Richmond Firms Join Forces to Offer Expanded Capabilities

Savvy entrepreneurs look to capture an increasing share of a decreasing market

Richmond, Va.- Graphics Innovations, a large sheet-fed printer in Richmond, Virginia, and Printegration, a Richmond based response-driven communications company have joined forces to offer complete, cross- media marketing solutions invluding variable data, digital and offset print-to-mail solutions.

"We See a great opportunity to expand into addition areas of direct mail, and the best way to capitalize on this is to join forces with Printegrations" said Pat Patterson, president, Graphics Innovations. "While the printing industry is wrought with overcapacity and is on the decline, we want to capture an increasingly larger portion of the dircet communication business. We feel the best way to do that is to focus on offering additional products and services to the direct mail industry. We must constantly look to technological innovations, higher quality, higher productivity and other advancements to stay at the top of our game. Our capabilities dovetail nicely with those of Printegration, and wee look forward to a long and prosperous future."

Combined, the companies will have upwards of $8 mm in revenues, 50 employees, and are hiring select highly skilled positions. They will continue to invest in the latest direct mail technology. In response to a rise in demand for more complex matched mailings, the company has purchased an 8-pocket jumbo intelligent inserter.

In addition to expanded digital printing capabilities, the company's traditional offset printing capacity offset printing capacity includes two 6-color 40" perfecting presses with coaters. They have also purchased a Heidelberg 40" - 8/C perfecting press, the only 8/C press in Virginia, and a Prinect Image Control System, The image control system measures the entire print image while providing online color control for all printing units, controlling every stage of the workflow, from press and pressroom to prepress. A single measuring system is used for the entire process, and the standarized measurements can be reproduced at any time.

Because quality is an essential part of the GI/Printegration brand, the company has also recently been re-certified under Gracol-7 Master qualification, making them the only qualified G-7 (Gracol-7) Master Printer in Central Virginia. The G-7 Master qualification mark means the company uses the most modern technology, techniques, proofing annd press controls, and standards required to produce a close visual match from proof to print, and from one G7 press to other G7 presses. This means GI/Printegration has greater control over our print quality, reductions in make-ready and has better proof-to-press matching than any other printer in the area.

"Simply put, Printegration's goal is to become the single source for all of our clients' direct marketing communications" said Rick Godsey, Vice President of Sales, Printegration.

Printegration is a diversifed marketing services provider specializing in the production of direct communications for the purposes of lead generation and customer retention through print-to-mail solutions, training and education materials, direct marketing services and complete mail fulfillment. For more informatio, visit www.printegration.com.

Graphics Innovations was founded in 2003. The company has since grown into an award-winning printer specializing in small to medium size orders (< 1,000,000 pieces) of fliers, brochures, letters, newsletters, self-mailers, business reply cards, postcards, photocards, envelopes and other similarly printed products, many of which end up in the direct mail stream. For more information, visit www.graphicsinnovations.com.