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Is gerber going away

S11930

New Member
Has gerber stopped software development? Has Gerber given in to Flexi and Signlab? They stopped on the hardware side with large format printers. The Edge uses foils and is not very cost effective. Gerber was the best what happened, and why did it happen. A lesson to be learned here and taught to others. If you don't continue to grow and develop your business others will pass you.
 

Gino

Premium Subscriber
They were the only kid on the block for years. They made their killing, if what you say is true. Do you realize, back then, a font cartridge cost about $300 each ?? When I bought my first Sprint machine which was the first that came with a true monitor I got 24 fonts. That alone was an extra $7,200.00. They had you under their spell. They led the pack for a great number of years and while their equipment was built like a Sherman tank, we were still the guinea pigs that helped launch them and get them going strong. My second system cost $38,000. And I continued to buy equipment so I could keep up with the workload. However, it slowly took the place of man power, but some of those people weren't all that good, but the machines were all 100% without vacation, sick days or maternity leave...... and no FICA. Sure, you had some down time, but that was very very rare.

So they had about a 35 year run, so that's rather good in my book.


Thank you Gerber, even though you dropped me for support. :ROFLMAO:​
 

Marlene

New Member
the company has changed ownership maybe not doing as much as they used to. their products are made to last and work well. We have a very old plotter, a HSPlus 15 that pretty much has run for years with some very minor problems. we also have an Edge 2 that also has run for years just a couple of very minor fixes. I love the software and am happy with each new version they have had over the years. we also use their vinyl and the only complaint I have is the colors. they haven't come out with a new color for years. I envy the Avery color chart but not the product and wish 3M/Gerber would come up with some current colors as all of theirs look like the 1980's
 

artofacks1

New Member
I have an edge fx printer, use omega and an envision cutter. I am not sure what other equipment I could use to make clear tough helmet decals that need white printed. I hope they stay on their game and keep the ofils and parts coming as well.

I tried numerous times to get print samples of my art from summa but they dont seem to want my business cus they always drop the ball.

See some of my work here facebook.com/sportslivedecals
 

visual800

Active Member
a once larger sign compnay here bought the Gerber Maxx printer. Biggest POS on the planet. It stayed broke more than printing. When the warranty ran out Gerber said "See ya!" I saw all this happen and was shocked.

I know Gerber was the frontrunner for a long time and their edges are still kicking out work but when you come out with a product and do not stand behind it, you suck. That printer cost this company $25k and it was nothing more than scrap metal. Back in the day they made superior machines but if this venture was a sign of the direction they decided to take, peace out!
 

PHILJOHNSON

Sales Manager
Hi Artofacks1,

I have seen you post that you have reached out in the past for samples in the past and I know I have offered to print these for you. I would like to extend that invitation again if you would like to see some prints and would be happy to print them for you right away. If you would like to either email me the details to philj@summa.us or give me a call at (800)527-7778 I will make sure this gets taken care of for you.

Best regards,

Phil Johnson
Summa Inc.
 

Dana Goodale

New Member
Thanks to everyone for their commentary and support. We value the opinions of our customers. We want you to know that Gerber is stronger than ever and we are continuing to develop new products across all categories. In fact we are currently working on updates to Omega to help enhance your creativity and improve productivity. The Gerber team is very proud of what we’ve accomplished over the last 35 years and will continue to offer high quality products and innovation to improve your bottom line. Thank you for your continued support. We have recently renamed and unified our company under the single brand of Gerber Technology. This is being done to provide a STRONGER company image in all the markets we serve, including Signmaking and Graphics, Fashion & Apparel, Transportation, Aerospace, Comfort & Leisure, and Packaging. Don't hesitate to contact us at Gerber if you have any questions.

Thanks again!

Dana
 

James Burke

Being a grandpa is more fun than working
Five Gerber GS machines here in our office...two are over 25 years old. We're sticking with them.


JB
 

Marlene

New Member
" Thanks to everyone for their commentary and support. We value the opinions of our customers. We want you to know that Gerber is stronger than ever and we are continuing to develop new products across all categories. In fact we are currently working on updates to Omega to help enhance your creativity and improve productivity. The Gerber team is very proud of what we’ve accomplished over the last 35 years and will continue to offer high quality products and innovation to improve your bottom line. Thank you for your continued support. We have recently renamed and unified our company under the single brand of Gerber Technology. This is being done to provide a STRONGER company image in all the markets we serve, including Signmaking and Graphics, Fashion & Apparel, Transportation, Aerospace, Comfort & Leisure, and Packaging. Don't hesitate to contact us at Gerber if you have any questions.

