How many times do you look at an under-performing employee and wonder how that individual was hired? An even more disturbing thought is wondering how that person stayed employed with your company for so long.
The answer to both questions lies in the fact that management most likely did not carry our their responsibilities properly.
It’s likely that management did not do a good job during the recruitment process; in many instances, they did not do an in-depth scrutiny of references.
Poor management and poor recruitment aside, employee probation is the topic on the agenda this month.
What should probation be?
The Oxford dictionary describes probation as follows: “testing of a person’s conduct or character.” One should add to this description: “testing of a person’s competency, knowledge and skills.”
The basic idea is determining whether an individual has the ability to perform the work required and fits with the culture of the organization.
How can this be done?
I would suggest that whenever an employee is hired, at the outset of his/her employment, the hiring manager should spend some time with the employee informing him/her of the standard of performance that is expected of an individual in the given position.
As part of the discussion, the manager should set clearly described goals that are expected to be achieved within given time periods. Those time periods should not all be scheduled for the last week or month of the probationary period; goals should be set for the first month of employment. Similarly, objectives should be set for the second and third months and etc.
Managing the probationary period
When an employee is hired and told that he/she will be on probation for six months, it doesn’t mean that employee has to be retained for that length of time. The probationary period is set so that management has the opportunity to appraise the work of the employee. It allows management to see whether he/she is fitting in with the company’s values and culture. It also gives the employee the opportunity to determine whether this is the right job for him/her.
Unfortunately, in too many organizations, there is a sense that a three-month or six-month probation period is a guarantee of employment.
When a manager realizes that an employee is not working out and suggests that he/she be released well before the end of the probationary period, the manager often encounters resistance to such a move from the Human Resources department or similar function.
HR will often suggest that the probationary employee has not been given sufficient time to learn the new job. If the manager has not set goals for the probationary employee, he/she is hard pressed to defend his/her position, and as a result, is often persuaded to give the employee more time.
If one assumes that the operating manager knows and understands his/her workforce, then when he/she is cajoled into allowing the probationary employee more time, the company is incurring an unnecessary direct cost as well as an opportunity cost.
The probationary period
Some companies have a policy stating that a probationary employee can be fired at any time during the probationary period without notice or pay in lieu of notice. This is basically correct, providing that the probationary period is not longer than three months. After three months, the Employment Standards Act requires that an employee is entitled to one week’s notice or one week’s pay in lieu of notice.
However, legislation regarding probationary periods does have some obscure facets. As a result, it is always best to specify in a new employee’s contract or letter of employment the fact that the employee must successfully pass the probationary period, and that his/her employment can be terminated at any time without cause and/or notice subject to the Employment Standards Act. The length of such period should be spelled out. Make sure that when describing the length of a probationary period, you stipulate that it is only for the time worked.
Performance review
A manager should mark on his/her calendar the date when employees’ probationary periods will expire. A notation to this effect should be made at least a month before the expiry date. The reason for making such a notation is to ensure that a performance review will occur prior to the expiry date. Preferably, performance reviews will have been conducted earlier and on a regular basis prior to the end of the probationary period.
Unfortunately, many managers don’t do this. Even more unfortunate is that too many managers don’t review performance even at the end of the probationary period. The result is that you inherit incompetent employees causing you to wonder why they were ever hired in the first place.
The holy grail of printing is a visual match from proof-to-press. In a perfect world, the content creator should be able to produce an internal proof that is within 5% of the final print run. This all sounds like a goal only our grandchildren will achieve, but the reality is that with the introduction of new initiatives by IdeAlliance, the introduction of the G7 press calibration process and the GRACoL printing specifications, we just might see this sooner than you think. The truth is, this has been setup in a number of printers within Canada, and more are getting on board.
Here’s the Concept
The presses are calibrated via a method called G7, and plate curves are created with specific goals; colorimetric grey balance at the midtones, image contrast and image weight. Using this system, a visual match is achieved within specific tolerances.
Before starting the G7 calibration method, you need to make sure the device being calibrated, (printing press, proofing system, etc.) is in good working order and operating stably. Like any other calibration method, G7 won’t stabilize an unstable device! An ICC profile is made publicly available and used downstream by the content creators for proofing. This gives the designer a target to aim for and an ICC profile to use in proofing. A connection between creator and printer is made.
The proof:
Sure the concept sounds good, but does it actually work? The answer is, yes, on many fronts. Sina Printing was recently certified as a Master GRACoL Printer. What that means is a qualified consultant conducted an audit of their production workflow, created custom CTP curves targeting the GRACoL specifications and submitted their final press sheets for approval. Once approved, they are listed as a Master Printer and gain respect in the print buying community as a printer that can hit a specific target-GRACoL.
If you are an agency looking to buy printing, it makes sense to look for a printer that has been approved as a GRACoL Master Printer and set up your internal proofing using the GRACoL2006_Coated1v2.icc profile.
Mike Meshkati from Sina Printing says: “Since the G7 calibration and GRACoL setup, we have seen faster make-readies and a significantly closer match to our proof on all our presses.”
The details:
In the past, we have setup presses to target specific dot gains (TVI) and solid ink densities. But, the trouble with this method is that it’s completely different from the more recent colorimetric approach being adopted in colour management. Now that colour management has proven itself, we are able to apply the same concepts to the press.
What we are doing with the G7 calibration method is using grey balance and lab values to ensure that the press is not just matching the numbers, but also matching visually. This is were this system differs from the more traditional approach. When a device is grey balanced, you are establishing a baseline for which all other colours build from. It is not all that different from the days of running a drum scanner. We would set out white point (in this case the paper), then set out black point and lastly, adjust the cast to ensure grey balance. Once those three main variables were locked down, the secondary colours fell in line.
If you want to learn more about the G7 calibration method and the GRACoL specification you can visit www.gracol.com.
