Elite Print Finishing (CONT’D FROM PAGE 26)
BCN
and visually stunning pieces to differentiate themselves, according to Roberts. “The machine has over 1,000 down- loaded textures inside it. If somebody wanted a varnish or foil stamp in a sculpture texture of fish gills, we could make that sheet of paper feel like fish gills. It’s really cool tech- nology. You can run it on paper and board and you can also JET 3D varnish or foil stamp or both on plastics and vinyl so it’s opened up some new markets for us.“ One of those markets is packaging. “We purchased the large format so it allows us to do embellishment on larger sheets, which has helped the packaging side of our busi- ness,” he said. “We’ve picked up a lot of pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, CBD oils and hemp packaging. Those indus- tries love the added embellishments, whether it’s foil or JET 3D varnish with sculptures.” The machine can also personalize projects with variable data. That feature, plus the capability to produce graph- ics not possible with conventual finishing equipment, has allowed his customers to re-engage with something new and exciting. The machine is located in a separate dust-free, humidity controlled room at EPF’s 30,000-sq-ft facility in Burlington. Roberts says it has improved workflow efficiency, allowed for faster turnaround and reduced waste as a result of needing much fewer sheets to do makereadies. Five-year Vision EPF was founded 35 years ago as C&J Graphics. Rob- erts joined the company in the 1990s, purchased it with another employee in 2006 and relocated to a new facility and changed the name to Elite Print Finishing. In 2015 he became the sole owner. Early into his career at C&J he was offered a more lucrative sales job in another indus- try but declined. “I love this industry. Very seldom are we running the same product day in and day out. It’s always something new,” he said. “I really have fun with this and enjoy my customers.” His goal is to grow the company 20 percent every year at least for the next five years and continue to diversify and add capabilities with additional equipment. “I look at it as ‘What does my customer base need me to do?’ The obvi- ous questions are: ‘Where are we going to put the work and where are we going to put the equipment?’ I’ve got an A, B and C plan.” He is optimistic about the future despite a few hiccups due to COVID-19, which has had both positive and nega- tive consequences. It interrupted marketing plans for the new equipment, however, it significantly boosted packag- ing sales with October being the best month in the com- pany’s history. Roberts remains humble about his success. “The one thing that really sets our company apart is not necessarily me. It’s really our people. We have some extremely talent- ed and experienced folks here. Anybody can buy equip- ment. What it comes down to is having the right people in place. I am fortunate.”
says,
to the sponsors of our 2021 calendar!
®
JB MACHINERY
Please visit www.nvpublications.com to view the 2021 industry events and links to our sponsors’ websites where you can learn more about their products and services.
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May 31, 2021
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