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Mi5 Intelligent Service advertorial
Amid a recession and now a pandemic, Mi5 continues to thrive, expand and give back to the community
Starting in an industrial garage 19 years ago with a unique prepress and colour management system and one 5-colour press, Mi5 Print & Digital soon became Canada’s first all-digital hub and spoke prepress shop and printer. Today, it has further evolved into Canada’s fastest growing commercial printer and a member of the Profit 100 Companies for nine consecutive years! It has led a revolution of technology innovation, service intelligence and manufacturing excellence. But above all, it’s been a leader in helping our healthcare workers and institutions during COVID-19.
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Steve Tahk, Mi5 EVP & GM (left) with President Derek McGeachie, in front of their Scodix Ultra Pro Foil Digital Enhancement Press.
For over a decade, Mi5 has been a quiet, unheralded Canadian success story. It’s been an industry leader in prepress, best-in-class litho, digital and wide-format printing, R&D, colour management, POS, targeted marketing solutions, direct mail, publications, kitting, fulfillment and distribution – and especially custom product development. Today, the company remains strong, has no debt, owns its 180,000+ square-foot production facility in Mississauga, ON, and has offices in Ottawa, Vancouver and New York. And, as shown recently and in the past, it can weather any economic storm. In fact, Mi5 doubled in size during the 2008 recession! Mi5 is looking to further expand by acquiring companies which have good leadership and complementary technology, in addition to print professionals who might be displaced due to the economic downturn.
Giving back to the community. During the current pandemic, Mi5 has continued to thrive and serve clients while manufacturing much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE). It made face shields for healthcare workers at up to 1,000 per day, as well as flat-pack corrugated, easy-to-deploy emergency field beds for use in hospitals and shelters across Canada and worldwide. “We adapted our technology to allow employees to work from home easily when the pandemic struck,” said Steve Tahk, EVP & GM. “We quickly tasked our team to come up with ways to help Canadians fight COVID-19. In fact, one of our employees who was fighting cancer, designed a face shield that sold over 100,000 units. In addition to beds and face shields, we also designed and donated or sold barriers, floor graphics, signs, sanitizer stands and much more.”
Redefining how a print company works.
Mi5’s rapid growth and success is tied to redefining how a print company actually operates. This includes using technology that allows almost instant quoting, remote access to all facets of production, and a more personal and engaging project management approach that’s redefined the print-buying experience for its customers. The company has many long-term, loyal clients who buy almost exclusively from Mi5 because of this unique approach – in addition to its cutting-edge technology represented by a multi-million-dollar repertoire of the latest printing and finishing equipment. Mi5 President Derek McGeachie has been laser-focused on developing products that maximize this technology. Experience our back cover. One example is Mi5’s Scodix Ultra Pro Foil Digital Enhancement Press. The technology has expanded the company’s product portfolio with brilliant, multiple digital foil colour effects that their customers love. Scodix applications are designed to enhance any CMYK sheet, including folding cartons. “We’ve not only used the Scodix foil and raised digital coating to attract new business and build loyalty with existing clients,” McGeachie pointed out, “we’ve also worked to bring new subtle but powerful enhancements for more refined print projects – such as matte raised or matte textured coatings.” You can experience the special visual and tactile effects of Mi5’s Scodix print-enhancement technology for yourself, as it was used to print the back cover of this month’s magazine!
