CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif. — Growing pains are a rite of passage for every business. Yet, in today's printing climate, many printers would gladly accept a great deal more pain if they could experience the same stunning growth that Modem Graphics has enjoyed in the last 10 years. "With products and assistance from Mitsubishi Lithographic Presses, it has been 'growing pleasures' rather than pain for Modem Graphics over the past decade," said Willis Wang, president and CEO. The 90-employee printer and graphic services provider recently installed a Mitsubishi Diamond 3000S sheetfed press equipped with an aqueous coater, its second six-color, 40-inch Diamond series press in six months. To complement the new printing equipment, Modem Graphics upgraded its bindery in February. And in October, the company will move part of its operations from the present 53,000-square-foot production plant into a separate 30,000-square-foot facility. Wang said the added capacity would enable Modem Graphics to better serve established customers and accelerate the company's growth. "We have rapidly outgrown our current facility, and needed a larger space, another press and new finishing equipment to keep pace with demand," Wang said. Modem Graphics caters to corporate clients, advertising agencies and print brokers, performing prepress, press and bindery functions in-house. Its modern electronic prepress department is equipped with computer-to-plate technology. The bindery features die cutters, gluers, saddle stitchers and folders. In addition, Modem Graphics maintains a complete photography studio and design department. Corporate reports, catalogs and brochures make up the bulk of Modem Graphics' commercial products. A rapidly growing packaging division that is gaining volume within Modem Graphics produces end-user boxes for the retail food and consumer electronics industries. "Every project in the commercial arena is basically a new job," Wang observed. "Packaging offers great opportunities for repeat orders. If you do a good job, you can expand the range of services you provide your customers." Although Modem Graphics was founded in 1988, it didn't branch out into printing until 1997. With about $1 million in annual sales, the company selected a six-color, 40-inch Mitsubishi 3F press with coater to make the leap into commercial printing. The current sheetfed lineup consists of four 40-inch Mitsubishi presses. All have six printing units and inline coaters. "We try to make business decisions that are best for our company," Wang stated. "Quality, value and advanced technology are what we look for in production equipment. We have years of experience and many millions of impressions to show how good and reliable Mitsubishi presses are." Modem Graphics billed approximately $16 million in 2005, an increase of 20 percent over the previous year. Wang attributed the healthy results to the steady influx of packaging work. He purchased a six-color Diamond 3000LX with coater last September specifically to capture a bigger share of this business. The Diamond 3000LX accommodates up to 40-point board. Wang is already looking ahead to the next growth opportunity: ultraviolet (UV) coating. "We are currently exploring offline UV coating," he said. "That would bring all of our services in-house." But Wang isn't ruling out a dedicated UV press from Mitsubishi in the very near future. "Our long-term relationship and the personalized service we receive from Mitsubishi have been very beneficial for Modem Graphics," he said.