is the sensation of traveling through the interior of a three-dimensional painting, several stories high,” says Carol Smith, president and creative director of Creative Source, Inc., one of the companies involved in the design and installation of this experiential, transformative graphic illustration. (Note: See the sidebox below for all the companies that worked on this project).

Located in the heart of Manhattan, Creative Source, Inc., is a Women’s Business Enterprise (WBE) multi-disciplined design firm that has been around for thirty-five years. Their wide roster of clients includes Fortune 500 corporations, government agencies, and non-profit organizations.

“We design thoughtful, intelligent brand identities that are consistently articulated to support a brand—from its strategy, name, and logo throughout all marketing communications, including digital, PR, and social media,” says Smith. “Our success lies in our ability to create visual shorthand to convey a brand’s essence and then make sure [that] its unique personality is unswervingly articulated.”

Creative Source has enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). In fact, the company designed the iconic gold-and-blue MetroCard for the organization twenty-two years ago.

Global engineering consulting firm WSP USA was the prime consultant and program manager for this spandrel graphic project, and they brought Creative Source onboard as a sub for it. As part of the team, WSP also retained the implementation team from Duggal Visual Solutions for the client, MTA C&D. This team fostered a close collaboration from conceptual design through the completion of construction. Skanska USA, under the developer of the project (Vornado Realty Trust), implemented the construction utilizing Duggal as their sub. “Fortunately we’re accustomed to working on an integrated design team with multiple players,” says Smith.

Design + Build

Creative Source designers knew that they were going to need to come up with a dramatic design experience on the East End Gateway spandrel that would benefit the enormous size of the entrance. This funnel-like shape of the spandrel surrounds the 72-1/2-foot-long escalators (with a vertical rise of 29-1/2-feet) and stairway, between the shoulders of adjoining arches and the ceiling above.

“Above the spandrel is a ‘bright and welcoming’ glass and steel canopy,” says Smith, noting that this architectural motif not only introduces natural light into the station environment but also offers a prime view of the iconic Empire State Building.

The company drew up two design choices at the project’s onset. The first featured a map of Manhattan and the five boroughs, while the other displayed the greater metropolitan area. The MTA C&D selected this latter design because of its aesthetic composition and its inclusivity for most of Penn Station’s ridership.

To create the selected map design, Creative Source based it off a satellite view of the greater New York City Metropolitan area. They also used portions of the surrounding suburbs of Long Island and Westchester extending around the sides and encompassing a portion of the LIRR ridership communities.

The design had to accommodate the double compound curve of the Spandrel’s surface to include as much of the region as possible without distorting the image. Mena Henry from the Duggal team (Proptogroup) explains, “A map is defined as a ‘diagrammatic representation of the earth’s surface.’ The keyword is ‘representation’, since the earth is round, and maps are flat.

“This has always been the ultimate challenge for mapmakers around the world, because any 2D representation of the earth’s spherical surface is inevitably a distortion—an imperfect attempt to flatten the three-dimensional world we live in.”

The design team went through several different iterations of how “zoomed in” or “zoomed out” the scale of the map should be. “All the moving pieces had to constantly be balanced and readjusted to ensure the integrity of the finished product, as any changes to the scale or the complex lighting design had cascading impacts to the color palette,” says Anthony Delimitros of SPA International, a company that also shares office space with Creative Sources, Inc.

Creative Source developed dozens of blue palette variations designed to ensure the piece would “pop” and provide passengers with a “wow” factor as they enter or exit.

The Creative Source team was already facing a tight schedule to finish this project on time and on budget, but throw the COVID-19 pandemic into the mix, and they faced unique challenges related to scheduling and “mapping out” logistics. Not only were rigorous protocols and safety measures implemented to protect their team, but social distancing and travel restrictions added even more difficult hurdles to the requisite on-site planning process.

“Despite the inability to meet the team in person, we remained on schedule,” says Smith. “The team held regular virtual meetings. We had to be creative with our use of photography and software to show how various iterations of the design might look from different distances and under changing lighting scenarios.”

“The gigantic size of the graphic file required us to utilize a super computer, in order to handle the amount of detail needed,” says Delimitros.

Even with all the tight COVID protocols in place, the different teams involved in this project were still able to fabricate and install a physical mock-up of the design that Creative Source came up with for viewing at Duggal’s Brooklyn, New York facility.

