From a small A.B. Dick one-colour to a 10-Colour Heidelberg Roll-To-Sheet Perfector, Markham’s Sina Printing has come an incredibly long way in just over a decade. For the past 12 years, Sina has been quietly establishing itself as one of the best sources for printing brokers, small printers, and photocopy store outlets, while growing at an astounding 500%.
In an industry fraught with the relentless stress of daily deadlines, demanding clients, shrinking margins, staffing issues and much, much more, it’s both refreshing and inspiring to see a printer realizing the Canadian dream through savvy determination and hard work.
About twelve years ago, in a small 1,200-sq.-ft. shop in North York, Ontario, Oscar Meshkati and his wife Fara made a quiet, humble start in the extremely competitive Canadian printing industry. The couple had emigrated to Canada about 6 months earlier, and, like so many other small printers, struggled in the beginning to make ends meet.
They began printing small-run B&W items such as flyers and NCR forms for local clients using the only printer they had—an A.B. Dick one-colour. To promote their shop, they distributed pamphlets to nearby stores and businesses. After a successful year and a half, the couple moved to a larger location and purchased another A.B. Dick—this time it was a two-colour.
Then something wonderful began to happen.
With a keen eye for quality and a strict emphasis on service and meeting deadlines, word got around. Suddenly, the Meshkatis were getting dozens of referrals, the lifeblood of any business. In just a few years, word-of-mouth, the best salesperson a printer could possibly hope to have, was keeping the presses going. Did I say presses? As business dictated, they soon bought more equipment, including a 4-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster (14” x 20”).
“Going 4-colour was definitely one of the turning points in our business during those early years,” says owner Oscar Meshkati. “We also started placing advertisements in trade magazines in addition to distributing flyers. More business came in. We weren’t the cheapest printer around at the time, but we made certain we always gave the best service, best turnaround time, and the best quality with every job. From the beginning, we’ve never compromised on those three core values—quality, service and meeting deadlines. That philosophy has remained with us to this day.”
Another turning point for Sina Printing was in 2001 when Meshkati’s son Michael, who had been involved in the company in various capacities in the past, was brought in full time. That same year the Meshkatis purchased another Heidelberg—this time a 6-colour CD 102 with a 28” x 40” sheet capacity. The larger format enabled them to bring in more profitable accounts and also gave their work more visibility. The following year they moved to their current location at 39 Riviera Drive (Unit 8) in Markham, Ontario.
“In an effort to become a one-stop shop and improve turnaround time, we also changed our pre-press set-up in 2002 and brought in a fully-automated Creo Computer-To-Plate (CTP) System,” said Michael Meshkati. “We no longer had to get film done outside. This was another big turning point. It enabled us to give faster service and we had better control over quality, which is extremely important to us. In fact, today, we have two staffers devoted almost solely to quality improvement. We’re completing the final part of the one-stop upgrade by bringing in a complete line-up of the latest bindery equipment—saddle stitchers, another polar cutter, collators, shrinkwrappers—you name it.”
The two newest Sina press acquisitions, a HP Indigo 6-colour (installed recently) and a Heidelberg 10-colour perfector roll-to-sheet, will take Sina to yet another level of sophistication.
“The Indigo will support our one-stop shopping philosophy and we’ll use it to service specific customers,” says Michael Meshkati. “The 10-colour Heidelberg perfector will enable us to serve our larger clients much faster, allow us to maintain better quality control in-house, and we can now offer our clients a more competitive price,” he added.
Sina will continue to upgrade to the newest high-tech equipment and systems, adding new equipment about every two years, but it also prides itself on the ability and experience of its staff of more than 50 to create the best quality printing solutions for any client. Today, all the equipment necessary (from pre-press to finishing and packaging) is housed under one roof. This allows Sina to accommodate client deadlines seamlessly.
The company works 24/7 and plans to re-locate to a new, larger facility in the near future. They also intend to go “greener”and are currently investigating environmentally friendlier product and system options. This, they insist, is becoming more important to a growing number of clients.
While the company handles a variety of projects, offset brochures, books, magazines and catalogues are their forte. “We’re constantly adding new technology,” says Oscar Meshkati. “This new technology will specifically help us to produce more and more books, large full-colour catalogues and glossy full-colour magazines. I consider the technology a very important part of our ongoing growth.”
Sina’s pressroom already houses some of the best presses in the industry. For example, their two incredibly fast six-colour Heidelberg Speedmaster CD102s (with tower coater) can print on virtually any medium, from Onion Skin to 40 point board, while their new Heidelberg SM-52 5-colour (plus coating tower) is ideal for smaller, quality print runs and quick turnarounds. Another plus: After a job is completed, all ink values are archived, guaranteeing consistency of colour on re-orders.
As mentioned earlier, Sina also has a top-of-the-line finishing department, using the most advanced Heidelberg equipment available. Adding to their existing B30 and B20 Stahlfolders, their new folding machine allows for complex gatefolding. While traditional saddle stitching is still available on their ST100 Heidelberg Stitcher, their bindery has recently invested in a new gluing system as well.
Finishing is professionally completed with their new die-cutting machine, as well as their new Polar cutter 115ED with its automatic jogging and cutting system.
To summarize, Sina’s current equipment now includes:
For more information, please visit www.sinaprinting.com or call (905) 480-8888.
For more information, please visit
www.sinaprinting.com or call (905) 480-8888.
About the Heidelberg Speedmaster 10-colour Perfector Roll-To-Sheet
You can easily complete double-sided printing in a single pass with the highest print quality using the Heidelberg Speedmaster 10-colour SM 102 (28” x 40”). The high level of automation also makes this press very cost-effective. Integration into a printshop’s digital workflow reduces make-ready times and results in fast job throughput. Other features include:
Printing is now just one step in a digitally automated production workflow that starts at the graphic designer’s computer and ends with folded, stitched, bundled, and shrink-wrapped stacks of printed products awaiting shipment. Digital printing has come online over the last 20 years, and electronic “new media” have also come of age as an alternative outlet for advertising and publishing, so both printers and print buyers have a broader range of options than ever before. Yet sheetfed offset printing, with its unmatched quality in “critical colour” work and the lowest per-item price available for volume production, is holding its own against these competitors.
Although the sheetfed offset presses introduced over the last couple of years employ the same basic offset lithographic principles as always, they now come equipped with any number of digital bells and whistles to make the presses easier to operate, faster, more versatile, and more reliable. Most new presses, too, offer printable image formats that are an inch wider than traditional presses, in order to accommodate bleeds for added flexibility.
Critical speed
Central Reproductions in Toronto, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, had been running several different offset presses when the company decided to upgrade last year. Though the company takes on a variety of work, Central specializes in marketing materials, direct mail, and training booklets and related items for a corporate clientele. All of their work requires a high level of quality, but fast, efficient operation was even more critical.
Doug Snow, co-owner of Central Reproductions, said they were looking for greater speed to stay competitive in the midst of the current trend towards short-run work. The company installed a six-colour, 40” Heidelberg XL 105, in spring of 2006, replacing an older four-colour 25” press and a two-colour 40” press. The new press was Central’s second Heidelberg. The company also has a six-colour, 40” Speedmaster that remains in operation, but which doesn’t have quite as much automation as the newer model.
“What it really comes down to is how fast can you set up a job and get going,” Snow said. “The XL 105 runs 18,000 sheets per hour. And that’s all great and good, but because of the automation on this press and the colour management capabilities, I can makeready a job in 12 to 15 minutes. On the Speedmaster, it’s more like 45 minutes to an hour.”
“It used to be that you’d have several jobs going on that press that were in volumes of 50,000, 35,000, or 40,000. It wasn’t as critical to be able to do a quick makeready. But the way our industry is going now, instead of having three jobs in a 24-hour period of 35,000 each, we’re replacing that with eight or ten jobs of 3,500 each. Once you makeready a job and put it on the press, that job’s done in a matter of minutes. So the most important thing is how fast you can set up the press. And that’s where the XL shines.”
Central’s Heidelberg XL 105 was only the second or third of its kind in Canada, and few operators had any experience running it. However, the manufacturer provided training and support, and Snow said that with its higher level of automation, the new press actually requires fewer operators. The press comes “up to colour” faster and, with automated colour management, holds its level of colour without operator intervention.
“Just due to the press upgrade, we’re getting more agency-type business,” said Snow. “We are getting a higher level of press business from not only our existing clients, but our new clients. And I still have capacity on the press, so we’re in a good situation. The press just gobbles up jobs.”
