Dome Installs Two EFI VUTEk Printers to Meet Growing Volume of Indoor Signage

Dome Print and Marketing Solutions is meeting rising demand for high-quality, superwide-format inkjet graphics with a pair of strategic investments in its new manufacturing facility. Dome, which is one of Northern California’s leading independent commercial print businesses, has upgraded its superwide-format inkjet production operations, becoming one of the first printers on the West Coast to install an EFI VUTEk HS125 Pro hybrid roll/flatbed inkjet press and an EFI VUTEk LX3 Pro hybrid LED inkjet printer.

Based in Sacramento, Calif., Dome is a family-owned business with a diverse customer base that includes many well-known retail brands. The new EFI VUTEk installations will provide the upgraded speed and quality the company needs to produce a growing volume of indoor signage with tight turnaround times.

“Our single largest growth area is in retail,” says Bob Poole, Dome’s chief marketing officer. “And our technology investment with the new VUTEk printer purchases is driving a lot of that growth because it helps us print better-quality work at faster speeds.”

The two new 3.2m-wide inkjet production devices replace a pair of 3.2m VUTEk devices used at Dome. The VUTEk HS125 Pro model DOME installed is the most productive VUTEk press ever developed, and prints 25% faster than the previous-model VUTEk HS series press it is replacing. The HS125 Pro press delivers high-quality, variable gloss output with innovative UV/LED Pin & Cure imaging technology, and has a variety of automated material handling options to accommodate high-volume throughput.

The new VUTEk LX3 Pro printer Dome installed features energy-efficient, “cool cure” LED imaging technology. It replaced a 3.2m VUTEk GS series LED printer and offers a new, extended-gamut ink capable of delivering eight-color quality results using only four colors. Although the printer runs up to eight colors plus white, “we’ve found that the four-color mode on the LX3 Pro printer will work for a lot of jobs, and it will allow us to see some cost savings,” says Poole.

“The LX3 Pro model has given DOME the ability to create new applications with its cool-cure capabilities. I can print on a yoga mat, which is a foam-based, flammable product that you can’t print on with heat-based technologies,” he adds. “They look phenomenal, and once people started seeing them, our orders for custom yoga mats took off.”

Dome Print and Marketing Solutions has also installed the latest-version EFI Fiery proServer digital front end to drive its new printers. The newly enhanced Fiery proServer offers superior color management, as well as extremely efficient processing, RIPing VUTEk print jobs up to 60% faster than previous proServer versions.

Business Expansion and Employment Growth with Superwide-format
The installations come as DOME embarks on a progressive reinvestment to build on its profile as a premiere, one-stop provider of print and marketing services. In 2015, DOME acquired an established signage design and manufacturing company, and the family-owned company’s leaders are continuing to invest for success.

The company is consolidating all of its superwide-format inkjet display and screen print signage operations, along with a full range of related finishing services. The expansion will lead to several new hires tied to ongoing growth in demand.

“We’re anticipating a very busy fourth quarter,” notes Poole. “That’s why we’re making these upgrades now. I’m going to need every piece of machinery I have just to keep up with demand. We expect to significantly increase the overall percentage of large-format work and by consolidating everything into one facility it’s going to make things a lot easier.”

In addition to being a display graphics provider, Dome is a full-service commercial print business offering offset printing, mailing, and even marketing services and programming. EFI equipment has helped the company expand a niche display graphics offering into a more robust service popular with new and existing Dome clients.

“EFI equipment has allowed our shop to grow beyond expectations, and the new equipment will allow us to continue on that path,” relays Dome EVP of Operations Misha Pavlov. “We are very pleased to be working with EFI. Now we have the latest and the greatest technologies to ensure we continue to serve our customers at the highest levels.”

EFI’s complete printer portfolio, which in addition to industry-leading LED and UV inkjet narrow-, wide- and superwide-format technologies includes aqueous textile and ceramic decoration printers, gives customers profitable opportunities for “Imaging of Things,” delivering greater product customization and appeal in everything from signage and packaging to décor, apparel and industrial manufacturing.