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Pat Pennington, owner of Tel-M-Off is a little like Howard Cosell in that he likes to 'tell it like it is.' Hence, the name his company sports. If he is not happy with something in his shop, he will tell you about it but not necessarily tell you off.
For more than 25 years his Memphis, TN-based graphics house has grown to be one of the best in the area. "We are one of the Nation's premier POP suppliers. We strive to offer nothing but the best service to our clients. We can do it all. We can take a project concept to completion. Our state-of-the-art facilities are ready and able to fill all graphic and printing creative and production needs," says Pennington.
The firm offers a full range of products and services from screenprinting, wide-format digital imaging, offset/litho printing, die cutting, the list goes on and on.
Pennington says over the years he has developed a very successful formula. "And, you have a successful formula, you stick with it." So when it came time to add a new wide-format printer to their arsenal, he only needed to hear one name—Mimaki. "We've used Mimaki printers for many years now we've been impressed the way they have stood behind their products and they way their printers have performed," says Pennington.
Tel-M-Off had the honor of being the first shop in the country to install the new Mimaki JV5-160S wide-format solvent inkjet printer. "When we heard that the JV5-160S was coming out, we wanted to be one of the first ones to have it. We bought it sight unseen. We have a great relationship with Mimaki and the distributor we buy through. They told us 'try it and if you have any problems let us know.' So far it's been in the shop for two months and no complaints."
The new JV5-160S provides an ultra-high print speed of 430sq.ft/hr with a new high quality 540x1080 dpi mode, designed for short distance signage and photorealistic applications. The new generation JV5 is said to respond to the needs of power users and quick delivery by using a newly developed print head which carries four times as many nozzles as the JV3 series. In addition to this breakthrough advancement is a recently developed Mimaki head configuration of four staggered print heads.
Pennington was blown away by the speed. "I was really impressed by the actual print speeds. It's enabled us we cut our some of our workflow in half on some jobs. We also liked how the RIP software has performed with the printer. We worked very closely with Onyx Graphics to develop a RIP that would work best for us."
Pennington also has likes the image quality that the new ES-3 solvent inks produce. "They are designed for safety, low odor and excellent drying capability. They also make the colors really pop." The JV5-160S also features a three-way intelligent heating system that includes a large-sized post-heater and an external dryer enabling super-high speed printing and take-up mechanism. "This option allows the media to be printed fast with any kind of ink we use," he adds.
Pennington reports the printer has been a workhorse since its installation. "We have been running pressure sensitive vinyl. We've been doing tons of work with that substrate. We've also been producing some banners on it as well. We purchased the printer to clear away a bit of back log for a big client that we have, so it's paying for itself already. To quote Bachman Turner Overdrive, it's 'taking care of business.'"