Printing has changed more in the last 50 years than it has in the previous 200–and with each change, there are new opportunities and challenges. Let’s look at the evolution of the digital printing era, some of the challenges faced, the opportunities it has created and where we are today.
With film, we refined what we were doing to the point where we could print some high-quality images with resolutions of 200 – 300 LPI. We had good proofs that accurately represented what was expected on the printed sheet. Then, we moved into the digital era that opened up many new doors.
Some new companies emerged on the scene that were not printers, but were computer savvy and saw great opportunities in the printing trade. Creo and Presstek were a couple of the more notable ones. These companies worked on being able to take the digital image from the computer and accurately transfer it to a plate (CTP) without the need for film. They also transferred information from the computer directly to the press (DI).
In the beginning, they worked with a “spark technology” that gave us an image that didn’t have the sharp, clean dots and nice rosettes that we were accustomed to with film. Instead, the dot was rather splattered and had fuzzy edges to it.On the upside, we had pleasing colour, which was fine for some work, and we had eliminated film, which was both a time saver (no stripping required) and money saver (the cost of film). It also gave us the ability to make changes in copy at the last minute and still deliver the job on time (instant four-colour process printing). We soon changed from the spark technology to laser technology, which gave us a much sharper and cleaner dot on the plate.
COMPARING CTP DEVICES
At this point, the plate manufacturers were working hard to make good plates that worked well with the CTP technology. In the beginning, the CTP plates were expensive and sensitive to external conditions. If everything wasn’t right in the imaging and processing stage, you’d have many problems on the press.
Two types of plates and platesetters (CTP devices) emerged here–thermal plates that aren’t light sensitive and are imaged with IR radiation at 830nm with an external drum device, and the light-sensitive photopolymer and silver halide plates, which are imaged with an internal drum device. The photopolymer violet plates are imaged at 400 – 410nm and the silver halide at 488 – 532nm.
The advantages of the thermal plates included a good, sharp, stable dot with a tonal value change less than 0.5% during running. Because of its stability, it’s a good plate for FM (Stochastic) screening and it will usually give you longer runs. The main advantage of the violet plates is the cost–they’re less expensive than thermal plates.The dot on these plates is not as sharp as thermal plates and noticeable sharpening of the dot and tonal value changes are apparent the longer the run is. This plate has a tonal value change of more than 1% and is, therefore, not compatible with FM screening. The silver halide plates are very dirty to work with and are also high maintenance.
At the same time, technology was changing quickly in the prepress area as there were both challenges and great opportunities in the creation and manipulation of images. Companies like Corel, Quark and Adobe were leading the way here. Some of the early challenges were banding in vignettes and moirés, especially in flesh tones and rough edges on letters and images. These have long since been resolved by changing dot shapes, image resolution and in some cases, screen angles.
ACCURATE PROOFING AND PRINT COLOUR MANAGEMENT
Once we were able to do away with film, a whole new problem came about. Those good, accurate proofs we used to produce were made from film, so we could no longer give the customer an accurate proof; also the press operator didn’t know what the job would look like. He/she would sometimes have an original or previous copy to check against, but there is less dot gain with CTP than with film, so he/she would try to do colour correction on the press to match the previous copy. The problem was, the operator didn’t have a hope of being accurate.
So,we had to find a way of using this digital information to create accurate proofs.
The first reasonable digital proof was the Iris. It gave us a good idea of what could be expected on the press, although it had a very light blue screen throughout the background and wasn’t as accurate as we had become accustomed to with film.
Better software programs were developed where ICC profiles could be put in place for output to better printers. (HP and Epson are the dominant ones at the moment). Many of these ICC profiles were “canned” profiles that didn’t match the conditions of the print shop, or work in the same colour space as the presses in that print shop.Any good, accurate proof has to work within the same colour space that the printing press is able to print, so print colour management is required to tie everything together. There are many steps to proper print colour management, and every device used in the production of a printed piece has to be hallmarked and calibrated to set standards. Identifying and documenting these standards is the first step.
The following should all be taken into consideration: CTP device, type of plates used, proofing device, type of proofing material, dot shape, line screening, AM or FM screening, press type and conditions, inks, paper, blankets, dampening solution, target densities, LAB, dot gain values (are they ISO, GRACoL or customer-defined standards?), measuring devices (densitometer, spectrophotometer) and device settings (status T, DIN 16535, D50, D65) and so on. Once this is done, the CTP and proofing devices can be calibrated to base standards through computer programs. An ink weight profile is set for the proofer and a linearization curve is applied to the platesetter. Measurable control elements should be put in place to assure these device settings have not changed. We next fingerprint the press by running a test form with linear plates to the defined inking standards. Once this is done, we can measure the elements of the test form and compare where we are in relation to our dot gain and grey field targets. Computer programs today will allow us to feed in this information and calculate what changes have to be made to hit our predefined targets. A process curve is then made to alter the image on the plate so that the printed sheet meets the target standards.
At this point, we can extract the colour space information from the test form to create an ICC profile. This digital information defining the colour space that our press is able to print in, is then put into the program that sends the information to the proofer. We now have our printing press and proofer working in the same colour space so we’re back to the point where the proof and the printed sheet match. We have a predictable result that both the printer and customer can rely on. This ICC profile can be sent to any agency, design house or anyone that can make proofs for you, so the result is always the same.
OTHER DIGITAL OPPORTUNITIES
We’re beginning to see more “soft proofing” (i.e., sending the customer the proof in a digital format to view it on a computer monitor. This is not quite as accurate as a “hard proof” because we’re transferring CMYK information to an RGB output. The important factors here are that your ICC profile is applied to the customer’s program and that the viewing conditions are controlled so one can view it properly).
Another opportunity that came from digital was the ability to create CIP3 (PPF) and CIP4 (JDF) files that have allowed us to communicate with and between all the devices in the print shop, prepress, press, post press and beyond. Digital image information is now used at the press to preset the ink fountains so that when a new job is put on the press, accurate colour to predetermined values is achieved in a minimal number of sheets.
