Earlier this month, East Midlands-based wide format media giant, Innotech Digital, announced their appointment as authorised UK distributor for General Formulations wide format digital print media, self-adhesive vinyls, overlaminates and mounting films. General Formulations is one of the best-selling vinyl brands in the US and their medias are renowned for their durability, quality and niche applications.
Founded in 1953, General Formulations (GF) is a family owned company located in Sparta, Michigan, US and produce a huge range of quality medias for Solvent, Eco-Solvent, Latex and UV Curable printers. Their specialist medias can be used on carpets, floors, walls, motorbikes, cars and commercial vehicles and installed in restaurants, classrooms, offices, warehouses, homes and retail outlets, amongst others, meaning that users will have a much wider variety of quality proven vinyls to choose from than ever before.
Marcus Norman, regional sales manager at Innotech Digital commented, “General Formulations medias are extremely well established in the US and we were thrilled to be appointed as their authorised distributor in the UK earlier this month. We now hold stock of all their most popular ranges, in the region of 30 plus variations. This allows our printing and signmaking customers to create brilliant new products for a huge variety of markets, which enables them to grow their businesses and make more margin, using their existing print and finishing equipment.”
Murat Zekeriya Kurdu, managing director at General Formulations said, “We’re delighted to have Innotech as our authorised UK distributor for our range of wide format medias and vinyls. They are a reputable supplier to the industry with a strong and knowledgeable sales team, a great reputation for customer service and the capacity to stock the largest choice of our materials in the UK. We’re looking forward to growing our brand with them in the UK and seeing some of the wonderfully creative projects that their customers will produce in the future with our products.”
Once such customer is Norfolk based printer Repro Arts. Clive Hill, managing director, comments, “We’ve been around since the 1950’s and are well known for our vehicle wrapping service. We tried the GF 230 Series Automark™ product and were very impressed with the results – it goes on easy and the print finish is outstanding. We will definitely be back for more.”
The 230 Series Automark™ is a Premium 60mic calendared Gloss white vinyl digital media with a grey permanent acrylic adhesive on an air-egress liner. This film is designed to accept a variety of solvent, latex and UV curable inks common to wide format digital printing systems. The grey permanent adhesive offers excellent opacity and exceptional repositionable qualities.
Three other specialist products are particularly aimed at signmakers and print service providers to help open up new markets by producing durable graphics for floors, carpets and walls.
The first is 212 Series Traffic Graffic™ matte carpet vinyl which creates vibrant, durable and eye-catching floor signage for carpets that really stick and won’t damage, peel or curl. Ideal for both temporary or more long term graphic displays, 212 Series Traffic Graffic™ gives vibrant, eye-catching signage with potential uses such as directing traffic, welcoming visitors, cautioning pedestrians or creating an imaginative floor space.
The second is 285 Series Roughmark™ which is a conformable, calendared, hi-tack vinyl that can be applied to any rough surface such as bricks and rough walls but it can be removed without leaving any residue up to six months after installation. Ideal for either temporary or more permanent displays, Roughmark ™ can be used in spaces where the walls are un-plastered or uneven which would make painting or displaying signage any other way almost impossible; this enables print service providers and graphic display companies to offer a graphic for virtually any wall surface.
The third product that wide format print service providers will find particularly interesting is 229 Series Wallmark™ Embossed Canvas Wall Vinyl. Wallmark™ Canvas is designed for wall murals, decals and graphics to suit most types of smooth painted interior walls. This includes most flat, semi-gloss and gloss paint finishes. The surface should be smooth and clean prior to application but if applying to brand new paint, the surface must be fully dry according to the paint manufacturers’ specification before application. Not designed for metal surfaces, Wallmark™ Canvas is, however, suitable also for glass and is printed using solvent or UV curable digital ink printers.
Kieran Dallow, marketing manager at Innotech Digital comments, “Part of our strategy in the UK for General Formulations is to ensure that sign makers and print service providers have access to the full range and have all the support they need to make it a success. Anyone who has ever used the GF range knows that it is reliable, durable and delivers consistent colour output across different ink types so it’s a great choice if your print fleet consists of different makes of printer and with differing ink types.”
Profiles are available for just about every wide format printer on the market and there is a Selection Guide that users can download and use to select the right media for the job. Once customers have decided on the right media, they can request a particular sample from Innotech directly and this can be followed up by face to face visit with one of their media specialists, who are based all over the country.
The full range stocked by Innotech Digital includes:
- WallFrog™
- MotoMark™
- Matte White Semi-Rigid Vinyl
- WallMark™ Canvas
- Static Cling
- Dry Erase Laminates
- AutoMark™
- Gloss Clear Vinyl
- Polymeric Gloss
- Polymeric Matt
- Traffic Graffic™
- Rough Mark™
SPOTLIGHT ON INNOTECH DIGITAL
Combining more than 80 years’ experience with exceptional expertise and a network of global partners, Innotech Digital supplies the global wide format print market with the largest single range of display hardware and wide format print media under one roof. They have over 8,000 pallet spaces in their purpose-built facility as well as over 1.4 million square meters of grand and wide format media stock and more than 75,000 roller banner systems available for same-day despatch. Innotech is the sole distributor for Vistaflex Banner Materials, Envirotech PVC-Free Medias, Kinetix Magnetic Media, and the Vertex Textile range as well as premier UK reseller for DGCal self-adhesive vinyls and now General Formulations Vinyl.
Offering maximum choice to signmakers, print service providers and display graphics companies, Innotech also supplies arguably the largest range of display graphics hardware such as pop up displays, tension framing systems, roller banners, outdoor displays and totems, lightboxes, snapframes and point of sale accessories as well as a comprehensive range of presentation media such as whiteboards, LCD mounts, tablet displays and more.
This unique business model, allows wide format print service businesses to save admin and delivery costs by purchasing the bulk of their print materials and display systems from a single supplier.
A family-run business, Innotech prides itself with establishing and maintaining strong and lasting relationships with their customers and are continually striving to improve every part of their business, in order to be the best at what they do. Whether this is improving internal systems, increasing services such as marketing help to customers or by answering the phone within 20 seconds, Innotech is a forward thinking, dynamic and modern company, committed to the industry to the betterment of all their stakeholders – customers and staff alike. Hence their tagline – The Industry’s Trusted Partner
For more information on the range, call Innotech on 01530 512 731, visit the website at www.innotechdigital.com or email sales@innotechdigital.com.