Though HighetKräcker Design is located in Lumberton, North Carolina, near the border between North and South Carolina, Steven Highet's accent is distinctly not "American south." In fact, it's South African. Steven joined HighetKräcker in early 2005 when his father Bob Highet and Trevor Kräcker decided that they could achieve better quality at a higher margin by bringing much of their printing in-house. They sent for Steven, who since graduating from school in South Africa had gained valuable experience in print production on major European fashion publications including Elle and Marie Claire.

Steven’s first task was to evaluate large format printers and recommend a first purchase. “I spent a lot of time online, looking at printer websites and reading the comments in online forums,” explains Steven of his research methods. “I would check out which printers seemed to have the fewest technical problems and focus on those.” Ultimately, HighetKräcker purchased a 36-inch Falcon Outdoor—“the Junior”—in March of 2005 from SSK Sign Supply, from whom they also purchase all of their supplies.

Owner and partner Trevor Kräcker remembers his early concerns. “When we bought the Junior, we were worried we wouldn’t keep it busy. Turns out it paid for itself in 45 days. Then we had to buy a take-up reel because we had so much business we needed to run the Junior 24 hours a day, 6 days a week, to keep up with demand.”

The projects flowing through the shop—and the Mutoh—included such varied items as yard signs, bus posters, and vehicle wraps. Production manager Steven Highet says of the Mutoh, “I can leave it printing overnight and I know when I come back the job will be done. Other printers have to be babysat, but with the Mutoh we just hook up the take-up reel and leave it, and it gets the job done.”

HighetKräcker and their Mutoh-generated work received some high-profile recognition recently when a Scion they’d wrapped in leopard print design was chosen by Oracal—marketer of vehicle wrap media—for their full-page color ad on the back cover of several popular print trade magazines.

The exploding popularity of vehicle wraps recently led HighetKräcker’s owners to conclude that one Mutoh was simply not enough. Just a few weeks ago they ordered a 62-inch Falcon Outdoor, the sole purpose of which will be to print on the much larger media required by bus and auto wraps.

“We chose Mutoh because of reliability, price point, and the quality of the printed product,” explains Trevor Kräcker. “We haven’t been disappointed. These printers are worth their weight in gold.”

You can learn more about HighetKräcker Design, and see the leopard-skin wrapped Scion, at highetkracker.com.