RICHMOND, Va. -- Carter Printing Co. hosted a series of open houses to celebrate the company's newly upgraded production capabilities. Carter Printing, one of the largest commercial printers in Virginia, staggered the events over the course of two weeks to accommodate the diverse schedules of its many clients and invited guests. A total of 275 attendees had an opportunity to tour the 55,000-square-foot facility and become familiar with new printing and postpress equipment Carter Printing installed. The focal point of the capital expansion was a six-color Mitsubishi Diamond 6000LS sheetfed press. Carter Printing also showed off its new MBO Perfection series large-format folder and Polar cutting system, acquired to complement the enhanced printing capacity. The Diamond 6000LS handles a maximum sheet size of 40 15/16 x 56 11/16 inches, enabling Carter Printing to print 32-page or 48-page signatures per sheet. Carter Printing's press includes an aqueous coater and extended delivery, automated plate changing system, MHI Delta dampening and DiamondLink III automated press control with CIP4 server. It replaced a six-color, 55-inch press the company had bought used in 1999. Wayne Carter, president of the 130-employee firm, had a pretty good idea four years ago what his next press would be. In 2001, Carter Printing installed a Mitsubishi Model 3F-13 press. Carter was so "impressed with the fast makeready, production speed and high quality of the Mitsubishi press," that he considered Mitsubishi "the press to beat" when the time came to retire the 55-inch model. His confidence in Mitsubishi presses notwithstanding, Carter undertook the necessary due diligence last summer just to be sure. "Our research was quite extensive," Carter said. "We found what we considered flaws in other equipment, and narrowed the choice between two large-format machines. Typically, we run 70-pound to 100-pound text and lightweight board up to 12-point thickness. The dot structure on paper had to be sharp and precise. We visited a number of plants in several cities. It soon became clear that Mitsubishi was going to do a better job for us." The new equipment is certainly cause for celebration. Carter Printing ended the year 2004 with $15.5 million in sales. "We installed the press in July, and September was our biggest month ever in terms of volume," Carter added. "At the current rate, we will probably generate between $17.5 million and $18 million in 2005." The open houses at Carter Printing culminated in a casino night, complete with Las Vegas-style gaming, "Carter cash" with which to place bets and prize giveaways. The grand prize was a trip to Las Vegas. Carter Printing also invited different vendors to lead seminars on such topics as paper selection, estimating procedures and preparation of production-ready customer files.