It's in-with-the-new as manufacturers accommodate increasing requests for non-traditional products.
The pleasing aesthetics belie the confounding aggravations behind producing and selling commercial printing. But the customer is always right and industry professionals love a challenge, a symbiosis enabling the dominance of commercial printing among industry trends.
Manufacturers are discovering that it's simply not enough to sell on quality, which is pretty much a given at this level of production. And instead of satisfying application requirements—as is the case with traditional products—the ability to accommodate customers' business practices is determining success for commercial printers.
Improved target marketing, cost containment issues and demands for quick turnaround are impacting everything from the size of the run to how the ink is dried.
Presses
Through acquisition, Royal Oak, Michigan-based Arbor Press has diversified its capabilities, establishing a commercial printing division seven years ago in response to growing demands for these products.
Sales representative Jim Laurain pointed out that, "Now if a customer needs 2,500 pieces for a stuffer and then 25,000 pieces for a trade show, we can use the same file to create the same piece and just transfer it between equipment depending on the size of the run."
Laurain noted that long runs are being replaced by multiple short runs as companies hone their target marketing techniques.
"Customers are getting leaner and meaner with ordering. What were once 10,000 piece orders are now reduced to four lots of 2,500 which are run monthly," he said, and Arbor Press looks to its Heidelberg Quickmaster DI to address the needs of this quick turnaround, short-run four-color process printing market.
"With traditional lithographic printing, it can cost $1,000 just to get on the press," Laurain continued, "but with the Quickmaster DI, we can have the job out the door for $600."
The state-of-the-art Quickmaster DI is a four-unit waterless offset press linking directly to any PostScript prepress system through direct imaging, eliminating film, photographic plates and all chemistry usage and disposal. The result is consistent print quality produced in less time.
Arbor Press also has a 40˝ Heidelberg Speedmaster 540, a five-color sheet-fed press featuring an aqueous coater for sealing and protecting heavy ink coverage in a single pass.
In addition to reliable production and cost-effectiveness, aqueous is a water-soluble varnish which produces a high sheen and smooth finish.
Papers
Although environmentally safe UV ink flows through the press, the green-theme to production solutions at Peninsular Printing refers to customers' budget concerns.
At the Daytona Beach, Florida-based facility, fast turnaround is one benefit of the eight-unit Diddi VIP half-web press. But according to President Bill Maguire, the big story is its ability to produce rich, four-color quality on uncoated paper. That's because the press is fitted with a UV light source and, as Maguire explained, "Drying is the secret."
While images of harsh-looking color-printed newspaper stock come to mind when most folks hear "uncoated", Maguire pointed out that Peninsular Printing is producing jobs on uncoated paper at a 150-line screen, resulting in a finer, highly detailed print area. "Under most printing applications, the best reproduction customers can ex-pect on an uncoated paper ranges from an 85-line to a 120-line screen," he said.
UV-dried inks are already being used on coated papers, but now uncoated stock is providing an innovative, cost-saving alternative, particularly for longer runs or when customers discover they're over budget.
According to Maguire, uncoated papers are lower in weight, costing less per pound than coated.
"The paper component is 25 percent to 50 percent of a commercial job," he said, provided you're talking about a flat piece. (If it involves folding, the paper component goes down and the folding or other special services start to figure in.) Using uncoated paper can significantly reduce costs without sacrificing quality.
"A distributor needed a credit card stuffer and wanted to use 80 lb. coated gloss text," Maguire continued. "Instead we were able to go with a 50 lb. offset uncoated paper for enormous savings."
At Harrison, New York-based Tru•Tech Fine Papers, a product already meeting extensive packaging and mailing applications is now moving into the commercial printing arena.
President Mike Mainthow explained that Tru•Tech is a solvent-free hybrid, providing the durability of a synthetic with the qualities of paper for tremendous versatility.
According to Mainthow, uncoated product is being used for manuals, CD sleeves, tags and cards, while coated product is being used for book covers, tour guides, annual reports, point-of-purchase items, posters and banners.
Tru•Tech can be used on any press with any ink and can be run up to 72˝-wide, offering the added value of durability while eliminating the production headaches associated with synthetics.
Costs can be augmented to some degree since the durability factor means you can go with a less heavy substrate. "For in-stance, explained Mainthow, "you can replace an 18 pt. book cover with a 14 pt. Tru•Tech product."
By Maggie DeWitt
- People:
- Bill Maguire
- Jim Laurain