Creative Source designers ended up mapping the tri-state area onto a flat plane with design and fabrication studio Proptogroup remapping that representation onto a doubly curved parabolic surface using UV mapping.

“When the UV mapping system is successfully projected on a 3D surface using 3D modeling software, it allows for the manipulation of the final visual field while maintaining parametric relations,” says Henry. “This means that the spatial relationships between Penn Station and the Brooklyn Bridge and Coney Island, for example, are all preserved.”

Duggal Visual Solutions has tremendous experience fabricating and installing large-scale graphics, and they explored and tested several different methods for fabrication. Each varied in terms of cost, durability, ease of installation, feasibility for curved surfaces, and the ability to show visual detail.

WSP USA, SPA International, and Creative Source researched several methods including the use of special paint with custom stencils, dye-sublimation printing onto metal sheets, and printing onto film.

“Every detail was vetted and discussed with the team—including the size, shape, color, and position of the fasteners to make them as invisible as possible,” says Smith. “The goal was to create an iconic graphic that is cost effective and durable without compromising the visual integrity of the design.”

The East End Gateway spandrel at Penn Station is composed of sixty individual steel panels of varying sizes. The map graphics were printed onto 3M Envision Wrap Film LX480mC because of its durability, while a matte laminate adds extra UV protection to them.

“Special care was taken during printing and production to match the colors on each panel exactly,” says Smith. “Installation was carefully executed by matching the position of the graphics precisely on each panel.”

The teams involved also had to take into account the sheer volume of commuter traffic passing through Penn Station. On a typical pre-pandemic day, this equates to 650,000 passengers. “Using an innovative design-build approach, construction was completed without train service disruption and minimal impact to the overall passenger experience,” confirms Smith.

Experiencing the Reaction

The end-result has been awe-inspiring, taking this ceiling to another level.

Smith notes that its colors and graphic style create a powerful, modern design aesthetic at the 33rd Street entrance. “For visitors just arriving at Penn Station, the map serves to welcome them to New York as they ascend up into the city via the new entrance,” she says. “For departing passengers, it depicts the greater region and popular commuter destinations.”

This East End Gateway project also served as a beacon to the New York spirit as well, as it was also dedicated during a ceremony last December to the essential workers who depended on the region’s mass transit system and those who kept it moving.

All Photos: Creative Source, Inc.

The post On the Map: Penn Station’s New Spandrel Graphics appeared first on Sign Builder Illustrated, The How-To Sign Industry Magazine.

Published first here: https://www.signshop.com/graphic/vinyl-graphics/on-the-map-penn-stations-new-spandrel-graphics/

Mactac® Distributor Products announces its Mactac OODLES multi-print wall media has earned UL 10b and 10c certification, meeting the latest compliance requirements for out-facing elevator door applications.

Compliance is necessary for any elevator wraps being used in the healthcare industry, such as in hospitals and other care facilities. Earlier this year, The Joint Commission, a leading accreditation and regulating body in healthcare, changed the fire rating for elevator doors, requiring the UL 10b and 10c certification to apply graphics materials on outside-facing doors. Compliance is also recommended for outdoor elevator graphics in schools, universities, hotels, and other similar buildings and facilities.

“Customers can now confidently apply Mactac OODLES media to elevator doors within these settings and have peace of mind knowing that they are in compliance with the required safety standards,” says Amanda Smith, Product Manager, Mactac Distributor Products. “The certification adds to the versatility OODLES media already delivers.”

IMAGin® wallNOODLE®, ROODLE®, and permanent wallNOODLE also meet ANSI Class A, NFPA Class A, and ICB Class 1 for flame spread and smoke density, tested under ASTM E-84. Additionally, OODLES media is phthalate-free.

Designed for removable wall graphic applications on smooth, flat surfaces, wallNOODLE (WN628) and ROODLE (RO628) offer superior print performance and are compatible with wide-format solvent, UV, and latex printing, as well as screen and offset printing. They feature a 6.0-mil semi-rigid white vinyl and a high-performance 90# SuperFlat liner for easy handling. ROODLE is ideal for graphics requiring flush edge printing and wallNOODLE is Mactac’s original, customer-favorite wall mural/poster stock.

