Attend Show, Boost Sales

-- graphic arts online, 2/1/2001

When the Charlotte Show opens next month, Ken Knight is certain to be on hand for a return visit. Knight, the owner of Carolina Color Graphics, Charleston, S.C., says that as a direct result of his visit to the show in 1999, his business increased a staggering 150%.

At the show two years ago, he was in the market for a 28" multicolor sheetfed to complement a 20" press he had bought two years earlier. After considering offerings from several manufacturers and sitting through equipment demonstrations, Knight was still undecided. Then, in a conversation with booth personnel at the Akiyama exhibit, he uncovered a different solution.

"Akiyama specialists located a four-year-old, six-color press, equipped with an aqueous coater, in Japan," he recalls. "We arranged to have it shipped to the Akiyama plant in New Jersey, where it was completely refurbished before installation in our shop."

The 28" Bestech 628 press was the perfect choice, Knight says. "Just five months after starting it up, we had enough new work to add a second shift and two new sales representatives. Within a year, we were billing more than $2.5 million in sales," he says. "Today, we're still growing at 20% a year; in fact, we just added another sales rep."

At this year's show, Knight is looking for-you guessed it-more press capacity. He says, "I think a 40" two-color machine would round out our workflow nicely."