It was announced today that iZone, a manufacturer of digital high pressure laminates, was recently awarded a multi-year contract with the United States Park Service to create a variety of signage for our country’s extensive national park system. Additionally, iZone announced today that it has entered into a similar contract with Alberta Parks in Canada to provide interpretive panels, even besting a Canadian company in the bidding process. The total value of both deals is expected to approach $500,000, with extensions to both contracts possible in the coming years. iZone currently employs 22 people at its Temple headquarters.
For more than fifty years, high pressure laminates have been mass manufactured for specific markets, usually in a highly-generic product range that has included patterned surface material for counter tops, furniture, wall coverings and flooring. With such a legacy of unparalleled durability, iZone thought it made perfect sense to create a product that utilized this tough media, but with one-off digital print flexibility. Concentrating their focus on the design profession, iZone has emerged a leader in the industry and conducts workshops and presentations to educate, inform and assist designers in becoming more familiar and comfortable with using our products in a wide variety of applications whose limits cannot be defined.
“We’ve proven ourselves as the leader in the industry by producing jobs for large exhibit companies and government entities with the fastest turn a round time ever offered,” Mike MacEachern, president of iZone, noted about his company’s growing reputation in North America. “Over time, by first winning smaller bids and completing the work satisfactorily and quickly, we have earned the trust of these large firms and government clients that these recent contracts represent.”
“iZone’s recent deals with both the U.S. Park Service and Alberta Parks is a great example of the internationally-acclaimed products that are being manufactured right here in Temple,” Lee Peterson, president of the Temple Economic Development Corporation (TEDC), said. “This proves to be yet another example of how Temple’s location on the I-35 corridor, plus the extensive infrastructure and flexibility of our various Central Point parks, continues to be an asset as Temple grows and expands our business community responsibly.”
“When we started, many of our current customers knew little or nothing about DHPL (Digital High Pressure Laminate), MacEachern continued. “Now, not only do they know about it, but DHPL has become the standard for outdoor signage and is replacing less environmentally-friendly products like fiberglass embedded graphic panels. As the only manufacturer of this particular product in North America, iZone plans to keep maintain it’s status by continuing to improve the process and growing our customer base.”
Along with these recently awarded contracts, iZone has many ongoing and long-term projects like the Teatro Park revitalization in Austin, TX, which utilizes large-scale DHPL graphic panels on building facades. iZone is also the preferred DHPL vendor of Design Communications Ltd., whose Orlando office is overseeing all graphics and sign installation for the Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge at Walt Disney World. Every floor, guest room, bathroom, stair well, telephone, pool and all other public signage is labeled with an iZone logo.
About iZone:
iZone is a wholly owned business unit of Blind Dog Productions Ltd., a Texas Limited Partnership, with a mandate to offer its products and services to the international design and architectural markets. For more than seven years, the versatile iZone has been specializing in signs and graphics for interior and exterior use. iZone is the manufacturer of a unique custom digital graphics product in a market previously offering a limited selection of products. iZone manufactures digitally imaged high pressure laminates in thick stocks, suitable for sign graphics and exterior applications, as well as regular surface grade laminates. For more information, please visit us at www.izoneimaging.com.
About Temple:
Temple, Texas is a community with a diverse economic base that includes healthcare, distribution and warehousing, and manufacturing as the foundation. Within 180 miles of a population of 17.8 million, Temple is in a strategic location that is central within the southwest U.S. marketplace.