Certification also applies to Mactac’s permanent wallNOODLE (PN628), which features a permanent acrylic adhesive for long-lasting decals, signage, and wall graphics.

For more information on Mactac Distributor Products’ innovative pressure-sensitive solutions for the wide-format printing industry, call 866-622-8223, email mactac.americas@mactac.com or visit www.mactac.com/oodles.

The post Mactac OODLES Media Meets Newest Elevator Wrap Compliance Requirements appeared first on Sign Builder Illustrated, The How-To Sign Industry Magazine.

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Cushing (Chicago), a graphic imaging service provider, has added 3D laser scanning to its construction and project management services.

The company invested in a Trimble X7 3D scanner, which works in both interior and exterior environments. Features include automatic registration, HDR imaging and laser pointer. This allows for scan and BIM data to be referenced, registered and refined in the field. It produces both photogrammetric and LIDAR scans.

In addition to its scanning services, Cushing will also lease the scanner by the day and week. For a consultation, email quote@cushingco.com or call (312) 266-8228.

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MUTOH America, a leader in wide-format inkjet printers, cutters and inks, is launching the next generation of UV-LED printers, the VJ-1638UH Mark II and VJ-1638UR Mark II. They combine with VerteLith, MUTOH’s new genuine RIP software, to create dynamic output, producing the best-possible gradients, skin tones and vivid colors.

VerteLith optimizes the performance of the VJ-1638UH Mark II and VJ-1638UR Mark II printers and features i-WeaveUVEX 2 Intelligent Interweave Print Technology, MUTOH Clear Tone half tone technology, MUTOH CYMK wide color gamut ICC profile and auto-generation of Pantone© coated/uncoated spot colors. These state-of-the- art MUTOH technologies streamline workflow, increase productivity and deliver high-quality output at faster production speeds.

The VJ-1638UH/VJ-1638UR Mark II printers include:
• Staggered dual print heads with UV-LED lamps on both sides.
• MUTOH UV-LED inks, which allow printing on transparent/colored media with a 6-color CMYK+White+Varnish configuration
• Multi-layer printing capability

The VJ-1638UH Mark II is a hybrid printer with the capability to print on rigid substrates as well as roll media, while the VJ-1638UR Mark II prints on roll media only. A 66lb take-up system is standard on the VJ-1638UR Mark II: The 66lb and 88lb take-up systems are optional. The VJ-1638UH Mark II 66lb, 88lb and 220lb take-up systems are all options on this printer model.

VerteLith is bundled with FlexiDESIGNER MUTOH Edition 21 and is included free of charge with VJ-1638UH Mark II and VJ-1638UR Mark II printers, representing a $2,199.00 value. Other MUTOH models will be supported by VerteLith later in the year.

The post New MUTOH VJ-1638UH/VJ-1638UR Mark II Printers appeared first on Sign Builder Illustrated, The How-To Sign Industry Magazine.

Published first here: https://www.signshop.com/graphic/digital-printing/new-mutoh-vj-1638uh-vj-1638ur-mark-ii-printers/

Family-owned sign and display business SignMax used Drytac ReTac Smooth 75 polymeric PVC film to produce a series of eye-catching interior wall graphics, bringing elements of the natural world into an indoor environment.

The South African company – founded by Theo Vermaak in 1987 and now managed by his son NJ – was tasked with producing a design that created a natural and calming atmosphere for visitors to its client, local neurosurgeon Dr. Francois van Niekerk.

SignMax only started using Drytac shortly before the project, but its success with these materials in other recent pieces of work led it to select Drytac ReTac Smooth 75, which was recommended by the team at Drytac’s exclusive dealer in South Africa, Midcomp.

The company printed the colourful and calming design onto Drytac ReTac Smooth 75 using its HP Latex 335 printer, before installing the graphics at the facility to give the inside of the building a completely new feel.

“We have only recently started using Drytac materials, but we are very excited to start using Drytac products more on future projects,” SignMax Managing Director NJ Vermaak said. “ReTac Smooth 75 is a great product and prints come out looking awesome when combined with our HP Latex 335. Our clients are also impressed with the fact that the product can be removed when not needed anymore, with no damage to the applied surface. Such has been the success of SignMax’s use of Drytac materials that the company is now exploring how the products can help it expand into new areas, in particular the wallpaper segment of the interior design market.

