Test Your Knowledge! Print Master Monday Challenge
Take the Print Master Monday Challenge! Think you know the answers to the quiz questions below? Each Monday, we’ll reveal an answer on our Twitter page. All you have to do is: * Follow Printing Industries of America on Twitter (if you aren’t already) by clicking here.* Starting Monday, June 24, we’ll post a question and an answer on Twitter each week until July 15.* You can post your guesses and track the questions and answers by searching #PrintMasterMonday on Twitter. 1. In which of the following places can an ICC profile be utilized? a) The operating systemb) PDF creationc) Page layout applicationsd) All of these 2. What two items must a press operator continually balance on an offset press? a) Ink and register b) Ink and colorc) Color and registerd) Ink and water 3. A unit of measure used to describe differences in color is a) Delta A b) CIELABc) CMMd) Delta E 4. Fountain solution is primarily composed of a) Alcoholb) Gum Arabicc) Sensitivity solutiond) Water Could you or your staff answer these questions? This quiz is just a sample of what you will learn in the Orientation to the Graphic Arts training workshop. Printing Industries of America supports our industry with a variety of in-depth technical training and education opportunities for the seasoned professionals, but we understand that you can’t put the cart before the horse. It’s important that both the novice and the veteran understand the core principles of print. Why are the fundamentals important? These elements are the “bread and butter,” or the foundation of the printing and graphic arts industry—an industry that is rich in both creativity and technology. New hires and print sales professionals must know these fundamentals to better communicate with each other, and more importantly, the client! To get oriented (or reoriented) with the industry, join us for the Orientation to the Graphic Arts workshop at Printing Industries of America headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA, October 21–24, 2013. For more on training, visit...
read moreG&H speeds up makereadies with new Horizon bookletmaker
The kit, with a list price of around £65,000, was installed by Horizon agent IFS in March and was configured with two VAC-Turbo 600 collating towers. It will predominantly be binding work ‘nearline’ from the firm’s two HP Indigo 7200 digital presses. Production director Chris Peacock said G&H Group would continue to roll out litho work, but the future “very much lies in a fast turnaround, responsive and high quality digital service” for customers including retailers, finance houses, educational establishments and business-to-business collateral. “Where our previous older bindery systems would have taken up to 25 minutes per job to set up, the new Horizon takes just a couple of minutes,” he said. “We can save up to a third or even half the time now. We are more efficient and more effective and can provide an improved service.” Peacock said the 4,500bph JDF-ready SPF/FC-200A was chosen for three reasons: build quality, the functionality and flexibility provided by a single system, and while he said it was not the cheapest, it was “good for what it does and what we can now do”. The system features a 200-programme job memory for instant recall and an icon-based touch-screen for job set-up, he said. An advanced suction rotor drum feeding system, meanwhile, operated on a wide variety of paper stocks at high speeds. IFS supplied the Horizon. “Accuracy and reliability are assured by misfeed, double-feed and jamming sensors on each bin and the feed error history can be monitored via the touchscreen. The collators are faster and replace an older collator more suited to litho work. They are also more highly automated, which improves...
read moreCommunisis targets £4m cost savings with Manchester closure
The transfer of its base-stock cheque production work from Manchester to Leeds, which is expected to be complete by the end of the year, puts a possible 90 jobs out of 120 at Trafford Wharf at risk. Consultation with staff began last Friday (14 June). Around 30 positions could be transferred to Liverpool or Leeds or remain in Manchester as part of a small clients services team that will be established, Communisis chief executive Andy Blundell told PrintWeek. Additionally the company is to outsource “a substantial amount” of the commoditised direct mail work produced in Leeds, which employs around 400 staff, while retaining higher margin and specialised DM work at the site. Blundell said that an agreement that would see the work outsourced locally had already been signed and would be effective “over the coming months”. He added: “There is over-capacity in direct mail so it makes more sense for us to outsource it. It is not appropriate for us to continue with our DM work in-house. “These plans are aligned with the group’s strategy to reduce its exposure to the more commoditised sector of the print market by focusing on higher margin specialist production and to improve margins by reducing costs and improving capacity utilisation,” Blundell said. Although he did not give specifics, Blundell said that some web production equipment would likely be moved from Manchester to Leeds, while the company also intended to invest in new kit for the site. He said: “The kit profile will change as we get more specialised in terms of transactional and security work in Leeds. We will need to invest in new kit and we will make way for that by taking kit for commoditised DM work out.” He added that some equipment could also be moved to the company’s 9,300sqm high-speed colour digital printing and transactional printing site in Liverpool, which employs around 350 staff. Overall the restructure is expected produce annual cost savings of around £4m from 2014 and give rise to a net exceptional charge of £3.5m in 2013, with a cash cost of £2.8m in the second half of 2013 and £0.7m in the first half of 2014. The company said that the restructure would help it deliver on its target to achieve double-digit margin on sales (excluding pass through) over the next three years while opening opportunities for planned reinvestment in new skills and services. Blundell said: “For a while we have been clear about three strategic focuses for the group. One is to win new contracts and we have continued to do that, secondly restructuring to make sure our manufacturing engine is appropriate moving forward and finally mergers and acquisitions. Blundell said that the group’s H1 figures, due to be publsihed on 1 August, were expected to be very positive. “We are on a steadily improving trend and the story is logical and in line with the strategy we have previously announced,” he added....
