This week, Freeman launched our new and innovative product, Floorprint. But, the journey is as great as the destination.  Here, Freeman’s VP of Corporate Graphics, Brian West tells the backstory.

In the Beginning…

Floorprint evolved from a simple conversation between the EVP of Operations, Jay Atherton and myself. He asked if we could print on visqueen, a thin plastic material used to protect carpet during the set-up and move-in process. He was looking for a way to print a 1-to-1 computer-aided design detail to assist in the set-up for a large pavilion for Plumb Club, a coalition of jewelry manufacturers.

I knew that the plastic material would have too much stretch and probably melt going thru the heaters on our printer. I started to do some research on other vinyl materials that may be suitable and also cost-effective enough to make this a feasible option. I found a very thin banner material used primarily for billboards that was quite inexpensive. As it turned out, finding a suitable material was the least of our challenges. We had two additional obstacles to overcome in order to make this product work.

The Obstacles

The first being the complexity of the CAD files we were trying to print. One of our detailers, Eddie Crow, helped us  develop a printable .pdf which would maintain the image quality, but also allow us to use a much smaller file which would easily transfer to our printer.

The other major issue was the fact that our large 16’ banner printing machines are not built to be 100% accurate on long prints, meaning that if you print 150’, you may be off by  1-2”. Under normal banner printing this is not an issue but when you are trying to create an actual 1-to-1 representation of a booth set-up plan, you need to be much closer. After some trial and error, we found a way to adjust the file on the printer to account for the shortage and were able to print 150’ panels and be within a ½”.

Putting the Plan to Work

Our first major test was for Plumb Club at JCK( the leading show in the jewelry industry) in 2010. We created Floorprint for the 250’ x 280’ pavilion, which had a total of 36 panels, each measuring 15.5’ x 125’. From all accounts, Floorprint was a huge success at Plumb Club. We have continued to refine the process and utilize this product for numerous large booths shipping out of our Fabrication department.

See Floorprint in action: