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Finishing equipment helps Sundance keep all of its services in-house.
all Photos: sundance.
SunDance offers a variety of products and services, including printing for convention center events.
ing his stepmother’s desire to pursue other opportunities outside of the cattle-ranching business, which his father had been running in Kenya since the mid-1990s. SunDance presented an opportunity for the couple to not only work together but to also create a legacy. Remaining behind in Kenya to run the cattle ranch were JohnHenry and his wife, Sarah— for a while. The firm was producing fine-art prints on offset and digital presses primarily selling these to a corporate clientele. But the addition of a new partner—a seasignshop.com
soned executive with commercial-print expertise—showed the Ruggieri family that there were profits to be made beyond the fine-art market “She helped SunDance get into the commercial-print business,” says JohnHenry. “She was willing to show us the ropes but wanted a definite exit after a few years to take on other projects.” It was such a win-win for both parties that, in 2008, the company split the business—SunDance Graphics (sdgraphics. com), the fine-art publisher and art licensor run by JohnHenry’s step-mother and his wife, and SunDance (sundanceusa. com), headed up by JohnHenry (now managing director) and his father and catering to the commercial marketplace. An additional partner, Brad Taylor, joined the company in 2010 to focus on sales and accounting. “Eventually, we moved into wide format,” says JohnHenry. “Virtually every line of business was growing year-over-year, especially the wide format area. Interestingly there was less head-to-head competition in this space—and potentially more profit than in traditional print models.” And although most of the company’s growth has been organic, it’s taken the acquisition route, too: It acquired a local finishing house in 2014, adding laminating, foil stamping, die cutting, and more to its in-house services. Because of this, lead times and turnaround times have become much shorter. The company realized a 24 percent
CAGR this past year, and just one of the reasons for this success is its staff and employees. “Let’s face it, this is a commodity marketplace,” says JohnHenry. “There are very few barriers to entry; anyone can buy a machine. But we take pride in our people—they’re our biggest asset. We have forty-three employees now, and we have very little turnover. “We work very hard in cross-training and in developing a culture to please the customer and in bringing neat products to market. People who work in the print industry respond to this type of culture.”
Wide Kingdom Sundance has invested heavily in the digital wide format side of the equation. Its wide format equipment runs the gamut: a 126-inch HP Latex 3000 and 98-inch HP Scitex FB700 flatbed (with white ink); a 54-inch Mimaki CJV30130 white and metallic printer (with inline cutting capabilities); a 64-inch Epson Stylus Pro GS6000 eco-solvent printer and Epson 9800 Ultrachrome K3 with aqueous inks; and a 42-inch HP Designjet Z6100 printer/proofer. It bolsters the print side with finishing capabilities in the form of a Zünd L-3000 digital cutter, a 60-inch GBC Pro-Tech Orca I laminator, a Stimpson 488 automatic grommet machine, and more. Also in its arsenal are a laser engraver, a full complement of narrow format digital options and offset press and bindery
September 2016 // Sign Builder Illustrated
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