More Solar News and Events
[Posted 7/21/2010]
Business First 6/25/10 Article - Keeping it in Focus (by Deanna Bottar)
Thinking big in a stingy economy can be risky, but don't tell that to Jeff Burt. Burt, who plans to more than double his company's revenue in two years, is finding solid backing from those who know his work best and defying a landscape for small businesses that still paints an economic recovery as being on shaky ground.
"(They) are as good as any New York house that I have used," said client Lisa Esty, DSW's marketing project specialist who oversees production of printing and promotion for the shoe seller. "They're high-end, definitely."
Along with DSW, Burt's company, Solar Imaging, lists retail giants such as Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works as customers. The firm took a big step by expanding with the purchase of two significant pieces of equipment - a wide format printer and a router to cut multiple pieces into virtually any shape at great speed.
The plan is to use this ewuipment in concert with the company's goal of increasing revenue from $1 million to $2.5 million over the next two years. The idea of taking on more debt, however, auses Burt, who owns Gahanna-based Solar Imaging with his wife Sandra, to laugh a little.
"I owe a lot of money for three years and then it gets a little easier," he said of the company's decision to spend about $390,000 in a three-year lease with an option to buy on a custom grand format printer. The new grand format printer can print on multiple materials - wood, glass, and tile, for instance - up to 10 feet wide and 2 inches thick, and it prints twice as fast as the company's existing machines. Burt also aid $110,000 in a five-year lease-to-own deal for a routerthat provides preciaion cutting and three-dimensional lettering on a grand format (5 feet by 10 feet) table.
It took trips to two separate banks to get the deal signed. The first bank Burt approached was one he had done business with in the past to help Solar Imaging by a printer in 2007 and a 23,000-square-foot building in 2008. This time, however, the bank turned him down. "They just didn't have the money." Burt said. His approach with a second bank, Wells Fargo, was much more formal. "I had to spell out the business plan in a much stronger way." Burt said that he showed Wells Fargo that the company has grown annually by 15 percent to 20 percent, and how after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks which set the economy back on its heels, Solar Imaging was able to build its first building and continue investing in the business.
"It's going to expand my market. I can do more for more people." he said of the new equipment. "It's a faster machine, and it's my second grand-format printer. Now I can do double the workload, so I can take on more volume. I can turn jobs faster."
His success with Wells Fargo would place him in the minority, according to a June report on economic trends compiled monthly by the National Federation of Independent Business. The report said less than 5 percent of business owners interviewed characterized contitions as a good time to expand facilities. Furthermore, small-business owners are far less optimistic about a solid recovery when compared with other recovery periods.
Burt started his company as Eclipse Studios in his garage in 1994 - a photography business that turned digital in 1998. With a lot of tradeshow work coming though his doors, Eclipse recieved requests from his clients to do the printing for their tradeshows as well. So, he invested in a plotter and started down the road that led to the creation of Solar Imaging in 2001. The Burt's third business, PageOne Productions, also housed in the same Gahanna building, does pre-press work, retouching and other back-end services, meaning through the family of three companies, customers can have photographs taken, retouched and printed - often in giant format - under one roof. "Technology keeps advancing, and you either stay ahead of the curve or you fall behind the times," Burt said. The three companies employ 31, and if sales projections hold true, the additional sales will create a second shift.
Daid Saleme, the concessions mamager for Port Columbus International Airport, already has pland for Solar Imaging's new equipment. Tasked this year with increasing revenue from airport concessionaires - all food and retailers - by 10 percent, Saleme's department introduced a marketing program including printed media to present to passengers. This meant wrapping columns, creating larger-than-life displays on walls and using three-dimensional media to convey the message. He recalls being on his hands and knees inspecitng the 136 table wraps Solar Imaging printed and installed at the airport. "It was just flawless," Saleme said.
DSW has had a long relationship with Eclipse Stduios and during the past two years increased its use of PageOne 's touch-up services. As the clock ticks down on the company's contract with another photography studio, the plan is to use Eclipse for product and fashion shots, said Esty, who oversees production of printing and promitions. Likewise, she said having the Burt's trio of companies in one location and the fact that they're locally grown are two major incentives to du business together.
"I really believe in keeping everything in my own backyard," she said. "You're faving shipping, because you're right there. They're literally five minutes from parking lot to parking lot."
[Posted 5/11/2010]
Business Blooming at Solar Imaging
Solar Imaging is growing with the addition of a Grand Format VUTEk QS3220 UV-curing digital printer from EFI and MultiCam Router (specialty cutting machine) that will increase efficiencies by producing a greater volume of higher-quality products in less time. With these new additions, we will be in a position to offer more to our clients and to compete in new markets!
[Posted 4/26/2010]
Solar Imaging is #35 on Wide Format Imaging Magazine's "Best of the Best" List
The April issue of Wide Format Imaging features a list of the top 40 Top Wide-Format Print Providers