“As with most companies in business during the Covid-19 pandemic and coping with the subsequent lockdowns, we’ve had to be proactive and put new products to market,” NJ Vermaak said. “Using Drytac ReTac Smooth 75 means that we can offer our clients a new product we can trust, giving us confidence to enter a market that we have not yet explored.”

Aside from wallpapers, SignMax has also begun to explore other areas such as floor and counter-top graphics, as well as architectural films.

“The prospects for this market are looking great, we are excited and positive about future projects,” NJ Vermaak said. “By combining Drytac films with our HP Latex printers, we are able to print vivid colours quickly, at a high quality, which is ideal for the decorative and retail market.”

NJ Vermaak also commends the team at Midcomp for their advice and support. He concludes: “Midcomp have been a pleasure to work with from day one. From purchasing printers, to ordering materials, they are a reputable team. Everyone within the team is helpful and friendly and they always offer great customer service.”

The post SignMax Brings the Outside Indoors with Drytac ReTac Smooth 75 appeared first on Sign Builder Illustrated, The How-To Sign Industry Magazine.

Published first here: https://www.signshop.com/graphic/vinyl-graphics/signmax-brings-the-outside-indoors-with-drytac-retac-smooth-75/

PPDS, the exclusive global provider of Philips digital signage, LED and pro TV products, software and innovations, is excited to announce it is among the world’s first manufacturers to gain Crestron XiO Cloud certification.

Part of PPDS’ unparalleled adoption of Crestron’s full ecosystem for seamless end user experiences, this unique and highly collaborative partnership opens up incredible opportunities for a multitude of industries – including hospitality – with PPDS bringing the most advanced and complete version of the award-winning XiO Cloud control and management solution available anywhere in the current market.

Fuelled by a joint desire to bring scalable, transformative and future-proof solutions to meet the ever-changing needs and demands from the market, this deep collaboration between PPDS and Crestron brings the greatest levels of integration and support to the Crestron ecosystem from a display manufacturer. Driving productivity and long-term financial gains for customers and enabling them to maximise the benefits and capabilities of both companies’ award-winning solutions.

With Crestron technology now embedded and compatible across almost all Philips professional displays (including pro TV, digital signage and interactive), PPDS has become one of the world’s few display manufacturers to support all four of Crestron’s key technology integrations, including its Control, Remote Management, Video Distribution and Unified Communications solutions.

Bob Bavolacco, director, technology partnerships at Crestron, commented: “PPDS has become a deeply integrated Crestron partner, adopting and rapidly embracing our technology at a level that surpasses anything else seen in the current marketplace.”

Future-proofing the workplace

First unveiled at ISE 2018 as part of Crestron’s ‘AV Matrix for the IT Age’ range of enterprise solutions, the ever-evolving Crestron XiO Cloud makes the ability to deploy, manage, monitor and evolve your workplace displays a simple, fast and secure process, enabling remote control of the display’s functions from a single location (including via a Crestron touchscreen device or a web UI dashboard).

Built on the Microsoft® Azure® platform – used and trusted by some of the world’s leading and most data sensitive organisations, including Fortune 500 companies ­– Crestron XiO Cloud integrates seamlessly with a wide range of Philips Windows and Android digital displays and pro TVs to suit the customer’s needs and requirements in any indoor environment. This includes its new range of Philips full range of digital signage and professional TVs, including MediaSuite, B-Line, D-Line and Q-Line.

Effortless installation

With Crestron XiO Cloud, the long, often costly and disruptive configuration process for new displays and other devices is now a thing of the past, with customers able to centrally configure and provision all their Philips professional displays (and other compatible solutions) in all rooms before the products have been installed and without visiting the site. This can cut installation times for new devices by up to 90pc.

Once displays are connected to the network, they will automatically retrieve their settings, programmes and firmware specific to the environment being used, and immediately begin reporting data. With Crestron XiO, customers can configure thousands of Philips professional displays in the time it takes to configure one – no programming and no hassle.