Doing more with less
Japanese press manufacturer Komori has long emphasized the high level of automation on its sheetfed offset presses, which range from the smaller-format (19” to 26”) Sprint and the newer, highly automated 26” to 29” SPICA, all the way to its new 41” Lithrone LSX series presses.
For Accell Graphics, located in London, Ontario, the ability to print on both sides of heavier stock was a key reason driving their installation of an eight-colour 29” Komori Lithrone LSX perfector. The company does diverse commercial printing work, but specializes in calendars and greeting cards on 14-pt. paper and produces the cards with some very fancy finishing. Accell had been running two- and four-colour 29” presses, but for much of its specialty work, had to run the job twice to print both sides.
“The commercial work we do is generally local, but the specialized work we sell all over the place in Canada and the U.S. because we do foil stamping and small die-cutting, apply glitter and things like that,” said Warner Ten Kate, owner of Accell Graphics. “The glitter application is something we do quite a bit. It’s a relatively small niche market, but we’re not a really huge printer compared to some in North America, so it allows us to do something different than a lot of people do, and it’s not really worth it for the big guys to get into it.”
Founded in 1985 as a quick print shop, Accell has since added full prepress services and four-colour printing as well as black & white digital printing and large-format printing on a 60” plotter. Prior to installing the new Komori Lithrone, Accell had reached capacity on its older presses—running three shifts, five days per week—and found itself farming out some four-colour work. Apart from the productivity of printing two sides at once, Ten Kate estimates that makeready time on the new Lithrone is about one quarter of what it was on older equipment. In addition, by using colour profile information and automated ink settings, the press comes up to colour in fewer than 100 sheets, which reduces waste and supports Accell’s commitment to the environment.
“I think it’s easier to do higher quality work now,” Ten Kate noted. “It’s a lot easier and a lot faster, which has made the market more competitive.”
Accell’s method of competing is to specialize, and to continually develop new and creative product offerings, like the glitter greeting cards and other projects now in testing. “Beside customers being creative and bringing you work to produce, I think you’ve also got to do it in reverse and bring new capabilities to customers that allow them to be more creative,” Ten Kate said. “I don’t think you can sit around anymore and rely on the same old business, because I don’t think it’s going to be there.”
Komori sheetfed offset presses are available in eastern Canada through M.D. International in Quebec, and in Ontario and western Canada from K-North, of Mississauga, Ontario.
More to offer
Montreal’s BL Litho has purchased an eight-colour 41” KBA Rapida 105 sheetfed perfector, which has given the company a broad range of print capabilities. The 50-year-old firm employs 70 people and produces a range of printed materials from business cards and publications to posters and gift boxes. BL Litho had been running an aging Mitsubishi press with no automation and sought to upgrade both its technology and its capabilities. The company tested presses from a couple of manufacturers, but the Rapida 105, installed about one year ago, was the only one to offer everything the company needed, including the option to add a UV coater.
“You can print on anything on the KBA up to 60-lb. stock,” said company director Martin Marchand. “I had my press configured four-over-four, with a UV hybrid printing option, so I can print 13,000 sheets per hour, perfecting, on 34-pt. board. I can touch all the aspects of commercial printing, and I can go from packaging to commercial to four-over-four with the same shop and with the same press. Makeready time is next to nothing—six minutes for eight plates perfecting, and under 100 sheets for positioning and commercial colour.
“I can work with densitometry or spectrophotometry on the press,” he added. “I have full quality control with the Logotronic Navigator on my press, in my office and in my home. It gives me real-time data on press. If I’m at home, I can just log into the press and see a report on the full week, day, or shift.”
Predictably, the move to such full automation required a learning curve, but BL Litho is no stranger to digital technology. The company has comprehensive digital prepress capabilities in-house and runs two Xerox iGen3 digital presses.
“We’ve have to take the time to learn how to walk and then run,” Marchand said. “We went from a little five-colour press with a Dahlgren waterbase to an eight-colour, 65’ press with UV and extension delivery. That was a big step up for us.”
The Rapida was delivered prepped for the UV coater, and Marchand said that the coater will likely be installed in coming months. The ability to UV coat is yet another marketable capability in highly competitive times. The versatility the KBA Rapida brings to BL Litho gives the company a broader range of capabilities to serve a more varied customer base, as well as to take on different types of work from the same customer.
“All those points means the stars were all aligned for me to invest in the KBA,” said Marchand. “KBA has their American facility only about two hours from my shop, they have a Toronto office, and now they’re opening in Quebec in association with KBR Graphics. They’re going to have an office here in Montreal for parts and service.”
Bigger and better
TI Group, based out of Toronto, also has been pursuing new markets to differentiate itself and to serve a broader customer base. The company includes TI Studios, which offers design, photography, prepress, and related services to sophisticated clients in the advertising and corporate markets. TI Group is now launching additional services, which require not only the same level of high-quality image reproduction, but larger-format offset printing capabilities.
“We’re looking at the short-run, basically the point-of-purchase display market or the plastics market,” said TI Group’s Dave Smith.
In this market, size counts, and after a two-year process of assessing their specific needs and the available models to accommodate those requirements, TI Group is currently installing a 73” MAN Roland XXL sheetfed offset press with a UV coater.
“There were only two different presses in this size range,” Smith said. “If you’re in the 40” market, you’ve got five machines that you can compare. In our market, it’s either one press or the other. Each has its own features and benefits, and at the end of the day, you’ve got to choose one.” The other press TI Group considered provided an 81” format, but the company opted for the 73” MAN Roland 900.
Though Smith was tight-lipped about what exactly TI Group is up to in its reach for new markets, except to say that it is not packaging, he did say the company has undergone considerable retooling as it moves to large-format offset printing.
“I never envisioned it to be such an undertaking to go from 40” to 73”,” he said. “It is a completely different business, and it touches everything from the way people think to the way we plan jobs. We’ve installed a new computer-to-plate device, new imposition software, the press, and new materials handling to handle skids of that size and weight. Our production manager is a new person. It’s a 100% new business. It’s an unbelievable project, more than I would have anticipated, and it’s not for the faint of heart.”
The new press is still in the installation process, but TI Group expects the MAN Roland 900 to be operational by mid-January, 2008.
The company also runs an eight-colour, 40” sheetfed offset press for its general commercial work, and is looking forward to the ongoing process of re-making TI Group with new capabilities.
More to come
Although sheetfed offset printing seems to have reached a plateau of high-tech automation, super-speed, and quality, we can guess at what may be next to come. The international DRUPA printing trade show is scheduled for spring of 2008, and no doubt all offset press manufacturers have enhancements under development. However, even with the technology at current levels, printers such as the ones profiled above are finding that the latest technologies are more than just marketing hype—they do expand the printer’s options, can open new markets, and can improve both operating efficiency and profits.
The PDF file format has changed printing workflows over the years, and workflows also change as the flow of data changes. Too much of our time is spent finding the best way to get new files through our workflow.
The Acrobat elements in FullSWITCH and PowerSWITCH give you the tools to automate many of the tasks you are currently performing on PDF files. Both programs have a built-in configurator available that supports Adobe Acrobat Professional 7 and 8.
The configurator allows you to:
FullSWITCH and PowerSWITCH both give you the ability to use Javascript to perform tasks in Adobe Acrobat Professional 7 and 8. The bonus here is that Gradual Software has provided Javascript commands that allow you to plug in your own custom scripts into a SWITCH flow.
For example, each script can have arguments that pass information from the outside flow to your script. You can easily pick up file names, folder names, and connection paths for use in your script without having to be an expert scripter.
I reuse small scripts to insert pages at the end of PDF files, and to add time stamps or watermarks. I have found that the Watermark feature in Acrobat is easy to script and I use it to stamp all pages with my own custom PDF that controls bleed on the inside and applies a slug and my own marks. Since SWITCH controls is opening and saving my PDF file, the only Javascript needed is:
$doc.addWatermarkFromFile(“Macintosh HD:MyMarks.pdf”);
Since both FullSWITCH and PowerSWITCH (you can use this trick in LightSWITCH as well) are Flow Specialists, we can use them to send files to other places on our server:
The Preflight features of Acrobat can be used to ensure that files are perfect. Open the Preflight Window and either choose a profile you would like to run or create a new one customized for your setup. It is more fun to make your own, and you can insert anything from catching an overprinting white to making sure your black text doesn’t knock out. Add the standard check for catching low-resolution images, ensuring fonts are embedded, and any other things you may find that usually cause you trouble. Save your profile and it can be added to a Preflight Droplet.
