It might not be a tale as old as time, but it’s certainly one that will resonate for many wide-format printers. Convergent Print Group began as two separate companies — BPGraphics, founded in 1961, specialized in billboard posters — and Vincent Printing — which started in the 1940s, produced movie posters for theater lobbies. The two companies came together in 2023 and have since been on the path to becoming a powerhouse in wide- and grand-format graphics.
With locations based in the cities where the two companies originated — Phoenix; and Chattanooga, Tennessee — success isn’t just about combining the collective 140 years of expertise. As CEO Curt Carpenter notes, it is also about embracing automation.
The ERP is Key
There isn’t a single process or element in the operation that hasn’t been touched by some form of automation — and listing it all out makes for an impressive read. However, Carpenter says that just looking at a list of automation initiatives “doesn’t really make clear that most of our automation is all centered around our ERP (enterprise resource planning).”
Carpenter continues, “What has made so much of our automation possible is the fact that our ERP has been developed entirely in-house, starting in 1993. In fact, we have every order that we’ve ever produced since January of 1994 still available in the current iteration of our system.”
Read this full feature on Wide-Format Impressions, a publication of PRINTING United Alliance, ASI’s strategic partner.