The certification of Crestron XiO Cloud further extends and strengthens the two tech giants’ collaborative partnership to bring world class enterprise solutions to market for enhanced, seamless end user experiences. In 2020, PPDS became a Crestron Connected Gen 2 certified and trusted partner, using embedded Crestron technology to provide fast, reliable and secure enterprise level solutions for complete tech and office equipment automation. The first examples of the relationship included the launch and availability of a range of new products, including Philips B-Line and C-Line interactive displays.

Powering evolution / Endpoint management

Sian Rees, International Product Manager Software at PPDS, commented: “We’re absolutely delighted to be able to bring this revolutionary solution to our partners and customers, strengthening our relationship with Crestron and taking our Philips professional displays further into the Crestron ecosystem. For XiO Cloud, we’ve gone deeper than many other manufacturers to maximise the benefits and capabilities of the ground-breaking solution. Offering the ultimate experience and performance for our partners and customers.”

Bob, added: “With PPDS, the end client is able to purchase a world-class Philips professional display solution, designed for use in almost in any vertical, that from day one is natively embedded and fully integrated into Crestron’s full ecosystem of products and solutions, of which XiO Cloud is the latest.”

With Crestron XiO Cloud, updates can be scheduled on individual displays or collectively, entirely remotely and at a convenient time – such as during non-office hours – or staggered across rooms’ usage or occupancy (never more visible on XiO Cloud, see below), for greater levels of efficiency, consistency and security to the workplace.

Troubleshooting can also be tackled immediately and entirely remotely, with Crestron XiO Cloud monitoring all devices at all times, sending AV/IT managers instant alerts whenever an issue is detected. This allows problems to be addressed as and when they occur – even before the user realizes – reducing potential disruptions or equipment shutdowns to keep spaces up and running, without running to them.

Workplace analytics

With rooms and devices automatically monitored 24/7, Crestron XiO Cloud’s workplace analytics helps give managers better understanding of how rooms and systems are being used. These include system usage versus occupancy, and new people counting functionality to understand how many people are actually using rooms versus their current capacity**.

This could potentially solve issues around meeting room availability, depending on the technology user’s needs.

Tim de Ruiter, International Business Manager, PPDS, commented: “Space and the availability of meeting rooms can be a challenge for many working in busier offices, and finding one that features the equipment you need for a successful meeting can be timely and frustrating.

“It doesn’t have to be that way. If you can see that someone uses a room, say, every Tuesday at 3pm, but does not use their display, then their needs clearly do not match the facilities in the room. So, they could potentially have the same experience elsewhere, instead of depriving someone else of its true value. This can be simple to manage in a smaller office but in one with many different staff, working across multiple floors, it can be frustrating and time consuming. With Philips professional displays and Crestron XiO Cloud, these problems can be identified and mitigated.”

Every second counts

AV/IT managers are able to configure the technology used in a room to conform to the exact users’ needs and requirements before they even enter it – whether that’s a one-off need, or, for example, successive meetings taking place daily, monthly or even annually, cutting or removing set up time delays.

According to research, the average delay per meeting for employees is approximately 10 minutes and 40 seconds, equivalent to 3 days and 2 hours lost annually, while 40pc of workers waste up to 30 minutes just searching for a collaborative space for meetings.

The cost of poorly organized meetings in 2019 was estimated at $399 billion in the US in 2019 alone and $58.11 billion in the UK.

Part of PPDS’ focus on sustainability, displays can be programmed to automatically power down during the hours they are not scheduled to be used, helping businesses to become more energy efficient, cutting costs and extending the lifetime of the product.

Customers can purchase the Crestron XiO Cloud service on a monthly basis, with pricing based on the number of rooms and service options you require.

Bob added: “The industry has evolved quickly in recent years. Analogue to digital, isolated to networked and server-based to Cloud-based. While technology has moved on, though, some of the historic problems, pains and frustrations have remained. Rolling out hundreds of displays and devices reliably and quickly can be very time consuming and a sizable investment. Even fairly simple but important updates can result in disruptions or even complete shutdowns, costing the company time and money.

“Depending on the size of the company, it can also be difficult to keep track of the technology available in each room, how occupied rooms are, and how often that technology is even used. With XiO Cloud and working closely with PPDS, we’ve created an entirely new approach, bringing AV and IoT together to Philips professional displays to create smarter working and learning environments.”

