Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/370309
100 • September 2014 • S I G N & D I G I T A L G R A P H I C S ARCHITECTURAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL "We let customers drive what we are going to buy next or do next," he says. It doesn't make sense to buy an expensive piece of equipment and then create a market for it. "Laser has been a great tool to help us expand into markets we never thought of before that don't revolve around awards and engraving," Zeidman adds. The company uses its laser equipment to produce point-of-purchase displays for department store make-up counters. The laser makes it possible to make small recesses in the material where various products can be displayed. Tamura's first laser engraver was a 12-inch by 24-inch Universal Laser. The company still has it and it still works. "When I first started doing it out of my home, I was going to school and needed extra money. I found a laser machine and thought I could do some- thing with it," Tamura says. Laser was not popular at that time and very few sign shops had them. Tamura worked that to his advantage, offering to engrave tags for clients or to cut things out that these shops were not equipped to handle. "I built my business around that. Sooner or later I got so busy I ended up opening up a shop in a two-car garage," he says. From there he moved his shop to a 1,200-square-foot space in Culver City and finally to his current location near LAX. About five years ago, Lazer Image purchased its Kern laser engraving equip- ment and has had no major problems. "To be honest, it has been a good learning experience and it was a good ride. I learned a lot and I was really happy I found Kern. Their machines are won- derful and their people there are tremen- dously great," Tamura says. He took a big chance when he decided to purchase the laser engraving system. "I was worried about the payments, but I just dove in and the business just kept coming," Tamura says. "Even if I did have a problem, I call up tech support and it is resolved in 24 hours. It was a blessing. Those guys are very helpful," he says. Lazer Image wholesales to smaller sign shops and does a lot of work with large shops. "We use a lot of acrylic up to one- inch thick. We cut a lot of logos. Now we have a flatbed printer that we use to print