| Type | Privately held company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Digital imaging |
| Founded | Sarasota, Florida (1994) |
| Headquarters | Sarasota, Florida, United States of America |
| Key people | Arthur Lambert and Ron Simkins, co-founders |
| Products | Wide-format printers, software, and materials |
| Employees | 95 |
| Website | "www.lexjet.com" |
LexJet Corporation is a manufacturer and direct provider of materials and equipment utilized in wide-format inkjet printing. LexJet's primary markets are wide-format commercial print-for-pay companies, companies and organizations with in-house printing departments and digital photographers. LexJet employs more than 90 people, mostly in the company's Sarasota, Fla. headquarters, with a handful of employees operating from remote offices in Chicago, Charlotte, Denver, Los Angeles and Vancouver, Wash. In addition to its own line of laminates, adhesives, and printable films, photo and fine art papers, vinyl, and plastics, LexJet carries 23 OEM brands of printers, laminators, software, printable materials, laminates, adhesives, and other digital imaging equipment. LexJet is a privately-owned company based in Sarasota, Fla., with a West Coast office/distribution center in Los Angeles, and additional distribution centers in Albany, New York; Birmingham, Alabama; Charlotte; Cincinnati; Denver; Kansas City; Milwaukee; Minneapolis; Phoenix; Portland, Oregon; Reno; Dallas; Jacksonville, Florida; and Wilmington, Delaware.
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LexJet Corporation was founded in 1994 by Art Lambert and Ron Simkins, two senior executives from Zenith who initially launched a sign company in the early '90s in Sarasota, Fla., called Intelligent Signage Inc. (iSi). The sign company's primary business was the production of ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) Braille signage for public facilities. At the time, one of the production methods for ADA signage was to subsurface screen print Lexan material, emboss the Braille, and apply raised text to the surface of the Lexan. The Lexan would then be applied to a thicker-gauge substrate, such as acrylic, and finished with square or rounded corners, or framed. The printing portion of the process had drawbacks, mainly that intricate logo details were often lost or impossible to produce. Moreover, the screen-printing process was costly due to the intricate and time-consuming setup required, demanding large production runs that made it economically unfeasible to provide a custom, short-run sign program. Lambert and Simkins worked with Tekra, a GE Lexan distributor, to develop an inkjet-printable coating for Lexan from which iSi began to produce custom, short-run ADA signs for hospitals and other public facilities. First available in 8½" × 11" sheets, iSI began to sell 100-sheet boxes of the new material to other sign manufacturers. As iSi moved from sign production to sales of the new material, a new company, LexJet, was formed in 1994.
LexJet then began the development of a wide-format version of its product, called LexJet Clear, in conjunction with the emergence of viable wide-format inkjet printers from Encad (now owned by Kodak) and LaserMaster (MacDermid ColorSpan, now owned by HP). LexJet Clear is printed in reverse so that the ink is protected by the textured, polycarbonate surface, and is typically backed with one of LexJet's white backing materials, which is applied to LexJet Clear with a laminator. The second-generation product was manufactured in 50" widths and was primarily targeted to the trade-show graphics market. LexJet Clear is currently in its fifth generation of development, LexJet Clear PreLume HD. Previous generations addressed compatibility with Hewlett-Packard wide-format printers and various inksets, as well as the incorporation of PreLume. PreLume, licensed by LexJet, is an additive that is designed to eliminate yellow and gray casts caused by printable papers and films. It utilizes Optical Reflection Technology to offset color shifts, and is incorporated in a number of LexJet printable materials, laminates, backers, and adhesives.
During the development phase of LexJet Clear, LexJet began designing and manufacturing other LexJet-branded materials for wide-format printing, from films to papers. At the same time, LexJet built a portfolio of related products from other OEMs in the market that it sells direct to the end user. Since 1994, wide-format printing technology has developed and expanded beyond the original water-based inksets and into solvent-based and UV-curable inks. LexJet's product development mirrored these developments with material lines for each printing technology and ink set.
LexJet's branded product lines include: Sunset Media for photographic, fine art (giclee), and fine photo printing; LexJet replacement ink for HP 5000/5500 printers; aqueous inkjet paper; aqueous specialty inkjet media; solvent inkjet media; UV-curable inkjet media; laminates, adhesives, and backers; display hardware; accessories; finishing equipment; laser media; canvas stretcher bars and pre-made photo frames.
LexJet sells and supports products from Canon, Clearstar Corporation, ColorByte Software, D&K, Dahle, Daige, DuPont, EFI, Epson, Expand International banner stands, FLEXcon, Foster Keencut, General Formulations, Hahnemuhle, Harman, Hewlett-Packard, Ilford Photo, Kodak, LaCie, Mutoh, Neschen, Nik Software, OKI Printing Solutions, Onyx, Oracal, Photo Tex, RotaTrim, Seal, 3M, Tensador, 3P Inkjet Textiles, UltraFlex, Wacom, Wacom, X-Rite, Vertus, and Unibind.
LexJet expanded its distribution network to ten warehouses across the United States in 2005, and to 15 in 2011 with the addition of Charlotte, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Phoenix, and Portland, Ore. LexJet also ships related products of its corporate partners – such as Canon, HP, Epson, Hahnemuhle, and FLEXcon – from 30 additional distribution centers. In 2006, LexJet acquired Sone Systems, a Los Angeles-based wide-format imaging supplies distributor, opening an office on the West Coast.
In September 2007, LexJet launched the Great Output Seminar Tour, a nationwide seminar tour covering color management, workflow, and marketing for professional photograhers who print their own photography. The seminar tour traveled to 16 cities across the U.S. The follow-up seminar tour, co-sponsored with Canon, began in Pittsburgh on Sept. 15, 2008, concluding in Orlando on March 25, 2009.
LexJet expanded its Inkjet Cartridge Recycling Program beyond the HP 5000/5500 printer series of cartridges, and added all cartridges for printers wider than 17 inches to the program as part of its Environmental Initiatives. The program allows wide-format print shops and other users of wide-format inkjet cartridges to send their cartridges to LexJet for recycling, either to be processed into recycled materials or for use in new consumer products.
In January 2009, LexJet launched a Banner Recycling Program in partnership with Trex Company. The program allows users of LexJet 3R DuPont Tyvek SUV, a solvent and UV-curable ink compatible banner material, to bag up used banners in a recyclable bag and send it to Trex to be directly recycled into Trex Company's line of decking, railing, and fencing products.
In January 2010 LexJet [1]introduces the Simple line of adhesive vinyls for various applications in the graphics market including multi-textured surfaces, vehicle graphics, floor and carpet advertising, backlit displays, window graphics and wall murals.
LexJet [2]updates its line of laminates and backers in February 2011, grouping the products into three distinct lines: Elite, Performance and Specialty.
Also in February 2011, [3]LexJet moved its headquarters about two blocks away from its Fruitville Road location in Sarasota to 605 Main Street, Suite 400, Sarasota, FL 34236. According to LexJet's CIO, Pete Petersen, the new space allowed LexJet to incorporate WiFi and digital signage technologies for a more efficient and economical operation.