read moreG&H speeds up makereadies with new Horizon bookletmaker
The kit, with a list price of around £65,000, was installed by Horizon agent IFS in March and was configured with two VAC-Turbo 600 collating towers. It will predominantly be binding work ‘nearline’ from the firm’s two HP Indigo 7200 digital presses. Production director Chris Peacock said G&H Group would continue to roll out litho work, but the future “very much lies in a fast turnaround, responsive and high quality digital service” for customers including retailers, finance houses, educational establishments and business-to-business collateral. “Where our previous older bindery systems would have taken up to 25 minutes per job to set up, the new Horizon takes just a couple of minutes,” he said. “We can save up to a third or even half the time now. We are more efficient and more effective and can provide an improved service.” Peacock said the 4,500bph JDF-ready SPF/FC-200A was chosen for three reasons: build quality, the functionality and flexibility provided by a single system, and while he said it was not the cheapest, it was “good for what it does and what we can now do”. The system features a 200-programme job memory for instant recall and an icon-based touch-screen for job set-up, he said. An advanced suction rotor drum feeding system, meanwhile, operated on a wide variety of paper stocks at high speeds. IFS supplied the Horizon. “Accuracy and reliability are assured by misfeed, double-feed and jamming sensors on each bin and the feed error history can be monitored via the touchscreen. The collators are faster and replace an older collator more suited to litho work. They are also more highly automated, which improves...
read moreCommunisis targets £4m cost savings with Manchester closure
The transfer of its base-stock cheque production work from Manchester to Leeds, which is expected to be complete by the end of the year, puts a possible 90 jobs out of 120 at Trafford Wharf at risk. Consultation with staff began last Friday (14 June). Around 30 positions could be transferred to Liverpool or Leeds or remain in Manchester as part of a small clients services team that will be established, Communisis chief executive Andy Blundell told PrintWeek. Additionally the company is to outsource “a substantial amount” of the commoditised direct mail work produced in Leeds, which employs around 400 staff, while retaining higher margin and specialised DM work at the site. Blundell said that an agreement that would see the work outsourced locally had already been signed and would be effective “over the coming months”. He added: “There is over-capacity in direct mail so it makes more sense for us to outsource it. It is not appropriate for us to continue with our DM work in-house. “These plans are aligned with the group’s strategy to reduce its exposure to the more commoditised sector of the print market by focusing on higher margin specialist production and to improve margins by reducing costs and improving capacity utilisation,” Blundell said. Although he did not give specifics, Blundell said that some web production equipment would likely be moved from Manchester to Leeds, while the company also intended to invest in new kit for the site. He said: “The kit profile will change as we get more specialised in terms of transactional and security work in Leeds. We will need to invest in new kit and we will make way for that by taking kit for commoditised DM work out.” He added that some equipment could also be moved to the company’s 9,300sqm high-speed colour digital printing and transactional printing site in Liverpool, which employs around 350 staff. Overall the restructure is expected produce annual cost savings of around £4m from 2014 and give rise to a net exceptional charge of £3.5m in 2013, with a cash cost of £2.8m in the second half of 2013 and £0.7m in the first half of 2014. The company said that the restructure would help it deliver on its target to achieve double-digit margin on sales (excluding pass through) over the next three years while opening opportunities for planned reinvestment in new skills and services. Blundell said: “For a while we have been clear about three strategic focuses for the group. One is to win new contracts and we have continued to do that, secondly restructuring to make sure our manufacturing engine is appropriate moving forward and finally mergers and acquisitions. Blundell said that the group’s H1 figures, due to be publsihed on 1 August, were expected to be very positive. “We are on a steadily improving trend and the story is logical and in line with the strategy we have previously announced,” he added....