In the Preflight window, select your profile. Under options, select “Create Preflight Droplet”. You can choose all the options you want to have, it will even generate a report for you. Save this somewhere safe. Here is the brilliant part that interfaces the SWITCH application to the rest of your Server. Make a small Automator Applescript that launches the droplet:
on run {input, parameters}
tell application “Finder”
open “Macintosh HD:MyPreflightDroplet.app”
end tell
return input
end run
In Automator, select “save as plug-in—for folder actions”. Attach this saved item to a folder and you can have your workflow software send your saved PDF files to be checked by the preflight droplet.
You must change your workflow as often as your data changes. If you keep the scripting simple and let the software do all the work, you can easily develop new ways to improve your file processing. Change is not that difficult when you have the tools at hand that workflow software provides.
Trial versions of FullSWITCH and PowerSWITCH are available on the Gradual Software website: www.gradual.com
Automator software is available on any Mac running the Tiger version of Mac OS and the software for writing Javascripts (Extendscript Toolkit) comes with your Adobe CS2 or CS3 installation.
There are many factors and variables that affect our sales on any given day. There is however, one key skill that will help you increase your sales immediately.
Listen to your customer!
That’s it! That’s all it takes to close more sales. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Unfortunately, the majority of salespeople fail to listen.
In the countless sales transactions I watch, I notice that most salespeople don’t ask their customers enough questions. Sure, they generally uncover a few basic needs that the customer has. They know what customers are looking for in a product with regard to features, specifications, color, and price.
What they don’t do is probe to uncover additional information about the customer. They don’t ask him why he wants that specific product, or why she’s considering our company. They don’t learn what other companies the customer is considering or what the customer has seen. They don’t ask about likes or dislikes. They don’t find out what the customer’s hot buttons are or what makes him tick or what will motivate her to buy. They fail to gather enough information!
I believe that there are two primary reasons for this failure. First, we don’t believe that people will give us this information. The fact is, people will tell you anything you want to know—providing they trust you and you ask the right questions in the appropriate manner. For example, if a customer tells you that she is buying a product because she is going on a vacation, do you ask where she is going? Do you show interest in her holiday or are you too concerned with closing the sale? Are you more interested in your personal problems or watching the clock? In many cases, we are so preoccupied with something else that we miss vital clues customers give us.
An amazing thing occurs if you demonstrate even a tiny bit of interest in your customers. They’ll begin to open up! They’ll provide you with information you may not have learned otherwise. They’ll talk. They’ll tell you everything you need to know in order to close the sale. People love to talk about themselves and they’ll start to feel more comfortable with you as they talk. When people feel more comfortable they relax. We all know that a prospect who is relaxed will be more likely to buy than someone who is tense and uptight.
The second reason for not gathering sufficient information is that we feel it takes too much time. In my training sessions I frequently hear that this time is better used overcoming objections. My response is that if we gain more information and fully understand the customer’s motives and needs, we can often overcome objections before they occur. Use your time more effectively during the sales process. Instead of spending so much time overcoming objections, find out what your customers’ true concerns are beforehand. This will help you adapt your sales presentation to meet their specific needs, address their concerns, and move you closer to closing the sale. Ask yourself, “What information do I still need to help the customer make the appropriate buying decision?”
We’ve all heard the expression that knowledge is power. Gain leverage and confidence in the sales process by investing the time to gain knowledge about your customer. Do it consistently and you’ll develop stronger relationships with your customers, which, in turn, will help you close more sales.
The SGIA (Specialty Printing & Imaging Expo) was held in Orlando, Florida this October, and took us up-close and personal with the specialty imaging community in all its high-tech glory. Inkjet printers were again the highlight of the show. In conjunction with SGIA, DPI holds its Product of the Year competition, which compares digital imaging products that are increasing the speed and accuracy of specialty imaging in wide-format digital graphics.
Each product is judged based on its perceived value to the digital imaging community. The test image used for judging was designed to make output devices run through their paces by printing a number of challenging images and test patterns. Here are the top winners, in alphabetical order, for 2007 in the “Output Device” category.
Canon iPF5100
The iPF5100 aqueous printer is Canon’s next generation printer, and ranges in output size from 17” to 60” wide. The 12-colour printer is a pigmented ink archival printing system, which delivers excellent photographic prints. All new iPF models include an easy-to-use colour calibrator to help ensure output colour consistency and accuracy. They also support “Kyuanos” colour management technology for Windows, which delivers output colour suitable for different viewing conditions such as fluorescent lights, incandescent lights, or sunlight. The iPF5100 printers range from $1995 to $14,995 (US).
Durst Lambda 131
The Lambda 131 is a laser-based, large-format output device for high-resolution printing of images on photosensitive roll materials up to 50 inches wide. It is primarily designed for use in Commercial Pro Labs, but can also be used for portrait enlargements and in-plant industrial printing. The Lambda 131 LF Digital Photo Printer images up to 500 sq ft per hour. Features include a full continuous tone 36-bit colour space and exceptional image quality at 4000 dpi apparent resolution with no visible dots. The Lambda 131 sells for around $200,000 (US).
OCÉ 250 GT
The Océ Arizona 250 GT is a 4-colour UV-curable flatbed and roll-to-roll inkjet printer offering modular roll-to-roll capability that can also print onto rigid material up to 49” wide x 98” long, and take materials up to 1.89-in. thick. The optional roll-to-roll module can print onto flexible material up to 87” wide. The 250 GT can put down dots of seven different sizes, ranging from 6 to 42 picoliters; Océ claims the dot-size range results in “near-photographic image quality with sharpness only before seen at resolutions of 1440 dpi or higher. Text as small as 6 pt is legible.” The machine can hit a speed of 172 sq ft/hr, and sells for around $140,000 (US).
Roland Soljet Pro III XJ-640
The SOLJET PRO III XJ series of eco-solvent inkjet printers combine exceptional print speeds with photorealistic 1440 x 1440 dpi image quality using a six colour printing system. With print speeds up to 458 sq ft per hour, the XJ series excels at high-volume production of many wide-format products. To support high speed unattended printing, the XJ series comes equipped with an integrated tri-heating system and optional dryer/blower unit that accelerates the ink drying process. 74”, 64”, and 54” models range in price from $25,000 to $30,000 (US).
VUTEk 3360-Bio Vu
Famous for high productivity and exceptional colour quality, the VUTEk 3360 prints with solvent and dye-sublimation solvent inks at the flip of a switch using the VUTEk BioVu inks in four, six, or eight-colour modes in entry level and full production versions. The printer is also easily upgradeable for increased productivity of up to 1,600 square feet/hour. This 10’ super-wide printer achieves exceptional colour quality every time, printing up to 720 dpi apparent resolution for brilliant photographic colour reproduction on roll-to-roll and textile substrates. The VUTEk 3360 BioVu with fuser kit sells for around $310,000 (US).
VUTEk QS3200r
The VUTEk QS3200r is the newest printer in the QS Family. This roll-to-roll UV-curing printer combines High-Definition Print (HDP) capability with high production speeds and extended media capabilities to create a new breed of printer. The QS3200r caters to sign shops, screen printers, and print providers looking to complement or replace existing solvent or UV output with high image quality and roll-to-roll capability. With speeds over 1850 sq ft/hr, the QS3200r increases the amount of work produced, while still generating high-quality signs, displays, and banners. The printer also prints on a variety of substrates up to .125 inches thick and 126.5” wide. The VUTEk QS3200r sells for around $399,000 (US).
Recently, while performing a pollution prevention assessment for a medium-sized printer, I completed a study on the pros and cons of using an auto blanket wash system (as opposed to manual cleaning). Even though their Roland press equipment was equipped with an Autowash system, all cleaning of blankets and rollers on the presses is done manually using solvent-soaked rags (printer’s towels).
I found out that this practice is not as unusual as I thought in our industry. Manual cleaning can be an expensive, hazardous and environmentally questionable practice, for several reasons. First, there is a total loss of the solvent. Second, it involves excessive use (at great cost) of printers’ towels, which have to be picked up and laundered off site—the laundry service charges a premium for handling hazardous solvents, an energy surcharge, and an “environmental charge” for solvent disposal (even though it can be recaptured for re-sale). Third, there are greater reportable VOC emissions. Finally, press operators have more contact with hazardous solvents.
This particular print shop did not use their Autowash system because of a problem with the particular solvent used, which created an oily residue that dripped onto the paper stock. Other reasons included the cost of collecting the large amount of used solvent & water mix from the holding tanks and the hazardous nature of the manufacturer-recommended solvent used for their Autowash systems.
