Wide Format Printers and Plotters for Michigan Businesses
If your team prints drawings, site plans, schematics, or large-scale graphics, a desktop printer will not do the job. Wide format printers — often called large format printers or plotters — handle media from 24 inches up to 44 inches and beyond, at the line accuracy technical work demands.
Elite Imaging Systems has sold, leased, and serviced wide format equipment across Southeast Michigan since 1994. We are an authorized dealer with local technicians, so the machine and the people who keep it running come from the same place.
Who Uses Wide Format Equipment
- Architecture and engineering firms — plan sets, elevations, and construction documents at full scale.
- Construction and design-build — field-ready drawings printed in-house instead of sent to a repro shop.
- Manufacturing — shop drawings, layouts, and large-format process documentation.
- Municipalities and utilities — GIS maps, parcel plans, and infrastructure schematics.
- Schools and universities — posters, research displays, and facilities drawings.
- In-house marketing teams — signage, banners, and point-of-sale graphics produced on demand.
Buy or Lease a Wide Format Printer
Wide format devices can be purchased outright or leased on the same structures as an office copier. Leasing spreads the cost and folds service, parts, and support into one predictable monthly figure — which matters more on wide format, where a single print head or roll feed repair can be expensive.
The same lease structures available on office copiers apply to plotters and large format devices — both $1-buyout and fair-market-value terms. A $1 buyout means you own the equipment outright at the end of the term; fair market value keeps payments lower and leaves the door open to upgrade. A rep can walk you through which one fits your budgeting approach.
What Drives the Cost
- Media width — 24-inch, 36-inch, and 44-inch machines sit at different price points.
- Color versus monochrome — technical mono plotters cost less to run than full-color graphics devices.
- Print volume — occasional plan sets versus daily production changes the right device class entirely.
- Roll capacity and stacking — multi-roll machines and finishing add cost but remove manual handling.
- Scanning — many wide format MFPs scan and copy as well as print, replacing a separate large-format scanner.
Service and Support
Wide format equipment is precision hardware, and downtime stops a project rather than an errand. Our service agreements cover parts, labor, and on-site response from local technicians across our nine-county Southeast Michigan territory — Wayne, Oakland, Macomb, Washtenaw, Genesee, Lapeer, Livingston, Monroe, and St. Clair.
Wide format devices can also be folded into managed print services alongside your office copiers, so one agreement covers the whole fleet.
Get a Wide Format Quote
The right machine depends on what you print, how wide, how often, and whether you need to scan. Tell us that and we will size it properly rather than selling you capacity you will not use.
Request a wide format printer quote or call (248) 647-4520 to talk it through with a local rep.
Wide Format Printer FAQ
What is the difference between a wide format printer and a plotter?
The terms are used interchangeably today. Historically a plotter drew vector lines with pens for CAD work, while a wide format printer produces raster output. Modern machines do both, so most people mean the same thing: a printer that handles media roughly 24 inches wide or wider.
What sizes can a wide format printer handle?
Common widths are 24, 36, and 44 inches, with roll media allowing long prints such as banners and continuous plan sets. The right width depends on your standard drawing size — most architectural and engineering work is comfortable on a 36-inch machine.
Can a wide format printer scan and copy large drawings?
Yes. Many wide format devices are multifunction, scanning and copying oversized originals to PDF as well as printing. This is often the reason firms bring plan reproduction back in-house.
Do you service wide format printers you did not sell?
Service is offered as part of a lease or equipment agreement with Elite Imaging Systems rather than as standalone break-fix work on other vendors’ machines. If you are considering moving your equipment and service to a local dealer, we are happy to talk about it.
Request a Wide Format Quote
Tell us what you print, how wide, how often, and whether you need to scan. A local rep will size the right plotter and send you a quote. Free assessment, no obligation.
Prefer to talk? Call (248) 647-4520, Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.