read moreTradeprint.co.uk orders second SM XL in three months
The second machine, an eight-colour long perfector, is due to be installed in August and will replace a Ryobi 925. It runs at 15,000sph and will be used for business cards, posters and leaflets, typically in runs of around 2,000. Tradeprint managing director Rod Scrimgeour said the new machine cost around £3m and will run alongside the first Speedmaster XL, a 10-colour machine that cost about £3.5m. “The first press did everything we expected and more,” he said. “We had anticipated it being up to four times as productive as the SM 74-10P it replaced, but in fact, it has given us a five-fold increase. “Makereadies of four to four-and-a-half minutes are ideal for the high volume of short runs we handle on a daily basis. Before, 99.8% of orders went out on time; now we are hitting 100%. The company is also upgrading its processors and adding lasers to its original Suprasetter 105 to increase the speed of output of its Saphira NA101 plates. This was critical to keeping two “very hungry presses supplied for maximum performance”, he said. Scrimgeour added: “Expensive price points are unsustainable. By having the best software systems, accessible online web-to-print services and the best equipment we are able to attain the price points today’s trade market requires. “We are commodity, commercial printers combining many jobs per plate to maximise time and waste efficiency. That approach, combined with a clear business plan, is why we are in a position to invest for further rapid growth.” The £8m investment programme includes an extension of the Tradeprint.co.uk offices in Dundee. “We employ more software developers than we do print minders and have recently beefed up our development team,” explains Scrimgeour. “Investment is crucial to staying ahead of our competitors and is the key to our success.” Heidelberg said the sale represented the fastest repeat order for the XL 106 in the UK to date, possibly the world....
read moreTradeprint.co.uk orders second SM XL in three months
The second machine, an eight-colour long perfector, is due to be installed in August and will replace a Ryobi 925. It runs at 15,000sph and will be used for business cards, posters and leaflets, typically in runs of around 2,000. Tradeprint managing director Rod Scrimgeour said the new machine cost around £3m and will run alongside the first Speedmaster XL, a 10-colour machine that cost about £3.5m. “The first press did everything we expected and more,” he said. “We had anticipated it being up to four times as productive as the SM 74-10P it replaced, but in fact, it has given us a five-fold increase. “Makereadies of four to four-and-a-half minutes are ideal for the high volume of short runs we handle on a daily basis. Before, 99.8% of orders went out on time; now we are hitting 100%. The company is also upgrading its processors and adding lasers to its original Suprasetter 105 to increase the speed of output of its Saphira NA101 plates. This was critical to keeping two “very hungry presses supplied for maximum performance”, he said. Scrimgeour added: “Expensive price points are unsustainable. By having the best software systems, accessible online web-to-print services and the best equipment we are able to attain the price points today’s trade market requires. “We are commodity, commercial printers combining many jobs per plate to maximise time and waste efficiency. That approach, combined with a clear business plan, is why we are in a position to invest for further rapid growth.” The £8m investment programme includes an extension of the Tradeprint.co.uk offices in Dundee. “We employ more software developers than we do print minders and have recently beefed up our development team,” explains Scrimgeour. “Investment is crucial to staying ahead of our competitors and is the key to our success.” Heidelberg said the sale represented the fastest repeat order for the XL 106 in the UK to date, possibly the world....
read more"Please hold" telemessages cost printers dear, warns marketer
The study by audio branding specialist PH Media Group, which surveyed 3,600 UK firms, including more than 100 printing businesses, found that printers put customers on hold for an average of 33.5s per call, 4s longer than the UK average. Implications for profitability were “grave”, said sales and marketing director Mark Williamson. Half of callers hung up within 20s if forced to listen to silence while on hold, he added, referring to similar studies in the US. “These results represent a significant challenge for the printing industry and could pose a threat to profitability,” he said. “Callers are simply unwilling to wait on the end of the line while subjected to silence, ‘muzak’ or beeps. “So firms are putting themselves at serious risk of losing business. Good call-handling is often overlooked as a key sales and marketing tool, but the telephone still acts as an important touchpoint and first impressions count.” Williamson said improving customers’ experience over the phone would drive service standards “through the roof”. Yet of all callers placed on hold, 34% were subjected to silence, 26% to music, while another 26% heard beeps. As part of the study, PH Media Group also audited each company that took part in the study, giving them a score out of 100 based on overall call-handling practice. Printers averaged just 34, after the pollster weighted various aspects to reflect their importance. These aspects included time taken to answer a call, the number of tiers callers face before reaching their target, use of consistent voice and music, and professional and personalised voicemail and out-of-hours messaging. “Good customer service is paramount so it is important to evaluate all aspects of call-handling,” he said. “Inevitably not every call will be answered within a matter of seconds. “So when callers do need to be placed on hold for any length of time, informative and entertaining audio messages can help to maintain their attention and decrease perceived waiting time.” Greenhouse Graphics managing director Ian Crossley, who recently took up a £100-a-month on-hold marketing service from PH Media Group, did not take part in the survey but said the findings did not surprise him. “We don’t have any way of measuring the service’s impact. But for us it’s not so much sales promotion but educating existing and new customers that we are more than just a conventional printer and do other work such as wide-format print.” The survey involved just over 100 printers from an overall sample of 3,600 firms across sectors. Signmakers were worst, leaving callers on the line for 72.6s on average, garden centres were fared best, logging an average time of just 17.4s....