A study done many years ago by Baldwin indicated that, on a per-cleaning basis, the volume of solvent required to clean the same area of a blanket was less with an automatic system. I have no real reason to dispute the general claim, but what is interesting is that printers that installed these systems have reported that there was an overall increase in total solvent consumed and emitted. There could be a variety of reasons why this seemingly paradoxical increase in solvent use occurs, but it was clear that overall solvent consumption rose when they installed auto systems.
Benefits to Autowash
Today, the end benefit of using an auto blanket wash system is the ability to recapture, recycle, and reuse the cleaned solvent. This recapturing can save up to 80% (there is always some loss) of the cost for solvent purchases and reduces the corresponding reportable VOC emissions. Recycling units such as those made in Ontario by Uni-Ram are specifically designed to handle water-miscible blanket washes. They distill and separate water from the solvent, rendering clean water for reuse or safe disposal as well as the cleaned solvent. The other benefits to an auto wash is reduction in the number and costs of printer’s towels and the pressman’s reduced contact with hazardous solvents.
There are now many less toxic and lower VOC auto blanket washes available than there were in previous years. On striking a balance between cleaning efficiency, lower VOC emissions and toxicity, I would recommend you consider vapor pressure as the key component. Check the manufacturer’s technical and material safety data sheets for comparisons. Washes with low vapor pressures allow you to have solvency, no oily residue, and minimal employee exposure. A good starting point is to look at washes that have vapor pressure of less then 5 mm Hg at 20 degrees C or 68 degrees F.
Avoid solvents with aromatic content—such as xylene, cumene, toluene, naphthalene etc—because the aromatic solvents have more and greater toxic effects. Finally, consider the flash point. Generally, solvents with high flash points have low vapor pressure. High flash point is also safer, as it is less flammable. My preferred solvent materials are aliphatic petroleum distillates and C11 Cycloalkane. Such solvents have low vapor pressure, high flash points, and low photo-reactivity. Remember that Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) are smog precursors. By reacting with Ultra Violet rays (sunlight) they create low-level ozone that captures carbon and nitrous oxides and particulate emissions over our cities. Strong sun is why smog is so prevalent in summer.
No one that I know has done any study comparing hand wipe to auto system usage. However, the state of California is pushing to reduce the VOC content of roller and blanket wash to less than 100 grams per liter. I hesitate to recommend any particular solvent because it depends largely on the wash system, rollers, and type of press, but the recommendations that follow are based on my personal experience, for what that is worth.
From the study I conducted of over 50 solvents acceptable for Auto Wash systems; Anchor (Fuji), Day-Varn, and Rycoline have products that meet the above-mentioned criteria. Also, Tower Products and Printers Service (Prisco) have products on or coming on the market in the next month or so. Currently, over three dozen printers in the USA are using vegetable-based solvents out of Europe (Bottcher and Vegra). It seems that because of the chemical makeup of the solvents, printers use much less solvent (50-60 percent) in both hand and auto wash. I have been testing a Canadian product from Eco-Mist that is also vegetable- and tree-extract based. The waste stream depends on the type of solvent used, and the size and number of presses. However, the low vapor pressure, high flashpoint solvents generally generate more waste than their counterparts.
I will be involved with the testing of a number of the newer products in an auto-wash system and will keep you posted. In the meantime, if any reader has experience with an auto-wash solvent (good or bad), please let me know by emailing ecosafe@rogers.com.
Graphics Canada (November 8-10 at the International Centre in Mississauga, Ontario) brought together Canada’s heavy hitters in print and graphic design, as well as many new or smaller niche players just wanting to see what was going on in the industry. It was a great year for designers, as the Design City area held booths just for them, and nearly everyone else could also find at least one or two vendors in the four exhibition halls who were showing something of interest.
It was hard not to feel a sense of deja vu at this year’s show, as Graphics Canada was a mere two months after the Graph Expo show in Chicago, and most of the “new” products at Graphics Canada had already received their North American premiere. Some new/old highlights included Heidelberg’s Anicolor technology (featured in last month’s issue), HP’s Indigo 5500, and the MAN Roland HiPrint and Direct Drive 700-series presses. The Robert E. Thistle booth also featured some c.p. bourg machines that made their appearance at Graph Expo.
Strange, too, was the near-absence of “big iron” at the show—Heidelberg of course had the Anicolor and the Speedmaster set up and running in the “Heidelberg Hall”, and MAN Roland at least had information about the HiPrint and DirectDrive, but some of the other major players in the traditional offset market didn’t even have a booth. Front and centre at this year’s show, instead, were digital presses. HP, Kodak, and Fuji dominated the front hall, and Canon and Xerox made their presence known in Hall 3. Many smaller digital-focused companies were also on hand—particularly equipment resellers, many of whom offered excellent show-only deals to those looking to buy.
Both the big manufacturers and the smaller resellers sold many digital presses before, during, and after the show—staff members from Brantford’s Ball Media are pictured in the following pages with their new iGen. Pinnacle Litho, of Stoney Creek, Ontario, also made a big purchase at the show, snagging an HP Indigo 5500 for their shop. Presses weren’t the only thing generating leads or sales, of course—PDS Pressdown had lots of interest in their new Horizon BQ150 Book Binder, according to PDS’s Ken Warrington.
Another digital hit were homegrown favourites Gandinnovations. North American VP of Sales Cosimo Coffa is pictured in the following pages with their completely Canadian-made Jeti 3148X2, with linear-driven table, resolution up to 1200 dpi, and jet and nozzle replacement technology. Up to 6 nozzles per head can go out without any noticable drop in print quality. It also comes with a 5 year warranty, and white and clear ink options.
Besides digital presses, another theme running through this year’s show was, of course, environmental sustainability. Vendors big and small were all rushing to trumpet their environmental credentials, but it’s vital at trade shows (and anywhere else, for that matter) to evaluate the substance behind the style. Maratek had a small booth just inside Hall 3, but their visual aids made a big impact. They had mason jars of both used solvent and reclaimed solvent (reclaimed using their solvent recycling processes, naturally), and the contrast between the two was huge. One looked drinkable and one looked like it had been dredged from the bottom of Lake Ontario. I’ll let you guess which was which.
An organization that walks the environmental talk is the Forest Stewardship Council, who debuted their FSCXpert program, an educational program and designation for graphic arts professionals committed to responsible forest management. If you are a graphic designer or someone involved in the industry who cares about forests but does not directly supply or print on paper or other forest products, the FSCXpert designation allows you to proclaim your sustainable credentials (and help others become more sustainable) anyway. Find out more at http://www.fsccanada.org/FSCX/default.htm.
And speaking of products from forests, paper merchants were out in full force at the show, with Spicers making a splash in the front hall and xpedx celebrating their arrival in Canada in Hall 3. The Spicer booth had a quique passport idea at their booth. They provided exhibition-goers with a “passport” that got stamped at different stations as attendees made their way through the booth, ensuring that each visitor got the most out of their Spicers experience.
xpedx has opened two stores in Canada (Markham and Brampton), with more on the way. They are aggressively pushing in to the Canadian market, and have not ruled out acquisitions as a way to grow their brand, according to xpedx VP Michael Kearney.
Apart from equipment and consumables, there was much on offer at the show for printers looking to increase their efficiency. Avanti debuted their new Electronic Scheduling Board (a screenshot of which accompanies our Graphics Canada photo montage), which is currently in beta testing with several of their users. The scheduling screen can be projected onto a wall to retain the “whole-shop-knows-what’s-happening” feeling of a traditional, handwritten schedule, but offers many improvements on even existing electronic schedulers, such as being finite capacity capable.
Those looking to hire or those looking for a job would have been well-served to stop by the PrintLink booth, where Victoria Gaitskell and Myrna Penney reported an “excellent and busy” show as the matchmakers of the print world. Mary Black Recruiting was also on hand, complete with several stylish hats.
And speaking of personnel, the employees of tomorrow were out in full force each day of the show—students from Ryerson’s GCM program, as well as graphic design students from many local colleges and even some high school students, graced the show with their presence, and probably increased the demand for Spiderman posters by at least a factor of five.
Our booth was hopping at the show, and we even gave away a free blackberry to one lucky subscriber—Mr. Bob Brown from PROforma. (And a special thanks goes out to Heidelberg’s own Brian Ellis, who gracefully and impartially pulled the winning name out of our draw basket.) If you didn’t get a chance to subscribe or renew your free subscription at the show, head on over to www.graphicartsmag.com to do so.