There are also programs that will update compensation curves for this information as conditions change (i.e. different inks, paper etc., to keep the inking profile as close as possible to perfect when a new job is loaded. A full makeready on a large multi-colour press can now be done in less than half an hour).
Post press devices are also able to use this information for setup. There’s no longer a setup at the cutter for jobs with many cuts. What used to take days and weeks to produce is now produced almost instantly.Today, we can receive a job in the morning, and deliver it later that day. The important thing to remember here is that you have to set standards and calibrate everything to those standards to get a consistent and predictable result.
THE CHANGING WORLD OF PRESSROOM CHEMISTRY
If you believe that the printing industry has changed dramatically in the past 50 years, consider the fact that supporting industries must also change to facilitate the success of print shops today.
Pressroom chemistry is no exception. With the sophistication of printing presses, papers and other pressroom staples, has come a whole new set of problems relating to production-calcium carbonate, dot spread, linting, premature plate wear, pH and conductivity, problems with rollers, fountain solutions, and so on.
Over the past several years, pressroom chemical manufacturers have plotted a bold course of innovation through research and development breakthroughs. Each time a new problem developed in the pressroom, chemical manufacturers were there–not just with chemistry solutions, but with production solutions as well.
When I joined Commercial Litho Plate Graining in 1951, the shift to offset printing using aluminum plates as opposed to zinc plates was already underway. This was a major turning point in the industry at that time, so we devised a breakthrough processing method that made our company’s wipe-on plates the most successful in North America.
Today, chemical products for the pressroom number in the hundreds and include fountain solutions, alcohol replacements, plate cleaners, protective gums, solvents, silicone and other specialized products. They’re all formulated specifically to solve common problems that occur in the pressroom. With Unigraph International, for example, every one of our products is also pre-tested under carefully controlled conditions in our own manufacturing plant. They must meet the highest quality of the printing industry and cover every conceivable machine-sheetfed presses, heatset web presses, coldest newspaper web presses and so on. But, equally important these days is 24-hour technical support that helps printers reduce one of the costliest problems in the pressroom–downtime. To share this problem-solving expertise, field technicians must keep pace with virtually every emerging new technology in the industry. And this includes the ongoing realization that we must create products that make less of an impact on our environment; in other words, biodegradeable “green” products.
As the printing industry faces the challenging CTP and digital eras, pressroom chemical manufacturers will continue to be at the forefront of changes that reflect the rapid pace of our industry’s thirst for new technologies. Look at it this way: you might drive the most expensive, technically sophisticated car on the road, but see what happens when you start running out of motor oil for your engine or coolant for your radiator!
My customer asked me: “Can I print using electronic ink like the Esquire cover?”
The first time I saw E-Ink in action was on Oct. 1 at Ryerson University’s Press Inauguration at the School of Graphic Communications Management. As Chair, Abhay Sharma, held the October issue of Esquire magazine up high above his head. I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. “Could it be? Is‚Ķis the cover moving?”
To be honest, it took me a second to really understand. In perfect harmony with the rest of the group, “oohs” and “ahs” filled the room. With a reaction as superb as this, it’s no wonder publishers are interested in duplicating the response.
For those who haven’t seen this cover, Esquire has leaped forward into the future and incorporated the first-ever mass-produced electronic ink print product and digital display on the cover of a magazine. It consists of a rectangular display panel on the upper front cover that flashes the catch phrase “The 21st Century Begins Now,” as well as an inside cover panel sporting the new 2009 Ford Flex. The front panel flashes this phrase and other symbols, while the inside display creates the illusion of movement both by flashing in on and off states. Check out Esquire’s website (http://www.esquire.com/video/) for a neat video of the magazine on store shelves.
This leads us to this month’s customer question. “Can I print using electronic ink like Esquire?” The short answer: yes; the longer answer: not yet. Let me explain.
Electronic ink, or E-Ink, is just as it sounds; it is ink that can hold a charge, allowing the image to be refreshed. It is manufactured into an electrophorectic display, or EPD, which is the technology featured in Esquire. E-Ink is also the name of the company that is at the forefront of electronic paper displays and was the first to do so, beginning back in 1997.
The company states that E-Ink consists of millions of “microcapsules” existing in a clear fluid and can either hold a positive charge (white particles) and a negative charge (black particles). Applying a negative charge permits the white particles to rise to the surface where they become visible. Oppositely, applying a positive charge permits the black particles to rise to the surface where they become visible, and therefore, the screen darkens. One observer describes this process as “resembling precise Etch-A-Sketch creations.” This ink is screen printed onto a flexible substrate, aligned to the EPD panel and laminated to a layer of circuitry that provides the source of power. Some of its advantages are the very low power consumption of the EPD, high contrast images, high brightness levels, multiple viewing angles and the thin nature of the product (it’s only 3.6mm thick, including the power source). The panel then lights up the pre-programmed image or text, and voila! E-Ink comes to life.
But, there are a few issues right now that make this whole process difficult. So like I said before, the short answer is yes; this technology can be adopted, however it is not yet efficient enough to make it practical for many publishing mediums. There are four main problems to be dealt with, which include E-Ink’s limited practical application in the publishing industry, economical feasibility for short run projects, logistical issues and sustainability concerns.
E-Ink’s publishing limitations
Although the EPD panel is eye-catching on the cover of Esquire, this technology is not yet suited for other publishing mediums. As it stands, newspaper printing is not a practical application of E-Ink due to the thinner stock used, the frequency of production and its price or perceived value.
