Los Angeles-based high-end general commercial lithographer, Lithographix Inc., is enjoying success in the digital superwide marketing, the installation of two VUTEk UltraVu 5330, five-meter solvent digital inkjet printers. Specializing in outdoor graphics for the entertainment industry, Lithographix has recently used its VUTEk printers high quality capabilities to produce billboards and building wraps for the Hollywood blockbuster, The Island. George Wolden, Lithographix, VP Manufacturing, comments, ‘Moving into superwide was a natural step for us, and a very profitable one. Thanks to our VUTEk printers and in-house expertise, our new digital service is currently worth $10 million a year, and is expected to rise to $25 million over the next two years. ‘The reliability, build and output quality of the UltraVu 5330 made printer choice easy for this move into digital. With VUTEk’s comprehensive customer support program, we felt very confident of entering the superwide market, and haven’t looked back since.’ Starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, The Island is an action adventure story set in the 21st Century. High quality movie stills are used to capture the films intense atmosphere, conveyed through dark colors and blurred moving photography. Maximizing the UltraVu 5330’s eight-colors, Lithographix was able to print the dark tones and sharp photographic detail, to do justice to the Warner Brothers epic tale. Installed in prime media positions in almost every major US city, the 14, 48 sheet billboards were designed to stimulate cinema ticket sales. Printed on to 13 oz. vinyl, the billboards were completed in only two days, thanks to the speed and five-meter width of its VUTEk printers. Lithographix is focused on high quality print and customer service. To achieve this it enjoys very close customer relationships that enable it to understand and meet all customer requirements. According to George Wolden, this is essential for big litho jobs where mistakes or misunderstandings can be expensive. George continues, ‘It became evident that customers wanted to enjoy the same predictability of color and print quality for their outsourced large format graphics, as they did from our commercial work. We were already looking at this market, and felt that the time was right to broaden our services, especially as we already knew we had business from existing customers and were confident of generating external sales. ‘For us, integrating the new business was painless. In March 2004, we installed our two VUTEk machines and hit the ground running. In addition to the capabilities of our UltraVu 5330s, we believed that the key to our success would be the quality of our reprographics, to ensure predictability from litho press to digital printer – we weren’t wrong.’ According to George, its UltraVu 5330s compliment its litho production workflow. This was demonstrated by a series of one-sheet posters, also produced for The Island, and installed on the front of movie theatres around the country. To release its VUTEk printers for further superwide work, it printed these items using a litho press that was calibrated to match color and quality from its UltraVu 5330s, and provide a seamless service to customers. Lithographix was established in 1953 as a general commercial printer. In 1980, the company was purchased by Herb Zebrack, who set-up its 260,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility in Los Angeles, with an additional manufacturing division in San Diego, and sales offices in San Francisco, Detroit and Chicago. Currently employing over 375 people, the company specializes in the automotive and entertainment markets, providing a host of commercial and digitally printed applications including annual reports, brochures, posters, indoor and outdoor graphics. George concludes, ‘Our current company annual revenue is $120 million, expected to grow to $145 million by 2007. Our superwide business will generate a large proportion of this growth, backed by the output quality and profitability of our VUTEk printers – we are very excited about the future of this market for us.’