Finally, as you can see from all the photos, there was great excitement and numerous innovations to be seen at Graphics Canada.
My fiancée and I are both in the printing industry, and both attended Ryerson University’s Graphic Communications Management program. Often, when gifts are being distributed, we marvel at the wrapping, or the card, or the binding on a book. There’s usually a minute or two of discussion on how it was done, how much it would cost, and the merits of the piece. Our families listen intently and then chuckle to themselves when the conversation is done. They are all curious as to how things are made, but for the most part, no one (save the two of us) is impressed with some of the more remarkable pieces we encounter.
I have often debated the optimum level of quality vs. quantity in the printing industry. I continually find pieces where I would have gladly paid the extra for the quality achieved, only to have a friend or family member chuckle at my willingness. Many such incidents have revealed to me that the only people impressed by printers’ work are other printers.
Printing awards are doubtless impressive to a first time buyer. Someone demanding high quality products may also be interested in these accolades, but to the average buyer, the bottom line seems to stand out. I love the printing awards, and am pleased as punch when I witness an award-winning piece. I glow with pride for the whole industry when I show off an unconventional piece that makes average people oooh and ahhh. It doesn’t even have to be a piece I personally worked on for me to feel this pride. It’s as if the award is going to a teammate, a brother in the common printing struggle.
However, I don’t get that warm fuzzy feeling as much as I used to. I cringe every time I hear the words “what a nice card,” and then watch that card get tossed aside like a napkin after an all-you-can-eat rib dinner. My suspicion that we only impress ourselves with our clever innovation increases daily. So what can we do about it?
Currently, printers must pay a fee to enter most printing awards contests. The pieces entered are often the few best samples of larger runs in the tens of thousands. The pieces are then judged by people with vast knowledge of print. While this process is almost perfect for deciding which printers would most impress other printers, it doesn’t indicate who the best printers are as far as the client goes. If you really want to impress end users, involve them in judging. Subcategorize pieces by price; it is unfair to compare pieces in different price brackets on the same scale. Finally, make nominations and entries free of charge.
I envision the process going something like this: anyone with the ability to buy print could log on to a website and nominate a piece. A piece must have five unique nominations in order to achieve a place at the judging table. (Unique nominations are ones from individuals who are not related through blood, business, or other means of mutual benefits.) In categories with an unusual number of nominations, only the top ten, based on total number of nominations, make it to the judging table.
The final judging is done by a panel of three clients, one industry official, one student of the industry, and two clients from a different market (such as Europe). Each section of the competition would use a unique group of judges, to ensure unbiased judging. The pieces would be judged on quality, value, impact, and originality.
By judging awards in this way, the industry would gain much more than through the current process. The industry would not only see what types of products impressed their customers, but would also be able to see what types of products gained the most recognition from customers on the whole. The awards could both serve as market research and as rewards to printers for a job well done. After the judging, what printer would not be willing to pay a small fee to receive such valuable information?
As always, email your questions and comments to johnathonanderson@graphicartsmag.com
Q. Our company just upgraded our Microsoft Exchange server and I can no longer send attachments. If I attach a jpeg, it arrives as zero K in size, unless I send it as a zip file. Is there a workaround?
A. The Internet deals best with ASCII text files. However many of the files we deal with regularly are also binary files. When a binary file is transferred on the Internet via an email program or via FTP transfer, the file may become corrupt. To prevent corruption, the files should be “encoded” into a text format before they are transferred.
When you create a “zip” archive or use stuffit “.sit” or Apple’s disk image “.dmg” you are in fact storing the file into a format that will survive transfer on the Internet. When you attach a file to an email client, the client will normally encode the files based on a default set up.
I recommend that all users of Microsoft email clients set the default attachments to “Windows base64/MIME” format. Apple Mail users can choose “Windows Friendly Attachments”. This is an encoding that all Windows machines understand. Windows computers comprise about 80% of all computers, so conforming doesn’t affect Mac users that much. In the case of the Exchange Server, the base64 formatted files will remain intact.
Q. We recently had our Network Storage Drive fail and we managed to copy the files to a hard drive. How can we share the files with the rest of our workgroup?
A. Network Storage drives are an inexpensive alternative to having a full-blown file server in your office. They normally run on a version of Windows and can publish shares via Apple FileSharing Prototcol (AFP), the Windows version of Samba (SMB), FTP, and HTTP, the latter two being Internet protocols not really designed for office file sharing.
The problem with the above-mentioned systems is that people generally don’t think about backing them up in case of disaster. If the system fails, you can get at the data without removing the hard drive and voiding the warranty. If the drive fails, you may not be able to recover the files at all. So no matter what solution you choose, you should always have a systematic back up to tape or to another hard drive.
If you can afford it, you can put in a File Server, like an Xserve with a RAID system. A RAID is a collection of hard drives and a controller computer that create a live back up of the existing data. They can be set up to Mirror, where a file is written to two identical hard drives, or they can be set up with Parity, where a group of three or more drives contains a snapshot of the contents of the other drives. With mirroring, the contents are identical, so if one drive fails you can get the information from the second. With a parity set (aka RAID 5) if a drive fails the system does not stop. It runs at 80 percent and gives you time to replace one of the drives. When the drive is replaced the controller rebuilds the contents on the new drive with information saved on the other drives.
With a proper server like an Xserve you can also set up shares, put users into workgroups, and control access to the files with access control lists. Such controls can be necessary if you have production, sales, and administration using the same server. You control who can access certain areas of the server, no matter if they are coming from a Macintosh or Windows computer. Servers can also manage printers, mail, ftp, and web, as well as many other services.
If you don’t have the budget for a full-blown server or you have a small workgroup, you can use a plain Mac and download SharePoints (http://www.hornware.com/sharepoints/). SharePoints allows you share folders to groups you create in the same fashion as the Mac OS 9 Finder. Mac OS X uses Unix POSIX permissions so that normally a file and folder belongs to their creator. This method is very secure, however, when working in groups, files and folders need to be accessible to the members. SharePoints makes the Mac act like a file server. As a result, members of the group have complete control over the files.
With a new year on its way, we are all encouraged to look ahead, and well we should! It is a wonderful time to make lifestyle changes, re-evaluate goals, and make plans for the future. They say that there comes a time in every person’s life when he must stop looking forward at the person he wishes to become, and instead must look back on the person he has become.
This year, at New Years, instead of making loads of goals for the future (All right, I’ll probably make a couple obligatory resolutions), I suggest looking back on your year in business. What did 2007 bring you? Try to stay away from the numbers–that can be done at tax time!–and think qualitatively about this one.
Were your customers truly satisfied? Did your business grow? Did you have any kinks or problems; and, if so, are you satisfied with how you worked through these issues? What can you do in 2008 that would help your business? Are your employees happy? Are you happy? Have you been showing your customers that you value them all year‚Ķor did you whip a few Christmas cards off the press in mid November and hope that would hold you through for another year in the “customer appreciation” category?
During the holiday season, customer appreciation is something that most companies, even if they have not done so all year, tend to think about! Sending out a mass mailing of holiday cards is a nice gesture, and as printers and designers we often take advantage of the opportunity to show off our silver embossing techniques, our cutting edge designs, or our fancy die cutting abilities. It is also a great time to demonstrate to clients an ability to personalize such items.
But what about the rest of the year? How do you show your clients how valued they are on a daily basis? A Christmas card might be a nice gesture, but to really stand out from the competition, you have to show your clients how much you appreciate their business throughout the year. There is so much competition out there that great customer service is vital to separate the successful from the not-so-successful. And one step up from solid customer service is showing your clients just how much you value them.
For some clients, a simple phone call every couple of months from one business owner to another can help ensure that things are running smoothly. Taking a client out for lunch or for a drink helps to develop a strong relationship and shows the value of their business. Go through your work flow patterns and identify any areas that could be improved. Doing “unexpected things at unexpected times” will definitely increase the impact of your efforts. For example, a bottle of wine sent on December 20th will get lost amidst a growing pile of gifts, while a bottle of wine sent in the middle of March with a hand written note that says “Thanks for all the business recently!” will really make your client take notice of you.
Another time to show the value of your client is during a–real or perceived–emergency. They need the artwork an hour ago. The cards were to be delivered last week. In these situations, you are able to show how much you care by going beyond the call of duty and helping your client out, whether that means working overtime, making a quick in-person delivery, or pulling yourself away from another project to focus on the client in need. The client will remember how you helped pull through and it will encourage them to stick with you, as they know how you really “step up to bat” when necessary.
