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DC Graphics, Inc., founded in 1994 by Kevin Brandon, is run today by Eugene Prohaske, President, and Christine Brandon, Vice President, and has a long history in the engraving industry. Eugene is a passionate engraver and has over 30 years of experience in the engraving for packaging industry. He originally started in the engraving business with his father Gene Prohaske who owned Styleart Engraving back in 1983. After his father retired in 1994, Eugene started his own business, HAP Engraving in Manhattan, together with a partner. They were in business until 2010 when he came to DC Graphics. Eugene originally joined forces with Kevin Brandon, former President and original founder of DC Graphics. They worked together for about three years before Kevin passed away in 2012.
DC Graphics, Inc. is a sculptured engraving, flexographic platemaking and photoengraving facility, which produces magnesium and copper plates/engravings as well as CNC milled brass plates. DC Graphics specializes in producing sculptured embossing dies and engravings, and flat stamping plates for the paper, packaging, greeting card, and folding carton industries.
DC Graphics is constantly seeking new innovations and utilizes the most current technology in its industry. Having access to the latest technologies keeps DC Graphics ahead of our competition by allowing us to work more productively. Our state-of-the-art equipment alongside the craftsmanship of our engraving staff allows us to provide our clients with high-quality products faster and more efficiently than our competition.
Before DC Graphics purchased our first CNC machine, everything was done by hand, by milling machines and by etching. But etching proved to be dirty and carried additional costs associated with the disposal of the chemicals used in the process. We knew that we needed a change. So, in 1996, we purchased our first DATRON machine (an M4) and made a transition from everything being done by hand engraving, hand milling machines and etching and began using CNC milling machines. It was a big undertaking, but proved to be a smart decision for DC Graphics to go green. We knew this was the wave of the future for us and if we didn’t make the change when we did, more than likely we wouldn’t have been in business anymore.
In 2007, we purchased an additional larger format CNC machine, followed by two additional machines (in 2012 and 2013), to get our engraving jobs done quicker and to handle more business for our customers. Recently, we just acquired the newest state of the art machine in January of 2017. This addition gives us a total of 6 CNC machines for our production workflow.
At DC Graphics Inc. we prefer using a lot of different engraving tools on the CNCs. We use specific tools with angles, shapes and cuts for engraving that helps to create a die in a shorter amount of time. This versatility helps us to achieve engraving effects that would otherwise take much longer. We have the engraving expertise to know how to apply the right tools for particular engraving challenges. Creative engraving is part of the front end program process where we program everything and apply it to run efficiently on our CNC machines.
Here we really try to maintain a good customer service and engraving expertise – the knowledge of what’s going to work. For certain types of engraving you need to know what’s going to work to get a certain effect. That’s what customers appreciate. Most don’t know what options are available to them. They come to us and ask: What’s going to make this look like what our customer wants? This is when you build a good report with your customer, and they know they can count on you. We are able to provide a service that other engravers cannot. That is our edge! We never want to be known as the cheapest engraver, instead, we want DC Graphics to be known as the place to go when something is difficult. We will provide the cutting-edge solution.
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