Specifically Spec-ing
The old saying “the devil is in the details” applies tenfold to print production. However, knowing every last detail, or anticipating every problem, is essentially impossible—even for the most scrupulous manufacturing partner. Mustering all the possible job information for your manufacturer, even when the devil is nestled in it, will more than likely make you look rather angelic.
Handling specs carefully can make for easier production, not to mention the possible polishing of your reputation as a thorough vendor. The more specific specs are, the more often you’ll appear as someone who has, to use another popular phrase, “all your ducks in a row.” Moreover, a thorough set of specs can minimize unwelcome surprises lurking in communications with clients.
Specs clearly need to provide such basic information as color and size, as well as the client’s overall expectations and vision for a project. But, specing extends beyond these bare bones, according to “The Basics of Print Production,” a publication released by PIA/GATF, headquartered in Sewickley, Pa., and authored by Mary Hardesty-Kuhn.
For example, over-offering information is a safer bet than offering less. Preliminary specifications should display the high-end of your clients’ expectations, including the largest number of images needed, and the job’s possible workload. Then come those pesky details.
Courtesy of Lisa Erdner, PIA/GATF marketing manager, the following tips, found in PIA/GATF’s publication can ensure smooth sailing when specing commercial printing.
Begin by establishing a checklist to keep yourself—and your customers—focused on essential elements including:
• Prepress
• Printing and finishing
• Special instructions
• Packaging
• Shipping and handling
Prepress
The prepress section requires a well-rounded account of the amount and size of the job’s images, the type and quality of the file the printer will receive and client expectations concerning how the images will be handled, placed and produced, as well as when the files will be completed.
Printing and Finishing
The printing and finishing specifications should include the length of the print run. But more intricate, technical minutiae are also required here than in the prepress set, and some facts about the production of the piece as a whole are needed. Most of this information, said Hardesty-Kuhn, can be garnered from the general layout of the project, including the work’s final size, and any other applicable requirements, such as binding, number of pages, final weight, bleed, paper quantity and quality, four-color work and additional PMS coloring, along with how the job should be folded and assembled.
Special Instructions
Specs should also include a section relegated to special instructions—or those falling outside of the realm of your average job. If the work requires special touches or add-on features, the material, quality and position of such features should be spelled out clearly and anticipated, ensuring additional costs will be taken into consideration when an estimate is given.
Packaging
Contemplating packaging requirements at the outset allows manufacturers to assess any limitations potentially interfering with production, such as size or folding. Make your packaging specs a tell-all: every step of the process should be laid out here. Hardesty-Kuhn advised including: packing material, quantities per skid or carton and whether or not there are expectations as to how many items should be packed together, as well as limitations for oversized (or undersized) items. In addition, anything requiring kit production requires special attention. Include all items expected to arrive in the kits and how and with what material they should be assembled.
Shipping and Handling
Shipping and handling requires the same thorough go-around as packaging. Obtain instructions on how and where the client expects to receive the items. Determine if the shipping and handling will demand more than one delivery and whether or not it will be shipped to numerous locations. If the time between job completion and delivery date is a tight squeeze—requiring special shipping—the freight costs could skyrocket.
Anticipating your manufacturers’ concerns with steps like these could make specing a snap.
Information from this article was provided by Mary Hardesty-Kuhn’s book, “The Basics of Printing Production,” available for purchase from PIA/GATF online at www.gain.net or by phone at (866) 855-4283.
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