Gilman, Connecticut-based foam board manufacturer Gilman Brothers announces a strategic partnership with Suwanee, Georgia-based Vanguard Digital Printing Systems to have a Vanguard VR5D flatbed U.V. printer installed at Gilman Brothers' Customer Experience Center.

The addition of the printer will bring greater opportunities for product testing and protyping to the Customer Experience Center, which already houses a ZÜND G3-2500 cutter. Visitors have a chance to see firsthand the Vanguard and the Zünd's performance on products such as Gilman Brothers' INFINITY styrene-faced foamboard.

The on-site printer will enable Gilman Brothers to offer prototype support for the wide-format printing industry and will be available for premier customers needing prototype samples, sales kits etc. With the installation of the new printer, Gilman Brothers, in addition to the Zünd cutter, will have the ability to fully educate, discuss, assist and demonstrate various substrate options and potential applications.

“As we continue to exceed customer expectations throughout the entire supply chain—this is a perfect alignment with value added services. The ability to print our own in-house samples, offer 24-hour prototypes for printers, ad agencies and end-users will allow for not only seamless execution but test/develop new materials and technologies across the visual communications markets,”says Bill VanHorn, director of sales for Gilman Brothers.