07.12.19
Signs By Tomorrow Arlington Heights (Arlington Heights, IL), a family-owned signs and graphics company within Chicago’s northwest suburbs, attributes much of its success to Fujifilm’s Acuity Select 26, a high-quality UV inkjet flatbed press, suitable for a variety of unique print applications.
Signs By Tomorrow Arlington Heights provides professional signage and graphic solutions to regional businesses and organizations. Signs by Tomorrow is a member of Alliance Franchise Brands franchise network, linking more than 600 locations in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.
Roughly 20 years ago, company president Gerd Looff and his wife and business co-owner Jill bought an "underperforming" sign shop.
“Our start-up successes, like other businesses, were based on demographics,” Gerd Looff said. “Once you hit a particular threshold, you’ve got to come up with better ideas, or you’re not progressing. We focused on ‘industry-specific’ signage, and we became experts developing ideas and solutions for our clients. The Acuity Select 26 has been the best investment in our business.”
Signs by Tomorrow Arlington Heights is not a typical sign shop.
“When clients visit our business, they experience an impressive design center, where they meet our creative and experienced team members before they tour the facility,” Looff said. “Seeing our impressive lineup of equipment creates credibility, and they begin to feel confident and are excited about our ideas and suggestions; we discuss a variety of options and capabilities with each and every client.”
“Color accuracy is always spot-on with the Acuity Select 26,” added Alex Looff, business development manager, Signs By Tomorrow Arlington Heights, and daughter of Gerd and Jill. “Our previous roll-to-roll press wasn’t hitting a specific blue for one of our well-known clients, and the Acuity Select 26 accurately achieves the proper tones. This client prefers their jobs to be printed on the Acuity Select 26.”
Color consistency is the biggest challenge in this industry, according to Gerd Looff.
“With the Acuity Select 26, we maintain color accuracy on every job,” he said.
“We are able to attract new, high-end projects because the output is flawless,” added Kevin Looff, production and installation manager, Signs By Tomorrow Arlington Heights, and son of Gerd and Jill.
With a diverse client base including the technology sector, a high-end rental property management company, hospitals, schools and government compliance, the Acuity Select 26 allows for high-quality output on rigid, flexible and roll media.
“We are printing on a variety of substrates and specialty materials such as acrylics, brushed aluminum, metal, and embossed foam,” Kevin said. “With the different substrates, we are able to show different textures; which makes it efficient for us to produce high-end signage.”
“With the Acuity Select 26 we are now able to print white ink, which has been instrumental in streamlining a lot of processes,” Alex added. “We no longer have to add a white background manually. We are printing directly onto acrylic, and previously we were mounting onto acrylic, and unfortunately, you could see inferior quality issues such as white dots behind it. With the Acuity Select 26 that’s totally eliminated.”
Substrate variety, ink quality and unique applications were a high priority for the Looff family in their search for a wide format inkjet press.
“I am very analytical,” says Gerd. “I researched all options, the Acuity Select 26 was the best solution along with the Fujifilm Uvijet KN ink, which offers impressive adhesion on any substrate and amazing color consistency.”