Sian concluded: “By supporting different product lines and continuing to develop in the Crestron ecosystem we provide our customers with scalable future-proof solutions that meet all their different needs. This is yet another major milestone in our journey in combining best-in-class technology with world-leading third party solutions partners, in order to best serve our customers and help them be the best they can be.”

Benefits of Crestron XiO Cloud:

Manage remotely

• Change setting once, update everywhere immediately
• Update firmware – security fixes in minutes
• Cloud audit logs enable quick problem identification and solution

Monitor instantly

• View live status of thousands of devices from anywhere at any time
• Know of any change on a device status

Evolve confidently

• Design your workplace technology around your team
• Interactive dashboards provide real-world usage data
• Gather data with zero programming
• Optimise your workplace technology experience

The post PPDS Gains Crestron XiO Cloud Certification appeared first on Sign Builder Illustrated, The How-To Sign Industry Magazine.

Published first here: https://www.signshop.com/lighting-electric/digital-signage/ppds-gains-crestron-xio-cloud-certification/

MUTOH America, a leader in wide-format inkjet printers, cutters and inks, is excited to announce the release of their new, genuine RIP software, VerteLith. This revolutionary software optimizes the performance of MUTOH printers, is easy to use, and delivers exceptional workflow efficiency for customers.

VerteLith is bundled with FlexiDESIGNER MUTOH Edition 21 software and includes advanced functions such as MUTOH Clear Tone, an original half-tone technology which achieves beautiful image quality and smoothness. VerteLith also features two enhanced preview functions. The soft proof function simulates the color of the printed output on the screen and the RIP preview function displays the actual printing dots on the screen prior to output. These new functions allow users to enjoy a “what you see is what you get” RIP environment.

Current RIP software programs are focused primarily on roll-to-roll large format printers. VerteLith goes beyond that to include several tools which enhance the use of UV-LED flatbed printers. The jig layout tool prints raised varnish outlines to keep objects in place, eliminating the need for custom jigs. VerteLith features auto-layout and print multi-page PDF functions at the click of a button and supports auto-generation of white and varnish inks to create rich, textured prints without complicated steps. Additionally, auto-generation of Pantone© coated/uncoated spot colors is a standard, included feature of VerteLith.

VerteLith debuts August 16, 2021 for MUTOH printer models VJ-1638UH Mark II and VJ-1638UR Mark II and is included free of charge. This represents a $2,199.00 value. Other models will be supported by VerteLith later in the year.

MUTOH will maintain partnerships with other third-party RIP vendors to support current applications. By introducing VerteLith, MUTOH addresses the diverse needs and challenges of customers and their need to expand market capabilities.

The post MUTOH Releases New Powerful VerteLith™ RIP Software appeared first on Sign Builder Illustrated, The How-To Sign Industry Magazine.

Published first here: https://www.signshop.com/graphic/digital-printing/mutoh-releases-new-powerful-vertelith-rip-software/

Inc. magazine recently announced that FlexPost Inc. is included on its 2021 Inc. 5000 National list, the most prestigious ranking of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. This national list represents a unique look at the most successful companies within the American economy’s most dynamic segment – its independent small businesses.

This announcement comes on the heels of Inc. magazine announcing in March that FlexPost Inc. had made its 2021 Inc. 5000 Regionals: Midwest list. This regional list represents the brightest and fastest-growing independent small businesses within the Midwest.

Inc. 5000 ranking and profile information for FlexPost Inc. can be viewed on the Inc. website.

Not only have the companies on the 2021 Inc. 5000 been very competitive within their markets, but this year’s list also proved especially resilient and flexible given 2020’s unprecedented challenges. Among the 5,000, the average median three-year growth rate soared to 543 percent, and median revenue reached $11.1 million. Together, those companies added more than 610,000 jobs over the past three years.

“We’re honored to be a part of this group of fastest-growing companies in the nation. This ranking wouldn’t be possible without our customers’ and partners’ support, as well as the hard work and diligence of our staff,” said John Kandra, FlexPost® President and CEO. “We’re excited to continue to provide the innovative solutions to the market that have fueled our growth.”

The post FlexPost® Makes the Inc. 5000 National 2021 List appeared first on Sign Builder Illustrated, The How-To Sign Industry Magazine.

Published first here: https://www.signshop.com/news/flexpost-makes-the-inc-5000-national-2021-list/