Newspapers provide up-to-the minute news that is generally read once and thrown away. Producers of E-Ink displays create them in hopes that they will be kept, at least while they are still a novelty. On the flip side, book printing is also not a practical application of E-Ink due to a book’s lifespan, which is presumably much longer than a newspaper or magazine. Current E-Ink technologies have a battery that lasts roughly 90 days, which means that it would just make it onto the shelves of an Indigo store near you and, oh shoot, it’s dead. When the battery life lasts longer, E-Ink solutions in the book printing world can become a viable option. Resolution and detailed designs are also issues for the publishing industry that must be addressed. E-Ink has more practical applications (the company has identified over 700) in signage and displays, cell phone screens, time-keeping devices, buildings and much more.
E-Ink for short-run projects
The second concern deals with the economic feasibility of manufacturing an E-Ink panel for a small project. It has been estimated that the E-Ink displays cost Esquire an extra $5.00 for the EPD panels and batteries. Some speculations are even higher at $8.00 – $10.00 per copy for 100,000 copies. It is hard to justify this cost when a magazine usually only sells for $3.99. Even when a paperback book sells for $19.99, that book probably only costs between $1.00 and $3.00 each to print 100,000 copies (depending on the paper used, trim size, page extent, etc.) so this is an enormous cost to add. Short run projects are also not feasible because of the time, labour and specialized knowledge it takes to manufacture an E-Ink panel. It took nine months to manufacture, assemble, bind and distribute the product. Who has nine extra months to add into their tight production timelines and pay for the costs associated with this?! I think its safe to say that small E-Ink projects are going to be difficult with the options currently available.
E-Ink’s logistics & sustainability concerns
I will address the final two concerns together because they are interrelated. The logistics of the Esquire E-Ink printing process were very complicated, and as I mentioned before, took nine months to complete. RR Donnelley, who prints Esquire, contracted the global logistics of this operation to Structural Graphics in Essex, Connecticut. CEO, Michael Maguire, and his team managed the operation which begun in Asia for creation of the E-Ink panels. Simultaneously, the covers were printed and die cut in the United States. Both the panels and covers were then shipped to Mexico where they were hand assembled. Lastly, the covers were shipped back to RR Donnelly’s facility in Kentucky to be bound to the text. Got all that? Good!
As you can imagine, this is a huge undertaking and a bit of a logistical nightmare. What’s more, and where it becomes really interesting, is in the transportation. Within North America, all of the E-Ink displays had to be shipped in refrigerated trucks in order to preserve the battery life. All of this additional manufacturing, 7,000 miles of transportation and cold storage can leave a heavy carbon footprint. Sustainability and environmentally friendly practices are becoming more and more paramount in today’s business community and society as a whole, especially as consumers are becoming more aware of environmental issues. The encouraging news though, is that the cover is recyclable–just rip off the e-ink panels first and dispose of them like you would any other battery.
On another note, I’m excited to say that it’s not for lack of quality that this technology won’t work. I was exploring people’s reaction to the October Esquire cover on YouTube, when I came across one reader who tried everything in his power to test the quality of his e-ink display. This included folding it in half, cutting it with a knife, lighting it on fire, dousing it in water, drilling holes in it (this is when it started to get messy–but wait‚Ķit came back to life!) and finally destroying it in the microwave. I am happy to conclude that the E-Ink panel is more or less indestructible, although the battery is much more fragile. Likewise, the cover went through seven bindery tests to ensure that it would survive the journey into consumer hands.
So, after hearing the nuances of today’s E-ink technology, it is unlikely that you will want to provide this option to your customers in the very near future–at least not without first thinking about your marketing strategy, production workflow and whether this technology adds value to your overall business. This is not a small decision. But, Srirvam Peruvemba, E-Ink’s VP of Marketing, said it best when explaining that Esquire’s traditional and futuristic cover is “building a bridge between today’s paper and tomorrow’s.”
Q I’m trying to set a rule in Mail to organize my messages. I made a Smart Folder to sort my messages, but when I deleted them from my inbox they were deleted from the Smart Folder as well. Can you tell me what’s wrong?
A. A Smart Folder in Mail is actually a special way of viewing all of your messages. Like a rule or a filter, you can specify the criteria that picks the messages out. For instance, a Smart Folder will gather all the messages to and from an email address or domain that you specify.
Many users organize the email they want to save in folders–a Smart Folder will gather all the messages from all of the folders in your mail application. You can even choose to include your sent messages. It does this without moving the messages. So, if you delete a message and then empty the mail’s trash, you will delete the message.
If you want to keep a message in an organized way, you should create a folder or mailbox as they are called in Apple’s mail. Behind the scenes, Mail stores your messages in a file called an “mbox.” This is an open source format that many applications use such as Mozilla’s Thunderbird. In fact, you can import messages into Microsoft’s Entourage by dragging an mbox file onto “My Messages.”
Storing your messages in mboxes also makes them easier to back up. You can find your mboxes in the mail folder that is inside your own library folder–you will see a folder called “IMAP-your-email-address” if you use an IMAP account and/or you will see a folder called “POP-your-email-address” if you use POP3.
Inside these folders you will see an mbox file for each folder” you have in mail. You will see an “Inbox.imapmbox,” “Deleted Messages.imapmbox,” “Sent Messages.imapmbox” and so on. If you want to keep messages from “Client A” in your mail application and you make a rule to move the messages you have received into a folder, mail will make a file called “Client A.mbox.”
To make a new Mailbox in Mail:
1. Choose New Mailbox from the Mail menu.
2. Select On my Mac as the location.
3. Name it “Client A”. (or whatever name you like) and press OK.
4. Select a message from “Client A.”
5. Choose Rules from Preferences located under the Mail menu.
6. Choose Add Rule (or edit).
7. Set it to the following:
If [Any] of the following conditions are met.
From ”@clientadomain‚Ķ”
Perform the following actions:
[Move Message] to mailbox: [Client A]
Press OK.
This way, when you “Apply Rules” it will move the messages to the “Vector” mailbox/mbox, and any new email you receive will go into that folder automatically.
