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Webb White, a studio owner, founded WHCC in the 1970s. He simply could not find reliable professional photofinishing in the Twin Cities for his growing retail wedding studio. WHCC was in demand as a lab servicing local wedding photographers and over the years grew to serve photographers in a four to five state region.
In 1996, Mike Hanline, a life long photofinishing executive, joined Webb as partners in WHCC and began the quest of further growing the color lab. In 1999, as the digital transition of the portrait wedding industry began, Webb and Mike made the decision to invest heavily in the technology and develop the systems to succeed with this new opportunity.
Their goals were to create a set of simple, easy to use systems that photographers could understand and implement as they grappled the difficult transition to the digital technology at the retail level. By helping their clients understand the process and advantages of a simple digital workflow, WHCC became a popular choice for digital studios that desired to make more money and convert to digital capture with relativity few problems.
Digital growth became commonplace at WHCC, especially as word of great quality, excellent customer service and unheard of print and finishing prices spread throughout the Midwest. With the client base rapidly growing and the need for film equipment dwindling, within two years all the film equipment was gone and WHCC was a 100% digital color lab by the spring of 2002.
The product line began to grow with the addition of digital Pick-A-Pack, expanded finishing options, our low cost proofing, proofbooks and metallic paper. In 2003, WHCC started to market their services on the convention circuit. In 2005 WHCC exhibited at nearly thirty-five trade shows in all parts of the country.
By early 2004, it was clear that WHCC had out grown the 4000 square foot facility in Saint Paul and plans were laid to build a new lab. The new lab is over 11,000 square feet and is located in South Saint Paul. We moved and brought up our entire new operation without missing a day of production in June 2004. The new lab provides an outstanding environment to continue the dynamic growth WHCC has been experiencing. This facility allows WHCC to continue serving the entire client base in an outstanding manner.
As WHCC has continued to grow, and with new market opportunities available, a decision to invest and offer digital offset printed products was made in early 2005. An additional 3000 square foot production facility has been designed and built to handle these new exciting products to launch late summer 2005.
WHCC has built a solid base of digital clients through out the United States and Canada that continues to expand and grow. The fundamentals of this growth are great quality and customer service, combined with industry setting pricing and service times. Digital technology and sound management lead the way with customer satisfaction on the top of all WHCC staff member minds every day.
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