As in-plants move into wide-format printing to expand their services and revenue, how will this business be impacted by the growth of electronic signage?

MIT’s Booming Electronic Signage Business

For MIT Copytech at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, managing the electronic signage service on campus has been a profitable venture.

“It’s fantastic,” declares Steven Dimond , manager of the 21-employee Cambridge, Mass., in-plant. “We probably are doing about $85,000 annually from advertising on the screens.”

The in-plant manages a system of nine screens across campus on which departments can advertise their events. Dimond and his staff are in charge of securing the advertising and managing the server that stores and controls the slides.

“It’s very big among the student groups,” he reports.

The in-plant also has a flourishing wide-format printing business, which Dimond insists is not impacted by the digital signage service.

“It kind of works in conjunction with the display system,” he says. “It doesn’t really compete with it in any way.” Some digital signage customers are also buying printed signs, he points out.

The service really took off, Dimond says, after MIT began dissuading faculty and staff from printing newsletters and mailings a few years ago, due both to budget restrictions and a sustainability push.

“People needed another way to advertise their events,” he notes. The in-plant’s electronic signage service was ready and waiting.

So far, Dimond says, there have been no problems with transmission security, vandalism of screens or theft, he says. He acknowledges that startup costs for such a service can be intimidating, but for MIT Copytech, electronic signage has been a very successful endeavor.

“It has worked out well here,” Dimond affirms.

Wide-format signage has been one of the most visible areas of interest for printers looking to expand their offerings and revenue. With the advent of more productive wide-format inkjet digital printing equipment—including eco-solvent, latex and UV-curable ink technologies—in-plants and commercial printers have been able to extend their product offerings to their existing client base with relatively small investments that provide far greater margins than one is able to obtain in document printing.

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