Anderson/LA, a Consolidated Graphics, Inc. (CGX) company based in Los Angeles, California, has installed two additional, state-of-the-art EFI VUTEk GS5000r five-metre UV roll-to-roll printers. The new printers join another VUTEk GS5000r, as well as VUTEk GS3200, QS3200 and 3360 model printers already installed at Anderson/LA, providing the additional throughput capacity needed to provide top-quality indoor and outdoor graphics for national retail and restaurant accounts.

Anderson/LA, which provides leading national restaurants, retailers and Hollywood movie studios with offset print, digital print and fulfillment services, is one of the first companies in North America to operate three VUTEk GS5000r printers. The announcement was made at emerge 2013, Consolidated Graphics' annual customer solutions conference taking place 30 April 30 through 2 May at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Several additional Consolidated Graphics companies around the country also operate VUTEk printers. The majority of Consolidated Graphics companies use print MIS software provided by EFI's Productivity Software group, part of a relationship between CGX and EFI that extends back more than 15 years.

"The GS5000r's width gives us the versatility we need, and all six of our machines are calibrated to each other to provide the same quality from multiple devices," said Luke Westlake, President of Anderson/LA. "With our current footprint of EFI printers, we can run 15, five-foot rolls at a time to meet our customers' most demanding production needs and produce any national out-of-home application."

The ability to print materials consistently across multiple devices and locations has become increasingly important for national retailers, which tap Anderson/LA and its fellow Consolidated Graphics companies to fulfill signage and graphics needs across North America.

"Our customers who have hundreds or thousands of locations benefit from our investments in best-in-class digital production and colour management technologies, which ensure high-quality brand colour reproduction, with higher-volume productivity," said James W. Hill, Executive Vice President, Technology and Procurement for Consolidated Graphics.

Premium quality and production flexibility

The superwide format VUTEk GS5000r roll-to-roll UV printer opens new doors for print shops that need the highest image quality for premium-margin applications, and production-level speeds for commercial graphics and long-term outdoor graphics. The flexible printer produces high-end point-of-purchase materials, high-speed billboards and everything in-between.

For colour-critical, close-viewing indoor graphics used at retailers and restaurants Anderson/LA services, the VUTEk GS5000r offers ultra-high quality printing with resolutions up to 1,000 dots per inch. When producing durable prints needed in fleet graphics and other outdoor applications, the GS5000r also has the benefit of being the only five-metre UV printer that has its output covered by the 3M? MCS? Warranty when using co-branded EFI and 3M inks and printing on 3M flexible media.

"EFI has worked closely with Consolidated Graphics and Anderson/LA to deliver VUTEk UV inkjet offerings that provide a true competitive difference in superwide format printing capabilities," said Scott Schinlever, senior vice president and general manager of EFI's Inkjet Solutions. "The VUTEk GS5000r printer is an ideal platform to expand Consolidated Graphics' national, high-end signage production offering."

Anderson/LA also has the advantage of bi-directional communication between its VUTEk printers and EFI Fiery? raster image processors (RIPs) for better job processing and management. The robust processing capability speeds throughput for a number of jobs that come to Anderson/LA from other Consolidated Graphics companies, such as one-off posters and other products that require fast RIPing to keep Anderson/LA's high-volume production operations running smoothly.