Q. My Internet Service Provider (ISP) uses Yahoo! mail as the online mail, and I have been storing my messages in folders that I made online. When I connect my Mail application to get my email, I cannot get the folders or the messages. Is there a way to import the messages from Yahoo!?
A. When you log onto the Internet to check your email, you are most likely using an IMAP account, which stores the messages on a server. When you connect your local Mail client to fetch your email, your ISP often requires you to use POP3, which moves the messages from your inbox onto the server to your Mac. The problem is that POP3 knows nothing about the other folders you have created using the IMAP so your messages cannot be retrieved.
You can export your messages from Yahoo! and then store them on your Mac. Yahoo! will archive them into a zip file–it will contain “eml” files. Unfortunately, you cannot import eml files into Mail, but Apple’s built in spotlight will index the messages. It makes it possible to search the contents, and when you double click a chosen message, it will open in Mail–then you can reply or forward the message.
Here are the steps to download your messages:
1. Log into yahoo.com and go to Mail.
2. Click on the Options link on the right side.
3. Click Archive Messages on the right.
4. Under Step 1 of 2: Build Archive choose a folder from the pull down menu.
5. Press Continue.
6. Press Download Archive.
It is becoming evident that economics is now driving environmental action. Economics used to be the excuse to avoid environmental concerns as “not economically viable.”
Sustainability is the new buzz word for corporate shareholders, banks, municipalities, financial and insurance companies. BMEs (big and medium enterprises) and most SMEs are being asked to show, in shareholder meetings, loan applications, questionnaires, vendor applications, RFQs and annual reports on how prepared the company is to sustain its business in reaction to the effects of global warming and climate change. Companies that want to be suppliers to these institutions have to complete vendor questionnaires or show compliance with their corporate environmental policies and standards.
A good example is the CIBC Environmentally Responsible Procurement Standard, which requires an environmental evaluation form to be completed by all suppliers. Some of the questions are as follows: Question A1: Does your company have a documented environmental management system (EMS)? A2: Is the EMS externally certifiable under ISO 14001, or similar standard? If yes, you can skip the next seven questions. Further questions ask about supporting sustainable forest management (FSC or SFI certification) and regulatory compliance. It shows the understanding that if there is a companywide EMS in place, issues such as regulatory compliance, environmental impact, staff training and waste are being managed and are sustainable. (I’d be happy to discuss EMS implementation with you if you wish; my contact info is below.)
Heads up!
As part of Ontario’s Clean Water Act, backflow prevention devices are now mandatory on all commercial, industrial and institutional water meter systems. For the GTA, this came into effect last October and the deadline is Dec. 31, 2008 under the municipal code chapter 851 (Water Supply Bylaw).
Guelph has had a similar bylaw for 23 years and B.C. for 37; Toronto is obviously behind here. Please contact me for more info or visit: www.toronto.ca/water/protecting_quality/backflow_pervention/index.htm.
Climate Change
The debate has ended on this subject. Nobody questions the reality of climate change anymore, and we are past a significant tipping point. The question now is how bad the effects will be and what we can do to minimize the impact on our businesses and, in some cases, our lives.
David Suzuki said a few years ago at the first Printers Environmental Award ceremony, that the environment is the economics of the future. It is also the greatest opportunity since the invention of the steam engine for those companies and entrepreneurs with forethought, fresh ideas and understanding of transitional and adaptive management. Adaptation involves making adjustments in our decisions, activities and thinking because of observed or expected changes in climate in order to moderate harm (reduce negative impacts) or take advantage of new opportunities. It will be an economic boom for new cleaner technologies, renewable energy and rethought waste management systems.
The alternative is to face, unprepared, the myriad of new regulations and rising costs of paper, oil based solvents, inks, energy and waste disposal by trying to maintain business as usual; thus, starting off as an ostrich and ending as a dinosaur, which would not be able to adapt either.
Eco-prosperity
The concept of profitability and sustainability being linked to environmental initiatives, at the grass roots level, is well illustrated in the recent CFIB report “Achieving Eco-prosperity,” a SME perspective on the environment. The survey generated thousands of comments from its membership, many of whom are printers.
At a recent MOE workshop on proposed new toxics reduction regulations, I used examples from the report, and the ministry was all over this like white on rice. You can download it at the Achieving Eco-prosperity website link: http://www.cfib.ca/research/reports/rr3039.pdf.
Eco-risk
It’s a fact that an environmental incident or latent discovery is the one thing that can reduce the value of a property or business to below zero. Turning a once on-going concern into an un-saleable liability. So, to protect yourself and your business, I suggest that if you intend to sell or buy a facility in the near future have a Phase One Environmental Site Assessment conducted. You don’t have to use the more expensive, big outfits to do it. Many experienced, well-qualified individual consultants can provide reports of equal quality. In fact, many larger environmental engineering companies sub-contract out to these same individuals; I know this from being one.
If you intend to continue at your current facility, I recommend having a multimedia Pollution Prevention Assessment conducted, especially if you intend to expand. A properly conducted P2 assessment will discover cost reduction opportunities while recommending remedial action for issues of concern. Check out the consultants P2 credentials before hiring, as this requires a definite specialty skill set. Go to the OCETA website to view case studies of many printing and packaging companies that have benefited from these P2 assessments: www.oceta.on.ca/TORSUS/.
There are funding and cost sharing programs available to assist you. I’d like to help you gain eco-efficiency and reduce your liabilities so that you do achieve sustainability for the future.
Print estimation and job management tools
The challenge in estimating printing work is that every job is a custom job. The paper type, size, volume of pieces, the binding and finishing as well as whether the job is printed in colour or black-and-white are specific to each order. All of these vary from one job to the next.
