Avant Imaging & Integrated Media, Inc. (AIIM) decade-long partnership with Manroland Sheetfed continues to spur growth and attract new business.

In 1990, Mario and Frank Giorgio (in partnership) founded Avant Imaging & Information Management, Inc. (“AIIM”). Today, AIIM has diversified its offset and digital commercial printing into an Integrated Media Company called Avant Imaging & Integrated Media, Inc. (also known as The AIIM Group). It operates within a 100,000-sq.-ft. campus in Aurora, Ontario with 90 full-time employees and a bank of part-time and temporary help to draw from when required. AIIM has a number of different technologies available within its campus to satisfy the many print, imaging, ordering, fulfillment and mailing needs of its customers.

The company is an industry leader in providing offset printing and data-driven digital print communications, and has been extremely successful in continuously delivering high-value products. It recognized the need to consolidate various print technologies by blending conventional print, the web, data services, high-speed inkjet and digital print with full variable-data capabilities to produce the most relevant and creative print communications programs. While AIIM’s core strength is still commercial printing, the company has developed 10 unique service lines based on the complete enterprise output chain.

Today, AIIM boasts a wide range of direct-marketing services to meet customers’ growing needs including aiim•PRINTSMART, aiim•ON·DEMAND, aiim•FULFILLMENT, aiim•CONNX, aiim•ANALYTICS, aiim•1:1, aiim•DIRECTMAIL, aiim•SMARTSTATEMENTS, aiim•VICIMAP, aiim•LARGE FORMAT and aiim•SOCIAL. Through these services, AIIM’s customers realize immediate benefits that help them do much more with their marketing budgets.

Partnering with Manroland Sheetfed

AIIM’s services, print quality, waste reduction and turnaround times have been taken to an extraordinary new level in part because of its relationship with Manroland Sheetfed. Next month will see another milestone – the installation of a second manroland press – the R706PLV HiPrint 41-inch from manroland Sheetfed Canada. The press will complement AIIM’s existing R710 manroland Sheetfed HiPrint that was installed over 10 years ago and is still going strong.

Frank and Mario began with a mission to provide their customers with everything they need to deliver their messages to their clients. “Over time, the industry changed and we entered the digital era,” said Frank Giorgio. “Early on, we foresaw the need to shift our business focus from basic print applications to more sophisticated print and direct-marketing capabilities. That’s why we’ve adapted and evolved into a high-ROI, highly integrated marketing company offering print collateral, high-response data-driven direct-mail campaigns, social media promotion – even augmented reality! And Manroland Sheetfed has been our trusted equipment and technology partner every step of the way.”

Giorgio went on to say that AIIM purchased the press mainly because of its perfecting capabilities (it has a perfector in the second position, making it an effective 2-over-4 press), which are particularly ideal for producing high-quality, direct mail. “We still do a lot of perfecting and sometimes we have a need, for example, for 1-over-1, 2-over-2, 2-over-4 or 1-over-4 jobs, or at the high end, for six-colour plus aqueous coating,” he added. “This press can do all those in one pass, which reduces our turnaround times and gets jobs to our clients much faster.”

The press is also equipped with ColorPilot D&F on its console – currently the fastest technology of its kind on the market. This proven, high-end density and spectral colour measurement/control solution delivers meticulous and precise measuring data. ColorPilot technology from manroland Sheetfed can also provide unique solutions tailored to each customer’s requirements, while always producing the same high quality results.

In recent years, Manroland Sheetfed has added new features to its Roland 700 HiPrint series to improve performance, drive productivity and help reduce operating costs. These include simultaneous plate loading, precision sheet guiding technology, printing speeds up to 17,200 sph, an upgraded Inline Inspector that enhances quality control, a sheet-numbering system that speeds up error detection, low energy UV drying technology that reduces energy costs, and an Indexed Inline Foiler that creates less waste.

In addition to the increased flexibility and autonomy provided by AIIM’s R706PLV HiPrint, Giorgio also pointed to the ongoing support from Manroland Canada. “The support from them has been excellent. It’s also much easier working with the same supplier and equipment. Whether the issues are hardware or software, problems are usually diagnosed immediately and fixed remotely. And if we do need on-site support, we can count on manroland reps to arrive within 24 hours.