All of this, of course, is not to say that a bottle of wine will go unappreciated over the holidays! After all, between the added deadline pressures, the increased social obligations, and the family get togethers, I think we could all use a glass…or two! Enjoy the Season!
The only way for packagers to stay profitable in the Canadian market is by continuing to find new solutions. Canadian packaging printers face challenges distinct from those faced by commercial printers, as the package manufacturing process is longer and more complex than for straightforward commercial printers. Yet packagers are consistent in creating eye–catching, attention–grabbing, and problem–solving packages for their clients’ products.
Packagers,like all printers, are under constant pressure to reduce costs and improve quality. The challenges are getting tougher, and also more interesting, as consumers demand more variety in the products they buy, as competition from the U.S. and overseas gets faster, cheaper, and more prevalent, and as domestic environmental and safety concerns begin to affect manufacturing processes.
Soft market
“The market is a little soft these days, at least in Ontario and Quebec,” says Mark Spurgeon, President of Tri–Ad Graphics, a company that has both commercial printing and packaging divisions; packaging accounts for two–thirds of its total volume. He attributes part of that softness to greater competition from U.S.–based packagers. “The U.S. companies who would previously not be interested in shorter runs are now bidding on them,” he says. About 15 per cent of Tri–Ad’s volume is for U.S. consumption. Canadian packagers have also lost the once–great price advantage they had when the Canadian dollar was worth 70 U.S. cents or less.
“We’ve seen some significant changes in the market over the past two years,” says David Haslam, Director of Specialty Engraving for Southern Graphics in its Mississauga location. “Three or four companies have retreated from the Canadian market, but three or four new ones have entered. Some of the larger companies have consolidated their operations, sometimes moving production to the U.S. facilities or even offshore.”
“You gotta fight for it, but business is out there,” says Gerry Richler, Chairman of Goldrich Printpak Inc. of Toronto.
The challenge of variety
Consumers today are demanding greater variety in the products they buy, and retailers and manufacturers are giving it to them. Twenty years ago you could buy one kind of Special K cereal—now there are at least three. This kind of brand variety is consistent in all sectors: candy, soft drinks, cosmetics, even medical and pharmaceutical products. And every different product requires a different package.
“The volumes might not change, but there are more SKUs [stock–keeping units] than ever before,” says David Haslam. That means smaller runs of different jobs.
Just–in–time manufacturing is also having an impact on packaging. “People use to print to inventory, then use their inventory of packages up. Not anymore,” says Haslam. Instead, customers want packaging to arrive exactly when they need it.
In contrast, Goldrich Printpak Inc. hasn’t found that clients are ordering short runs. “While some customers are trying to reduce inventory to save costs, they realize that they still need to achieve economies of scale with packaging,” explains Gerry Richler.
Packaging clients are getting more demanding. They want lower costs, faster turnarounds, and greater efficiency. And, of course, top quality.
“Quality...is a given,” says Richler. “If the package isn’t perfect, forget it.”
All packagers recognize the shrinking turnaround times they have to deal with, and the competitive pressures that keep a lid on prices. “Prices have eroded year on year. It’s something we have to find efficiencies in our operations to deal with,” says David Haslam.
Retailers are putting more pressure on their suppliers, and those producers and suppliers of consumer packaged goods are passing on a lot of the pressure back to the packaging companies. “For example, a supplier may ship goods to a retailer’s distribution centre, and the retailer would then apply shipping labels to individual cartons or skids to ship them to different stores,” explains Gerry Richler. “Now, they’re asking us, the packagers, to add those shipping labels.” It may not seem like a big request, but it makes a difference to the product supplier, and packagers that can add this service have a better chance of getting the job.
Innovative packagers see these pressures as opportunities to get more work. “Customers are looking for value–added services,” Richler says. Goldrich Printpak has responded by offering fulfillment services, not only making the packages but also inserting the products, and even shipping them. They’ve also added an e–commerce function, where their client’s customers will send electronic orders to Printpak, who will fill the order and notify their client about the orders, so the client can then process invoices.
Generally, packaging customers are looking to reduce the amount of product handling that they do, and are looking to other companies to do as much as possible. The packager is in an advantageous position to offer more services.
The use of radio–frequency identification (RFID) tags is slowly starting to take off, too. These tiny tags are attached to the outside of packages and broadcast data about the contents of the container they’re attached to; scanners pick up the information and feed it into an inventory or supply–chain management system. This automates much of the information processing in shipping and receiving and reduces errors: the identity, quantity, source and other information of incoming or outgoing products automatically enters a retailer’s or a supplier’s computer system. It can even be used on individual products at the check–out counter, as a faster alternative to bar–codes.
However, despite its benefits, the technology is not taking off very quickly. “The cost of the tags is an issue: if you’re selling a product for a dollar, and the RFID tag costs 50 cents, there’s not much economy in it,” says Richler. As a result, RFID tends to be used on skids, not on individual products.
Environmental pressures
Environmental activists are quick to highlight the waste produced by excess packaging and the thousands of tonnes of cardboard and plastic that regularly go to landfills. Recycling programs do reduce packaging’s environmental footprint, but there is still much government and environmental pressure to further reduce packaging waste.
“Boxboard is a renewable resource,” says Gerry Richler. “A lot of the content that we use is recycled, post–consumer waste, and most of what we produce can be recycled.”
“Customers’ concern about the environmental impact is steady, slowly gaining, but it’s not a huge factor,” says Mark Spurgeon. But that could change very soon. Wal–Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, has announced that it’s going to “measure” the ability of all its worldwide suppliers to develop innovative packaging that conserves natural resources. Wal–Mart is hoping to reduce the total amount of packaging it handles by five percent, starting in 2008.
Achieving Wal–Mart’s goal will reduce pressure on landfills, save about 667,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, and prevent the burning of 323,800 tonnes of coal and 66.7 million US gallons of diesel fuel.
Wal–Mart drives many trends in retailing and manufacturing. Their push to use radio–frequency identification (RFID) to speed up receiving of products has caused a major increase in RFID use and implementation in many industries worldwide. And if Wal–Mart is leading the way in reducing packaging on its shelves, other retailers and other kinds of companies are bound to follow suit — particularly since environmental awareness has both economic and PR benefits.
A five percent reduction in overall packaging produced will have a major impact on packaging producers—particularly when that’s compounded with the other trends affecting the industry.
Environmental concerns are also pushing printers and packagers away from using solvent–based inks. “Some of our clients have asked us to move away from solvent–based inks to water–based inks,” says Southern Graphics’ Haslam. They’re happy to oblige: not only does it make them better corporate citizens, but there’s little impact on the bottom line. “Water–based inks typically have more pigments, so they’re stronger, and we use less ink in the ink–water balance,” he explains. “With beer labels, it’s important to use water–based inks, because when the bottles are recycled, the labels wash off and the bottlers don’t want the solvent in the inks going into the water.”
Innovations
Packagers are creating innovative packages that use less material, yet provide more protection as well as space for promotional graphics. Goldrich Printpak won awards from the Canadian Packaging Association and a World Star award from the world packaging organization for its patented new box that sports fold–out side panels and presents only one point of entry. “It’s a book style box with ‘wings’ on each side that uses less material yet gives the producer more ‘real estate’ for promotional graphics,” says Richler. Also, since there’s only one way to open the box (many store–shelf boxes have two), it reduces the risk of pilferage.
Innovate for the future
Like commercial printers, packagers depend on emerging technologies to find new, more efficient production methods.
At the creative design end, Tri–Ad has started to use new three–dimensional design software from Esko and other companies to create realistic virtual mock–ups of packaging designs. “A three–dimensional model really does more to explain the concept and illustrate how it works for the customer,” says Spurgeon. “Not everyone can see how a flat design will translate into a solid box or package. And it’s not totally for the customers’ benefit — it also helps our designers.”
In the flexographic and lithographic sectors of the packaging industry, businesses are turning to many of the same technologies as commercial printers, particularly computer–to–plate output. “CTP has had a huge impact in terms of quality, efficiency, and speed,” says Goldrich Printpak’s Richler. “Some clients don’t want to use it, and insist on staying with film. But with CTP, if we notice an error in a file on press, we can produce another plate in 20 minutes. If we have to go back to film, well, it can take hours or even days.”
In the high–end gravure sector of packaging, Southern Graphics is starting to use laser systems to etch or expose images on their cylinders; this provides “offset quality with gravure capability” for very long runs and durability, says Haslam.
