Alltype looks towards online ordering
Courtesy Alltype Digital Graphics
The team at Alltype Digital Graphics. Owner Jon Grocer is second from the right.
Whenever a T.J. Maxx, Walmart or Target has a sale, part of the announcement will usually include a big banner that’s spread it across the entrance to their store. Some of those signs -- including those at the Natick Mall and ScrubaDub Car Wash -- are made by Alltype Digital Graphics in Framingham.
In business for 30 years, the maker of signs, banners and graphics competes with companies like Vistaprint to make signs and the like for businesses. Although most of their clients are in Massachusetts, right now, owner Jon Grocer said that could change soon, as the company prepares to launch an online ordering feature.
Grocer spoke about consolidating locations, competing with the bigger names and working with nonprofits.
How do you set yourself apart from others in your industry?
If you walk in from the outside, we may look like a mom-and-pop sign shop. We can do the same services as what the big guys do. We can print directly on the board, where another small sign shop may print on material we have to mount.
I can print on let's say, aluminum, I can print a four-foot-by-eight-foot sheet in full color in five minutes. It’s all solvent printing and UV printing, whereas years ago, it was all inkjet, and water based.
At one point we had three stores, but we consolidated by investing in equipment in 2005. We bought our first flat bed and solvent printers. Now we can produce so much more in an eight-hour day. In the past, we might have had to work nights and weekends; now we can have a cup of coffee while signs are being made. All of us got older, so thank God with technology we have, we can produce what we used to in a much shorter period of time.
In the past, every time someone would order a sign, we would have to take a razor blade and cut it. Now, the machine cuts everything, from banner material to plastic to PVC to wood. We can print on cardboard crease and cut it to make custom boxes. It’s all computer generated.
How many signs do you make a year?
We make thousands of signs and banners a year.
Can you order online?
Because of our technology and the way the future of the internet and the world, we are revamping our website, and within the next two months, customers can go online, and design a banner online. You can create what you want and see the pricing. We’re going to be open 24/7 online.
When you search for banners on the web, Vistaprint pops up because they pay thousands of dollars a month for keyword recognition. How can I compete with that? We’re going to be able to produce like them, or even better than them, because of the quality we offer. We’ll have templates, and hopefully customers will be able to create nice looking signs by using the templates.
For the 30 years I’ve been in business, we have specialized in working with customers, giving best services, pricing, quality. When someone deals with us, we want them to be happy with us. They're not just a number. If someone says this is what we want, we take that to another level. We just had a project someone brought us, but we want every sign to look great.
What industries do you serve?
Every industry. Whether you're a plumber and you need truck lettering, or a businessman who needs directories in your building, we can make it. The majority of our work is retail point of purchase signs and banners. If TJX is going to have a special, they’ll have a big banner outside. Temporary signs that hang from the ceiling -- that’s what we do most of.
The Natick Mall is one of our biggest customers. We do a majority of the wall wraps for the them. We also work closely with ScrubaDub Car Wash. We do all their designing, all their signs, indoors and outdoors. They’re here in Massachusetts and also in Maine, New Hampshire and in Warwick, R.I.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
After Sept. 11, 2001, we partnered with ScrubaDub and made American flags, which we sold, and donated over $60,000 to the Red Cross. We donated all of the time and materials for that. And after the Boston bombing, we did magnetic ribbons and again partnered with ScrubaDub and raised over $40,000 for the One Fund.
A lot of the business we do is with nonprofit organizations. We’re always looking for a great deal, and we always want to help. Annually, we keep doing this for nonprofit. It’s a big part of our business, which does make it difficult, but it’s always for a good cause. Every time they need a banner over the street, we offer a low price to help out as best we can.
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