In addition, digital technologies and computers have changed every aspect of the printing business, in terms of both production and costs. For example, work printed on a digital press may not require plate-making, but every unit costs the same to produce. So, does a printer continue to offer discounts for higher-volume or repeat jobs? How do you charge for variable data printing and personalization? What about the big important customer? A printer might want to offer a special price on a short-run job to keep the customer from looking somewhere else for his/her high-volume work. And, what about outsourced processes, shipping and mailing, or storage and fulfillment? The variables are infinite.
Any estimating method, including pencil and paper, requires that printers come up with a reasonable price for producing a completed job as quickly as possible, before a prospect or a sales lead goes cold.
“For printers to be able to grow their businesses, they have to reduce their administrative costs,” says Stephen McWilliams, director of marketing at Toronto-based Avanti Systems, a developer of this type of software. “You can’t bill a customer for your administrative costs. You have to automate. And, often whoever gets the estimate to the customer first has the best chance of getting the job.”
However, getting the job is pointless unless it proves to be profitable for the printer and automated systems can help here, too.
“A lot of print shops don’t understand their own costs,” McWilliams notes. “One of our customers didn’t realize he was losing money on a job until he got automated. These systems do more than estimating. They’re a control hub inside a shop that helps printers put estimates together as well as tracking all associated costs. They can give you an estimate versus actual costs so printers use that data to tweak and improve their estimates.”
More than estimating
Estimating systems of all kinds have been available to printers for many years, but the instantaneous flow of information provided by digital technologies on the production floor as well as in the front office have greatly expanded what they can do. The basic advantages of automated estimating systems is the speed and consistency they bring to the estimating task. Estimators, and even customers in some cases, can feed in job specifications and receive an accurate estimate in a matter of seconds. In addition, the specifications need to be entered only once, eliminating the errors that can result from typos or from misinterpreting handwritten orders and notes.
Avanti, like other developers, offers modular systems so that printers need to only purchase as much capability as they need to accommodate their particular business. Modules have been designed for all types of printing, including sheetfed and web offset, digital printing, as well as for a wide range of processes including the following: estimating; order entry/job costing, scheduling, purchasing, inventory, barcoding/RFID, shop floor data collection, shipping, invoicing, in-plant chargebacks, accounting integration, point-of-sales, fulfillment and mailing.
“Some printers want only a job ticketing system,” McWilliams adds. “Others say they need a full workflow system.” Avanti planned to exhibit a full workflow system at the Graph Expo ‘08 trade show in Chicago at the end of October. “We’re showing Avanti working with Adobe, Kodak, Prinergy and Duplo for complete workflow with JDF.”
For web-based 24/7 operations, Avanti also offers a front-end Web-to-print system that customers can access online through the Internet to type in their own job specifications and develop estimates on their own, or that salespeople can use from a remote laptop to deliver an estimate while they’re in a client’s office. Web-to-print capabilities cover job estimating and submission, variable form templates, soft-proofing and order approval, fulfillment/online catalogs and online payment.
“That saves printers a lot of time,” McWilliams notes. “One of our New York clients says they’ve saved one-third of their CSR time with the Web-to-print front-end.”
Avanti Systems software has been designed for operations with 10 or more employees. Start-up costs for a basic system run to about $20,000, with a typical installation in the $35,000 – $50,000 range. A Web-to-print front-end adds $25,000 – $35,000 more to the basic costs.
Web-to-print and more
For print shops seeking primarily a Web-to-print system, Print Quotes Software, Kitchener, Ont., offers highly functional solutions. The browser-based software allows for three types of job estimating: fixed price/fixed quantity, fixed price/variable quantity and dynamic product pricing.
To define these terms, Print Quotes Software’s Brent Clarke notes key differences between production-based and product-based costing and pricing. Production-based printing is a blank slate for specifications that are entirely determined by the customer with an infinite number of variables. By contrast, product-based printing provides fairly standardized products that still offer customers a wide range of options for customized design, and at prices that are fixed per unit with some flexibility.
“Web-to-print templates are pre-defined products, including the client’s own products,” Clarke says. “With web-to-print templates, the client can design a file that can be associated with a pre-determined costing file.” Though the templates have been developed for ease-of-use by even non-professionals, additional options are available to customers with a higher skill level.
The main point is that pricing and estimating is based on the end product, not the processes used to produce it. Business cards come to mind as an example. Using Print Quotes Software, printers can offer customers a catalog of basic card templates along with a choice of graphics and typefaces. Customers can mix and match these to suit their own tastes and purposes, or may download their own preferred images and designs, but the prices are predetermined by the printer based on card size and the quantity ordered. Special options, like gold ink, can be offered as premium and priced accordingly; volumes can trigger discounts per pre-set parameters.
Print Quotes can accommodate nearly any type of printing including digital, sheetfed and web offset, large format and screen printing. In addition, it can be used for variable data print brochures and other materials that use the customer’s database.
Once a customer has submitted a design, the Print Quotes system develops a soft proof that Clarke notes is a “true” soft proof (a PDF file built on the server and based on customer specifications, rather than just a Java-based representation rendered by the browser). Once approved, the job ticket and file is sent to the printer.
“We don’t do preflighting of the files,” Clarke says, because the files are submitted as customer-approved PDFs. “We do uploads and file management. We generate a job ticket before the job is placed as an order. It gives the necessary job details, information for scheduling and can include notes on a job, and additional notes can be put in.”
Among other features of Print Quotes Software are job reporting and fulfillment inventory tracking. It can handle mailing functions as well, including mailing to multiple destinations, and it can report data out to other business accounting systems. Print Quotes Software also allows customers as many as 20 “skins,” or various Internet storefronts owned by the same company.
A recently-introduced “lite” version of the software is available for $2,500, making it affordable for smaller businesses.
