The Jack Trice Stadium scoreboard wrap designed by LRI Graphics was assembled 100 feet in the air, with 222 separate panels covering approximately 5,000 square feet of printed space. Contributed photo
The next time you find yourself standing underneath large-scale billboards or advertising graphics, look up. Some of the largest commercial signage in the state is created through two grand format printers in Grimes.
The grand format printers at LRI Graphics can produce pieces wider than 10 feet in one pass. The three printers offer latex ink, UV ink and solvent ink, and print on nearly any material, including mesh surfaces.
“We’ve invested in technology that will handle customer applications from fairly small projects to huge projects,” such as the NCAA March Madness tournament at Wells Fargo Arena in March, said Bob Lashier, who co-owns LRI Graphics with Andy Lashier.
At the time, LRI and the NCAA wrapped downtown Des Moines’ skywalks and Wells Fargo Arena in NCAA banners; at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, LRI wrapped a scoreboard in 5,000 square feet of printed graphics installed as the scoreboard was standing 100 feet in the air.
“It ended up being 222 panels that make that one graphic, like a giant mosaic,” Director of Graphics Solutions Thomas Lashier said.
LRI Graphics grew off of the original Laser Resources Inc. three years ago, which sells production printing machines and services and was founded in 1991 by Bob Lashier. Today, Laser Resources and LRI Graphics are legally separate businesses but operate next door to each other in Grimes, which allows the companies to partner competitively, Thomas Lashier said.
“We had several customers that said, ‘I don’t want to necessarily buy those large format printers; we would just like to buy what comes off those large format printers.’ So we did a deep dive into the market to figure out what part in Central Iowa was being underserved in the large format category,” said Andy Lashier.
“We do a lot of stuff with the State Fair — that’s probably two or three weeks of work before the State Fair starts. We’re doing all the outfield banners with the I-Cubs,” Thomas Lashier said. “That’s probably about three weeks of printing and finishing before they [started] April 9.”
“The past couple months at Wells Fargo, a lot of that stuff comes out of LRI Graphics. We’ve been at Wells Fargo a lot lately, but it makes it fun. It’s cool to be around here because Des Moines has a lot of growth, a lot of cool events coming to town, and it’s exciting to be part of the team that welcomes all these events,” Thomas Lashier said.