And in the pressroom, automation and digital increase efficiency in order that packagers may meet rising client demands. The Opaltone seven–colour process printing system, like the Hexachrome six–colour system, helps Tri–Ad reduce costs and boost efficiencies. “It’s not a fit for every job, but it can provide some savings in printing,” says Spurgeon.
Packagers are an innovative bunch. Eroding prices and rising raw material costs continue to challenge them, but successful packagers are finding new ways to innovate and provide more value for their clients.
Recently I was having a discussion with a client, the Chief Executive Officer of his organization, about the role he played in his organization.
My client stated that he was the best appraiser that the organization had, and that he knew more than anyone else about appraising.
The Vice President of the organization had also come up through the appraiser ranks. He, too, saw himself as one of the leading sources of knowledge in the area.
The difference between the two was that the CEO was no longer an appraiser, even though he occasionally slipped back into that mode. He was a manager, and had carried out that role for many years. The Vice President, on the other hand, was still an appraiser, and had never made the transition to being a manager—though his title indicated that he was a high level manager. He still got involved with the minutiae of his area of expertise.
The above example is not unique, and actually occurs quite frequently. Those who carry a management-type title often do not break away from being an operator to fully embrace their new roles as managers.
I have written before about the big jump from “employee” status to low-level “manager” status. Those who make the switch have to move away from their old way of doing things, and often break away from their former social environment.
However, simply changing behavioral patterns and making new friends does not mean that someone has taken on the mantle of management. Many individuals don’t recognize that management requires certain skills and actions. They are able to run their businesses, often successfully, for a lengthy period of time, working as an operator while carrying the title of manager.
These individuals instinctively know when more sales are needed. They know how to rearrange schedules in a way that delivery commitments are met. They take calculated risks when disciplining individuals or taking short-cuts in safety matters. They know where to locate raw materials when the market is in short supply. Sometimes they know the business so well that they can step in and do any job in the building at a time of crisis. They are good operators, but not necessarily good managers.
What does the manager do differently?
He or she may know the business very well, and may know and be able to perform many—if not most—of the jobs in the company. However, managers seldom find themselves getting directly involved in the day-to-day operating of the business.
Managers make sure that the people that work for them are capable of doing the jobs they are given. They ensure that their subordinates get the development and training necessary to perform at a satisfactory level. By training employees well, the manager does not have to step in and do their jobs when a crisis arises.
By not operating the business, the manager is able to plan for the continued future of the business.
Sometimes such a person gets too far removed from the business and thus loses credibility with her staff. However, by developing measuring techniques, good managers are able to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the business. They are then able to develop strategies to overcome the weaknesses and take advantage of the strengths.
The operator frequently does not have, or want to have, a bunch of measurement devices in place. To the operator’s mind, he knows what is going on in the business and can react quicker than the person that depends on figures. The problem with this approach is that sometimes the obvious problem is not the root cause of the business’s distress, and the operator is too close to the action to distinguish the cause from the symptom.
If I were to own a company, I would love to have it run by good operators. They can make a lot of quick money for the company and themselves. However, I would not want to hold a company as a long-term investment without a sound manager in place.
So which one are you—operator or manager?
The Digital Imaging Association has traditionally held an informative – and well attended – breakfast meeting at Graphics Canada. And this year was no exception.
A full house enjoyed an excellent breakfast and started their day with a rousing, entertaining, humourous, and uplifting presentation. The message of the morning’s address was clear—there is life ahead with—and for—print.
The DIA was fortunate to have Daniel Dejan, National Print & Creative Specialist for Sappi Fine Paper, as our guest presenter. Mr. Dejan is an internationally renowned keynote speaker. In his position with Sappi, he provides value-added marketing, sales, and technical consultation as well as conducting internal (in-house) and external (end-user customer) training and educational programs for the printing and creative communities.
Bob Weller from Transcontinental Printing introduced Daniel Dejan. Bob has had the privilege of hearing Daniel present in the past, and shared with the audience how inspiring that was and how he came away with a solid reaffirmation that he had chosen a strong industry to devote his career to. He also shared that Daniel substantiated the message that there continues to be a very long life-line for ink on paper.
The following are questions that many in our industry ask:
Is print on the way out?
Will on-line shopping eliminate catalogues?
Will hardcover books be replaced by “ebooks”?
Will marketers find a way to break through Spam blockers and destroy the direct mail business?
Or…will print grow and prosper printing Amazon.com catalogues?
Sappi Fine Papers has done some significant research on the above questions, and Dejan provided explicit examples of how the power of the printed message now works in tandem with other information deliverables. In fact, DIA attendees were able to see how print does and will continue to drive traffic to other media. Print persists as a strong component of branding and marketing initiatives.
Print has endured. When radio came, everything was ok, print communications blossomed. Then came television, and still everything was ok, print communications continued to blossom. And then came digitization. Turns out that the digitization of our industry was both a boom and a bust. Said Dejan “When we learned how to digitize information the paradigm shifted.”
What that shift has evolved to, among other things, is permission-based marketing. And, asked Dejan, how do you get permission? Through print—to drive people to your web site where you can invite them to provide contact information. Now you’ve got their permission to e-mail or mail your very targeted information.
Print is not the lowest-cost deliverable, but it does have the best ROI, best return on customer, best memory retention value, and the highest trust quotient when compared to other media.
To quote some of the text in a publication all attendees were invited to take away with them (beautifully printed, of course on Sappi papers):
“Of course, print gets its heart and soul from the combination of pictures and words on paper. It leaves more to the imagination than moving pictures do.”
“What would a magazine be without the advertising? It’s part of the whole experience. True, not all print ads may grab you the same. But many are so clever, touch a nerve so well, we tear them out and tape them to our walls and refrigerators. We dog-ear them to show our friends.” Can you think of a media other than print that enables this?
Think about your own purchasing decisions. Sappi’s statistics show that these choices are often made as a direct result of advertising in or on the following medium:
Impressive numbers, but print loves company and that truth is becoming increasingly evident. Statistics also prove that a media mix with an integrated message delivers considerably more results than advertising in only one medium.
Another print vehicle that has enjoyed significant growth is direct mail. In fact, Dejan advised that it is the fastest-growing print segment, save packaging. And aren’t both of these growth sectors entirely print based?
Fueled by good food, good company, and good news, most attendees to the DIA presentation ventured on to the trade show floor where they saw more evidence that print is alive and well—and continuing to thrive.
The room was full and they all had the same question: how do I design, spec, produce, and use print in the most environmentally responsible way? More than 200 designers, printers, and corporate marketers met November 19 at Simon Fraser University in downtown Vancouver to learn more.
Speakers at Runningreen focused primarily on paper—its manufacture and reuse—because it is a key component of printed graphic communications; only a small percentage of printed material consists of ink or toner on a substrate other than paper. For any given print job, the cost of the paper may account for 30-50 percent of the overall project cost. Because paper is key to all things print, it’s clearly in everybody’s best interest to pay close attention to how it’s used—and any process that uses paper sensibly saves money.
Two key players—Hemlock Printers and BC Hydro—brought the event to fruition. Hemlock Printers, a recipient of numerous awards, including Most Environmental Printer in Canada in 2006 and 2007, an Ethics in Action Environment award, and a City of Burnaby Environment Award, provided a lot of the “man power” (or “woman power”) in the form of Kate Scholz, Hemlock’s Sustainability Research and Communications Coordinator to manage Runningreen. It was Cathy Bullen, a private consultant working with BC Hydro, who first suggested the event to Dick Kouwenhoven, President/CEO of Hemlock Printers.
BC Hydro is committed to becoming a leading sustainable energy company by producing and delivering electricity in environmentally and socially responsible ways, however Cathy looked inside BC Hydro’s “house” to find ways the company itself could operate in a more sustainable manner, and she discovered the opportunity to address issues around the use and production of printed materials. While developing a detailed questionnaire to evaluate environmental performance and social/community responsibility in conventional printing services, Cathy and Dick became committed to helping other companies source “responsible” printing.
Harry Potter – the “Other” Success Story
Beginning with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Raincoast Books, publisher of Harry Potter in Canada, went “green” and the last three books were published on recycled and Ancient Forest Friendly paper.