An imposing solution
Though not an estimating system, Impostrip software solutions from Ultimate Technographics in Montreal, gives printers tools to manage jobs more effectively and maximize productivity for a variety of applications using Dynamic Templates and Hot Folders. These can be used for all types of commercial work and multi-page book/booklet printing, which are printed on sheetfed and web offset as well as digital presses. While the company started out working primarily in the arena of offset printing, Joanne David, CEO, notes that lately Ultimate Technographics has been focusing on products for digital printing, the industry’s fastest-growing segment.
“If you look at the differences and changes in the market, you can see you need a new set of solutions,” David says. “The old concept was offset. Now, it’s digital printing as an alternative because digital is a more direct process for shorter runs with no prepress and very fast turnarounds.”
As the name suggests, Impostrip is an automated system for imposing pages on the press sheet. Printers can define and create Hot Folders by entering the press sheet size along with job parameters like page size, binding method and output method, be that a computer-to-plate system or a digital press. Blank pages, creep and bleed can be factored as well. Jobs dropped into the Hot Folder are automatically imposed according to the pre-set parameters and cut marks (bar codes can also be applied). The job is then sent to the press. Printers can even place a Hot Folder at their FTP site so that jobs will be automatically imposed as they are sent in from customers in web-to-print operations. In addition, Dynamic Templates accept jobs of different page sizes and page lengths and automatically imposes them. And Ultimate Technographics’ Ink Ready solution generates CIP4 ink data taken from the job’s PDF file to set press ink keys or zonal inking charts when CIP4 is not available.
“We’re also adding a finishing tools module, Ultimate Bindery, to automate the finishing process,” David adds. “We’re working with Horizon, Muller Martini, Duplo and others. All imposition software puts out JDF and bar codes to basically set up a job on that equipment.”
Versions of Impostrip are offered for most printing applications. For offset printing, Ultimate Technographics offers Impostrip Unlimited and Solo, both employing Dynamic Templates and Hot Folders. Impostrip On Demand Offset imposes press sheets up to 30”x30”, while On Demand Digital handles even large variable data files in optimized PDF format, imposing them automatically and sending them to press. Impostrip Proof and Repurposing enables outputting an offset file in digital format for laser proof printing or to reprint low volumes of what were initially offset jobs.
Impostrip Book Stacker was designed for producing digital books and other multi-page documents, and will gang books of similar page length to optimize production and reduce waste. Card Stacker is for “flat” applications, like postcards, business cards, Web-to-print jobs and variable data work, and also gangs similar jobs to help printers get the most out of their run-time and materials.
Ultimate Technographics has partnered with Xerox, Hewlett Packard, Xeikon, Kodak, Agfa, Ricoh and a number of other major hardware manufacturers to develop solutions specifically for these printing systems.
Although Ultimate Technographics initially approached print production from a very different perspective than estimating, like the estimating systems, the company has moved into the broader realm of job management because of the fluidity and flexibility of information in digital form. The net result is that printers, today, have a number of options for managing jobs as they move through the production cycle–whatever types of processes that cycle might include. This can go from full-blown estimating and monitoring, to effectively managing Web-to-print operations, to focusing more closely on production and getting the work out quickly, accurately and efficiently to the appropriate press.
I’m lucky in many ways. Each year, I get to meet thousands of people live or on the Internet. What they all have in common is their desire to get more from their exhibit investment.
When I’m asked questions I keep them in a file, and every once an awhile, I get a chance to clean the file out and start over again.
So, here are four recurring questions I’ve been asked many times during the past year. I hope some of these answers are helpful.
Q. I’m confused about the terms trade show and trade fair. Is there a difference?
A. The term trade show is primarily North American and trade fairs are European and Asian. The further away from home that you exhibit, the greater the diversity of the language used to describe the same thing; booths versus stands; show promoters versus show managers. Don’t let the jargon confuse you, but before you participate in a trade fair in a new country or culture asking questions as simple as this one is the best strategy.
Q. How do I measure my performance at a trade show when I don’t sell anything? We are just trying to create awareness.
A. Measuring intangibles is not only possible, it is crucial. There is no point investing in your exhibit program if you have no idea if it is moving your organization forward. So, using awareness as your objective, here are three steps to quantifying it:
1. Ask yourself what does awareness mean? What do you want your customers and the industry to know about your organization? If you can condense this into two or three messages that clearly articulate what you are all about and how your are different from the competition, then all the better.
2. Who is the best person to convey these messages to? Don’t assume that everyone wants or cares to hear your messages. The trick is to create a profile of your best candidate.
3. Before your show you can articulate your objective as the number of people who fit your profile that you can realistically talk to during the show and be able to pass along your key messages.
4. One final step–test. You need to know whether people that you speak to get the message. You can conduct surveys, look for increases in web-traffic or post-cal phone calls.
Q. What is the best give-away you have seen?
A. Looking for the best is like asking who the perfect partner is. What works for one organization is different for another. The trick is to keep your eyes open and look for interesting articles that your customers will find useful (this precludes gifts that they can take home for their kids.) Then, make sure it fits into your budget and finally, that your staff understands how to give the promotional product real value. This doesn’t happen when they are displayed on tables or counters for everyone to take. The best technique it to hide them and bring them out and as a thank-you when the conversation is drawing to a close.
Q. If I choose to drop out of a show will my absence be conspicuous and cast a negative impression?
A. If the show is no longer performing to your standards and you have done everything to try to improve it and it hasn’t worked, then perhaps it’s time to look elsewhere to invest your exhibit dollars. If you choose to drop a show from your busy schedule that does not mean that you stop marketing. As long as you remain visible to your customers through sponsorships, advertising or other high-profile shows the fear of creating a negative impression should be lessened.
If you have any questions about your exhibit marketing program, feel free to contact me.
With the latest versions of software, there is a great power to create. We are, however, creating larger and larger files, filling up CDs and DVDs to send to the printer and uploading files to their FTP sites.
