Fluid Color announces the success from its 2018 installation of the Z105F at Icon Sign Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan. The full-service print and sign shop acquired by Zach Dennis in 2017 has grown from a modest company generating six figures in revenue to one that earned $2.4 million in 2021 with $4 million projected in 2022.
Dennis attributes his success largely to the purchase of the Z105F which replaced two other flatbed printers. Offering ten Kyocera KJ4A printheads for CMYK and white ink along with a resolution of 3600 dots per inch, the Z105F is used to print on a variety of substrates including Falconboard, metal, acrylic, Sintra, Coroplast, and wood and can handle sizes up to 10 x 5 feet and material as thick as four inches.
Color consistency and speed were key features of the Z105F that attracted Dennis to the product. He has been particularly impressed with the flatbed printer’s color quality with regard to printing white on wood, something that sets Icon Sign Company and its sister company, Boardwalk Design, apart from their competitors. Dennis also finds the machine to be fairly self-reliant. “Once the job is programmed, it performs its task with minimal supervision,” said Dennis. “This allows me to save money in labor costs.”
Serving as the sole printer for Dennis’ wide format business, the Z105F is the technology behind many displays including those found at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, and Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan. The signs are printed in a 17,000 square foot facility occupied by Dennis and the company’s 12 employees.
Wide format printing accounts for 62 percent of Dennis’ overall business which also includes specialty graphics such as vehicle wraps and graphics.