Allan MacDougall, President/CEO of Raincoast Books, has been an Ancient Forest Friendly signatory since 2001. Allan is convinced that the adoption of recycled and ancient forest free paper, while not intended to be a marketing initiative, has resulted in more books sold. Though the series has come to an end, Allan is looking forward, “We’ve had a great ride, but the ride is over. Now we’re on to more.” Raincoast Book uses Ancient Forest Friendly paper in more than 90 percent of the books it produces.
Green Design Choices
Applying sustainable principles to graphic design considers all impacts—and potential savings—at the beginning of the document lifecycle. Richard Kouwenhoven, VP Digital solutions, Hemlock Printers and chair of Hemlock’s Sustainability Committee and of the Fraser Basin Council’s Sustainability Purchasing Network, suggested that designers bring in their print service partners early in the design process and look for suggestions to optimize resources, maximize value, and lower costs.
Some opportunities include:
- Optimize press sheet utilization
- Gang projects on common substrates
-Adjusting piece sizes to maximize the number on a page
- Design in standard sizes
- Order custom sheet sizes for high volume jobs
- Avoid bleeds or solid borders to allow for “dead cuts”
- Carefully consider your order quantity; make-up quantities can be cheaper than the cost of the initial overrun thanks to advancements in digital printing and direct imaging technologies
- Reduce the number of printed pieces by targeting communication with versioning and personalization rather than generic, mass marketing
- Richard also offered a number of resources to learn more about design considerations for a greener print project:
- AIGA—Center for Sustainable Design (http://sustainability.aiga.org)
- Design Can Change (http://designcanchange.org)
- Partners in Design (www.pidseattle.com)
- World Changing (www.worldchanging.com)
Picking Responsible Paper
A panel made up of Kathy Abusow, President/CEO of SFI (Sustainable Forest Initiative), Tony Marcil, President of FSC Canada (Forest Stewardship Council), Nichole Rycroft, Executive Director of Markets Initiative, and Constance McDermott, Program Director of Yale University School of Forest Policy and Governance, discussed and debated the range of environmental paper impact controls available to paper buyers and users.
What SFI and FSC standards deliver:
- Avoidance of illegal timber
- Identification of special biologically or culturally sensitive sites and/or heritage sites
- Management strategies to protect species at risk and to maintain wildlife habitat
- Sustainable harvest levels and prompt regeneration
- Social, economic and environmental representation in decision-making
- Third party accredited certification audits
- Audit reports publicly available with corrective action clearly highlighted.
Certification Programs
The “Chain of Custody” (CoC) certification provides a guarantee to print buyers and users that any product with the FSC or SFI label can be tracked back to an approved source. To become certified can take as little as 4 weeks and requires five steps:
- Contact an accredited certifier
- Submit an application to the certifier
- Complete an on-site audit
- Receive certification approval
- Complete an on-site audit annually to maintain certification
Whether or not a printer chooses to submit for CoC certification, the certification requirements are good business practices; printers should consider implementing CoC management and record-keeping procedures. Many of the procedures can be incorporated in ISO 9001 or ISO 14001 certification.
FSC Chain of Custody Requirements
Quality System—These requirements cover the company’s internal procedures, staff training, record keeping, and the scope of the certificate—that is, the groups of products and product lines that are included in the certificate.
Wood and Fiber Sourcing—Identification of the materials that can be included in FSC certified products, the company’s written specification for materials, and the requirements for receiving and storing these.
Production Controls, Record Keeping—Monthly records of FSC production that track the quantity, batch number, the average content of FSC material in each product group, and identify the FSC claim period are required. Identification of the materials that can be included in FSC certified products, the company’s written specification for materials, and the requirements for receiving and storing these.
FSC Labels—FSC labels identify the quantity of FSC, reclaimed, recycled, and/or controlled material in the final product.
Documentation—Sales invoices and shipping documentation are needed to track FSC materials and/or product materials.
Get copies of the FSC CoC certification requirements at: http://www.fsccanada.org/ChainofCustody.htm
Get copies of the SFI CoC certification requirements at: http://www.sfiprogram.org/coc.cfm
FSCXpert‚–¢ Program
Designers, print buyers, and others can participate in a new program offered by the FSC called FSCXpert. It is an educational program and designation for individuals who are committed to responsible forest management, and who have the knowledge and skills to successfully source and manage projects that use FSC-certified paper.
To become an FSCXpert, go to www.faccanada.org/fscx to register for the program. Upon completion of the learning program and passing an exam, you will be provided with a unique identification number and added to a published list of FSCXperts.
Picking Responsible Processes
“We’re on the cusp of a fundamental change to the way that we do business,” said Gary A. Jones, Director, Environmental Health, & Safety Affairs, GATF. “This issue will not go away. As first steps to change, Gary recommended process changes in the prepress, press, and postpress areas.
Prepress
While many printers have already converted from a traditional film workflow in prepress, those who have not yet should consider moving to CTP (computer to plate) because it eliminates film and film processing. This single process change can have a huge effect on waste and management of toxics. Flexo printers should look to replace perchloroethane with hydrocarbons or water washable plates.
Explore dry, inkjet, or water-based digital proofing systems, or investigate soft proofing. Soft proofing not only eliminates all the potential environmental risks of producing a proof, it also eliminates the transportation costs of delivery.
Press
For conventional litho and flexo printing, examine inks and coatings carefully and incorporate low VOC, vegetable oil-based, UV, and/or heavy metal free inks. For more on printing ink colors that exceed current EPA maximum on copper and barium, download Partners in Design’s publication True Colors? Copper and Barium in PMS Colors at http://www.pidseattle.com/ECO/rescfaqs.html
Litho printers should move to fountain solutions that are alcohol free or contain no air toxics, and filter them. For both litho and flexo printers, solid laminates or solvents that use an oxidizer or carbon adsorption are good picks. For cleaning solutions—in the press room and around the company in general—use ones containing low VOCs (volatile organic compounds), low vapor pressure, and eliminate toxics. When possible, recover and reuse cleaning solutions.
Digital presses may eliminate some of the environmental concerns present with traditional presses, but they have their own challenges. To meet the challenges from ink jet inks and laminates, use water-based products, those with low VOC, implement UV processing, and replace products that emit HAP (hazardous air pollutants). Capture and control of solvents should be implemented where economically feasible. In the end, always recycle ink jet or dry toner cartridges and imaging oil from Indigo wet toner.
Postpress
During postpress, examine workflows to reduce makeready and setup waste and recycle all spoilage. Implement low or no VOC or recyclable coatings, laminates, and adhesives.
Picking Responsible Vendors
Posing the question to designers and print buyers who want to make a good environmental impact, Tom Gorham, President and Managing Partner of Envision Compliance, an environmental consulting firm, suggested that there are four questions to ask before choosing a printer:
Does my client—or do I—want to promote a “Green” marketing position?
Does my client—or do I—have a moral obligation to look for “Green” products?
Do we have to be revenue neutral in finding a responsible printer?
Am I, as a designer or print buyer, willing to spend time bringing my client or my company up to speed on the need to procure printing that has been produced using sound and environmentally responsible practices?
If the answer to all four questions is “yes,” then build a questionnaire—an “audit” if you will—that will help you identify printers who will meet your criteria. How do they manage the air quality, water quality, and waste—inside and coming out of the plant? Does your printer embrace new industry practices such as CTP? Do they have a management system in place that includes written management protocols and an environmental initiative with an internal champion? A holistic management system will cover operational procedures and health, safety, and environmental programs.
There are general business practices that are usually good indicators of environmental responsibility:
- The printer has a very organized and clean working environment.
- The printer is sought out by reputation for being a leader in technical advances.
- The printer has a demonstrated commitment to social issues such as environment and employee relations.
- The printer communicates new printing ideas and practices with his clients.
To learn more about criteria offered by green procurement specialists:
- Ecologo (http://www.ecologo.org/en/seeourcriteria/)
- EPA (www.epa.gov/cpg/)
- Environment Canada (http://www.greeninggovernment.gc.ca)
- Sustainable Green Printer Partnership (http://www.sgppartnership.org - will be launched March 2008)
Conclusion
It’s in everybody’s best interest to pay close attention to environmental issues. Printers can affect the environment in so many ways because there are so many choices that can be made on the production floor. Select those actions that are cost effective and will make the biggest impact in the operation.
Opportunities to go green are plentiful, as right now is the beginning of a new movement and a great time to become involved. Getting ahead of the game puts you in a good competitive position and you can use your accomplishments to help drive standards going forward.
For designers and corporate marketers, consider that the best possible point to reduce waste is from the point of demand generation. Better planning means that printed products are designed, produced, and used in the most efficient and effective manner to eliminate the production of waste.