For years, prepress personnel have talked customers through sending files via FTP from their Macs and PCs, using clients, browsers or the command line. Here are some hints to make it easier to send large files via FTP:
- If you plan to send big files unattended at the end of the day, make sure your computer’s energy settings are not set to hibernate or set to put the hard drive to sleep. This could cut off your upload unexpectedly.
- If your files are very large, over 800 MB, you may want to call ahead and make sure it will succeed. If it takes several hours to transfer you may want to ensure that a timeout limit does not cut off your connection either.
- If your office does not have a fast internet connection and network, FTP may not be the best solution. If you work on a system that uses a wireless connection in your office, it may be better to upload files directly from the office server instead.
- By default, most clients create a Passive Connection to an FTP server. This opens a connection on your end and allows the FTP server at the other end to open a connection to you. If you have a firewall and experience troubles with FTP, you can try an Active Connection. In this mode, you open both connections with your system.
- Even though it seems like extra work to zip your files before sending (and may not speed things up), it will protect your files from corruption. Sending files as binary is also recommended, corruption can be caused by uploading files in ASCII format.
- If you are uploading files on a Mac, you are best advised to use an FTP client. Although you can download files from your browser, most of them do not support drag and drop upload without special plug-ins.
- For those who have slower or “lite” Internet connections, your provider may not allow you to transfer large data to other systems. Some ISP plans have a bandwidth limitation, which you will discover when you receive an email informing you that you have exceeded it. You may have to upgrade your plan in order to deal with larger files.
- Other choices available are websites like “You Send It” and “MegaUpload.” These are pay as you go file sharing sites that offer space to place large files and send an email with a download link to the party you are sending to.
FTP has remained the same, but the networks are getting faster and the files are getting bigger. As long as you invest in your network and ISP plan, you will be able to create large files and stay up to speed.
The Canadian people elected a new Parliament in the midst of the great financial crisis of 2008. Prime Minister Harper extended his lead from 32 MPs to 67, and there is a good chance that this parliament will be around for the next four years.
Mr. Dion’s carbon tax did not resonate with the Canadian electorate–probably the critical reason why he was forced to resign as leader of the Liberal party on Oct. 20. It’s not that Canadians don’t believe in a greener environment, but rather under the current financial state, they require a more gradual approach to cleaning up our planet. The new Liberal leader that will surely be chosen in the coming months will have to devise a more palatable approach to reach Canadian voters.
As for politics south of the border, it looks like Barack Obama will be living in the White House quite soon. That will leave Prime Minister Harper as one of the only conservatives in the G8.
The month of October has not been easy for anyone. Our faith in the future will give us power in the present. I would recommend that you don’t even open your RRSP statements for the next few months. Panic will solve nothing. Like all cycles, this is a low point, and it will rise again.
For many of us who have been in this industry, we have seen many ups and downs and have learned the importance of keeping our heads down and continuing to work through the financial lows. Adopt the mental attitude of believing the world is simply going through a re-balancing act rather than a crisis, and you’ll notice the positive change in your productivity. Work hard and be focused while you’re performing your tasks, but also make sure you take breaks and get proper rest so that you see things as they really are as opposed to seeing situations through a tired and stressed perspective.
With a clear outlook you’ll see that, yes, we are going through a shuffle that will create a new financial order, but there will be money to be made in the future, and the sky is not really falling. It’s a shuffle–not a disaster.
We headed off to Graph Expo in Chicago at the end of October and will give you complete show coverage in the December issue. We hope to see many of you at Print World from November 22-24 in Toronto. We’ll be at booth 1132 – 1134 in the Direct Energy Centre waiting to give you a warm Canadian-Irish welcome!
Until next time, stay focused and stay positive.
A great month has come to an end, but another great one has just begun! By the time you read this, you likely would have come back from Graph Expo and are potentially gearing up for Print World, which runs Nov. 22-24, 2008 at the Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place, Toronto.
I haven’t missed a single Toronto trade show for at least 5 years—in fact, participating in industry events has always been important to me (as well as being fun). Tony Curcio gives us a great preview of what you may expect at the show this year. For those of you in the short-run industry, it will be a must attend in November.
This past month, I got to attend the Print in the Mix conference put together by our friends at Canadian Printer. I want to congratulate Doug Picklyk and team on a wonderful event. The exhibitors were informative, the food was great, and the speakers were knowledgeable. I know how difficult it is to take a day off work to attend such an event, but I would argue that it is highly valuable. The speeches were so uplifting that I had to share the great news with my third year class at Ryerson; print is and always will be a great place to be, thanks to the people!
We also had a wonderful time at the Ryerson Press Inauguration, which you may have read about on our website already. We welcomed the new equipment in style and in great company. (See News for more details).
That brings us to what this issue has in store for you! This month, we focus on automated, online and offline estimating and workflow solutions. What a mouth full! Jeanette Clinkunbroomer does a great job looking at some of the more local options available to printers in her article “Automating the automation: print estimation and job management tools.” It seems that, overall, the trend toward online and modular systems continues. Of course, as digital work starts consuming more of our daily activities, these systems will have to change. Given the “per click” nature of the costs involved, digital has the potential to be highly template driven. As the technology advances, the jobs will become more specialized leading to different estimating needs. Clinkunbroomer recognizes that the time to automate straightforward jobs is today. Fleshing out costs has always been important, but it’s even more relevant given the short-run nature of the digital business. So, whether you start with browser-based applications, or full-blown workflow solutions, costing (especially for digital) is not something you should leave on the back burner.
New this month is our “My Customer Asked Me” column. I’m very excited for you to read Diana Brown’s article on how the 75th anniversary E-ink magazine cover for Esquire came to be. Brown looks at the technology behind the lightweight and discrete blinking cover and identifies its potential for your customers. We had a great time answering your questions, and look forward to next month’s. To find the answer to any question that your customer might have stumped you with, email mycustomeraskedme@graphicartsmag.com
Natalia Gilewicz
natalia@graphicartsmag.com