It’s not uncommon for a print shop to expand their services by putting a designer on staff. But Prism Creative in Newmarket, Ontario, did things just the opposite. According to owner/partner Mike Soden, Prism began as a full-service creative advertising firm—as they remain to this day—with clients including Sony, The Home Depot, IBM, and Royal Bank. They purchased their first large format printer—a Mutoh—ten years ago when Soden and partner Glenn Dewhirst desired greater control and accountability for the printed materials they were designing for clients.

 “We do a lot of event marketing, with staging, signage, and multimedia for clients who are doing road shows and trade shows,” explains Soden. “Our clients rely on us to get their large printed graphics designed and delivered on time, but we couldn’t always rely on the printers we were using. That’s when we decided to get our first Mutoh printer.”

 Since purchasing that first Mutoh ten years ago, Prism has purchased two more, a Toucan and, just three months ago, a Toucan LT (which is marketed as the Squid in Canada). According to Soden, 90 percent of the materials that Prism designs they now print themselves using a Mutoh printer. The additional printers reflected Prism’s expansion into new market opportunities, starting with fleet graphics printing and more recently into environmental graphics for shopping malls. The mall business is where their new Toucan LT really shines.

 “Our mall customers are very concerned with quality, because they have an upscale image to convey,” says Soden. “The Toucan LT gives us the printing speed we had with the Toucan and adds a very high level of quality.” And while quality, precision, and stability are all Toucan LT traits that are evident in the end result, Prism’s owners are equally impressed with its economic benefits. “The Toucan LT has dramatically reduced our material waste, and ink yield is much better,” Soden says with obvious delight. “And the feed and take-up mechanisms perform so well, we can leave the machine to work unattended overnight. That’s been a boon to productivity.”

Prism bought their Toucan LT at the recent show in Las Vegas, after evaluating a number of other large format printers. Soden cites the dedicated personal attention they’ve received from Mutoh’s sales and customer service departments as a key factor in staying with Mutoh for their third printer purchase. “Everything Mutoh has told us about the printer has been bang-on,” he says. “It literally is a real moneymaker for us. If we need another printer, we’re going to Mutoh.”

 You can learn more about Prism Creative at the company’s website: www.prismcreative.com