Think Big

It’s an exciting time for Monaca, Pa. Located on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, this region is all too familiar with the taste and feel of victory. Take, for example, Feb. 1, when NFL head coach Mike Tomlin led his Steelers team to a stunning win against the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl XLIII, securing their sixth championship ring. But football isn’t the only thing creating a buzz in Monaca. Print manufacturer Datatel Resources continues to build its own impressive reputation through an alternative source possessing larger-than-life appeal—the jumbo roll market.

Dick Kline, vice president distributor sales and 42-year industry veteran, related jumbo roll business can account for as much as 35 percent to 45 percent of the company’s overall sales in a given month. Nevertheless, as demands and needs tend to vary, jumbo roll sales can even comprise up to 60 percent of Datatel’s monthly sales. Kline observed these types of jobs involve transactional documents or quarter-end work.

Having produced roll products conservatively for the past 20 years—with a specialty in 50” jumbo rolls—Datatel has evolved its technique in this niche since originating as a long-run custom forms manufacturer. Most recently, the company announced the expansion of its digital workflow capabilities with the installation of a new computer-to-plate operating system, the Fujifilm Javelin 8300 Thermal CTP system. Furthermore, cameras on several of the presses have been updated and maintenance on some of the UV systems has been performed. Allen Simon, president, stressed the importance of UV systems (although a fair amount of non-UV roll products are produced) because they are used to cure the ink and to help maintain consistent coverage.

“There’s nothing tougher than running somebody’s corporate logos—front and back—having to match the PMS [color] right on the money, and having to do that on millions and millions of documents,” he noted. “You better have cameras and a very good UV system. Many end-users spec UV. [And] if you don’t have interstage UV ... or cameras, there’s a lot of roll work that would be very difficult to run.”