Thanks again!

Dana "


I tried to find some info that was posted here but ti looks like it is gone. so you haven't fired or transferred all the programmers and stopped development of software? I did send an e-mail thru the "contact us" section on your site this week as a long time user, I wanted to know where we stood on software
 

TomK

New Member
I'm not so sure they even code Omega in house, I was told one of the other big software developers actually codes Omega, which btw, hasn't been updated in years.
 

Andy D

Active Member
When I bought my first Sprint machine which was the first that came with a true monitor I got 24 fonts.

It was one of those that you added steel weights on top of the cutting blade to set the cut depth, right?
I used one just like that but they had some kind of contraption that bypassed the font cartridges and was hooked
directly to a computer with 3.1 windows on it... Man, that was big time!
 

GB2

Old Member
I hope that Dana will continue to participate here at Signs101 as he is a terrific, experienced and very knowledgeable Gerber representative. It would be great to get some factual information rather than everybody posting hearsay on here and whatever else they might be "imagining" is happening at Gerber. I happen to own a whole line of Gerber equipment that has served me well over many years and continues to do so. Also, I have also found the support from Gerber to be excellent. That being said, I realize that this is a large corporation, things change in life and companies are only as good as the people that represent them...and those people come and go and some will be better than others at times. Personally I hope Gerber continues to adapt and thrive, they are innovators and founders of the sign business as we know it today. I would very much like to hear factual information that Gerber has learned from some mistakes of the past and has a positive direction for the future. I am not interested in hearing rumors, innuendo and constant bashing for things that hopefully everyone has moved beyond. We all make mistakes and it is a matter of taking responsibility for them, learning from them and not repeating them. So Dana, I think that Signs101 is a valuable resource for you to continue to support and I hope Gerber can continue to do so.
 

gnemmas

New Member
It was one of those that you added steel weights on top of the cutting blade to set the cut depth, right?
I used one just like that but they had some kind of contraption that bypassed the font cartridges and was hooked
directly to a computer with 3.1 windows on it... Man, that was big time!

I believe that was a Cadlink plug-in board, that allow PC user to drive Gerber plotter using Coreldraw, and that was how Cadlink started.

I remember one Gerber Rep. stating the reason they won't allow open PC platform was "our PC is better than other PCs" on the hardware side. As on the software side, on every Omega (Composer was what it was called at the time) upgrade, they would say that we are almost as good as Coreldraw.

That kind of mentality was what let to it's downfall. A complacent leader slow to foresee the technology advancement, have to catch-up on open PC platform, on inkjet printing.
 

Andy D

Active Member
That kind of mentality was what let to it's downfall. A complacent leader slow to foresee the technology advancement, have to catch-up on open PC platform, on inkjet printing.
Yep, you remember Tandy computers? They were market leaders and that was their downfall, they would solder in their components so that the average user couldn't upgrade with other
suppliers parts. That's my main beef with Apple, they have to approve all apps/programs for "their" products.
 

Dana Goodale

New Member
Factual information is a good approach! So here goes:

OMEGA is and has been created by Gerber right here in Tolland / Manchester / South Windsor CT area.
We have not laid off or transferred all OMEGA programmers.
We will continue to develop hardware, software and consumable solutions for our customers.
I agree that Signs101 forums are a great way to exchange all kinds of factual and other information, but you feel free to use the Signs101 email facility for direct communications as well.

Thanks again!

Dana
 

Mosh

New Member
I had a sprint 3 back in 1988, had 9 fonts, by 1992 I was using signlab with 2,500 fonts and a roland 24" plotter...they had the corner on the maket until the PC came down in price and got faster.
 

signguy 55

New Member
How a company can brag about developing hardware for the customer after the GerberMaxx and Solara Ion disasters is beyond me. It's like that part of history has just disappeared. Friend of mine bought a Gerber IVE (not B) for $7000 back in the early '90s. Five fonts, no monitor. Extra fonts were $285.00 each. I never saw a signguy do more with Optima Bold in my life!!!! He thought he was king of the world. Had to plot on paper to see what it would look like. Cut about 1" per second. Those were the days.
 
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