read more"Please hold" telemessages cost printers dear, warns marketer
The study by audio branding specialist PH Media Group, which surveyed 3,600 UK firms, including more than 100 printing businesses, found that printers put customers on hold for an average of 33.5s per call, 4s longer than the UK average. Implications for profitability were “grave”, said sales and marketing director Mark Williamson. Half of callers hung up within 20s if forced to listen to silence while on hold, he added, referring to similar studies in the US. “These results represent a significant challenge for the printing industry and could pose a threat to profitability,” he said. “Callers are simply unwilling to wait on the end of the line while subjected to silence, ‘muzak’ or beeps. “So firms are putting themselves at serious risk of losing business. Good call-handling is often overlooked as a key sales and marketing tool, but the telephone still acts as an important touchpoint and first impressions count.” Williamson said improving customers’ experience over the phone would drive service standards “through the roof”. Yet of all callers placed on hold, 34% were subjected to silence, 26% to music, while another 26% heard beeps. As part of the study, PH Media Group also audited each company that took part in the study, giving them a score out of 100 based on overall call-handling practice. Printers averaged just 34, after the pollster weighted various aspects to reflect their importance. These aspects included time taken to answer a call, the number of tiers callers face before reaching their target, use of consistent voice and music, and professional and personalised voicemail and out-of-hours messaging. “Good customer service is paramount so it is important to evaluate all aspects of call-handling,” he said. “Inevitably not every call will be answered within a matter of seconds. “So when callers do need to be placed on hold for any length of time, informative and entertaining audio messages can help to maintain their attention and decrease perceived waiting time.” Greenhouse Graphics managing director Ian Crossley, who recently took up a £100-a-month on-hold marketing service from PH Media Group, did not take part in the survey but said the findings did not surprise him. “We don’t have any way of measuring the service’s impact. But for us it’s not so much sales promotion but educating existing and new customers that we are more than just a conventional printer and do other work such as wide-format print.” The survey involved just over 100 printers from an overall sample of 3,600 firms across sectors. Signmakers were worst, leaving callers on the line for 72.6s on average, garden centres were fared best, logging an average time of just 17.4s....
read moreRicoh makes big savings with Renz finishing kit
The Coulsdon, Surrey-based operation, which is the UK inplant of the imaging and electronics giant, purchased the Renz AP 360 automatic punch and Renz MOBI 360 semi-automatic wire-binder. Production manager Alec Bennett said: “The punch is so mechanical and there are no circuit boards or software to go wrong, while the wire-binder is as well built and robust as the punch.” He said the AP 360 punching machine had removed all punching bottlenecks for wire binding, saving labour time and money. Before buying the kit, the 50-staff company used smaller bits of equipment for punching around 20 pieces of paper at a time. “The additional purchase of a four-hole punching die for the machine has led to considerable savings from pre-punching sheets for loose-leaf binders without the need to drill,” said Bennett. The MOBI 360 semi-automatic wire-binder meanwhile enabled the business to replace six temporary workers, who used to tackle predominantly A6 work by hand. Now only one person was needed to operate a machine that binds two at a time to double outputs over a given time. “We have bought lots of kit in the past year, having gone from 12m to 15m images a year and all of that goes through the finishing department,” he said. “The kit will pay for itself; the MOBI 360 has already made significant savings on labour costs. “Both machines are portable, single-phase, have very easy and fast makereadies and require no air. The Renz installation and the training on both machines went smoothly and we are pleased with the savings.”...
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