Bridging the Gap

Educating its customers helps GS, Inc. span the valley between conception and finished product.

November 2008 By Chris Mc Loone

multipage

Today, GS, Inc. uses six presses, employs 19 people, and produces printed product in a 34,000-sq.-ft. facility. According to Mountford, the -company’s guiding operating philosophy is: “Always try to do everything to the highest level possible.” To achieve this end, GS assists its customers as much as possible with their jobs. “We understand that the printing process may be a total unknown for some of them,” comments Mountford. “In that case, we try to educate them about our process so they will be able to make better decisions going forward.” GS also consults with customers on their jobs—giving them ideas to reduce costs and optimize their designs for the print processes they choose. “Every label looks perfect on the proof sheet or the computer screen,” Mountford explains. “But, in transferring that to the press, some things can get lost in the translation. We try to use our -experience to bridge this gap for the customer.”

Creating the combination label

Producing goods for the health and beauty market meant finding a press that would do the job GS needed done. According to Mountford, the company knew it wanted to offer UV flexo, UV screen, and hot stamping. It also wanted to perform each of these processes in whatever order the print job demanded. “After evaluating all of the presses on the market, we chose the Gallus EM280 as the best fit for us,” he says.

Before purchasing the Gallus press, the company had no capability for screen/combination printing. The EM280’s interchangeable print heads accommodated the processes GS wanted to utilize. “The modular head system eliminates the need for a ‘rail system’ where the screen heads and hot stamping units are located overhead of the flexo print stations,” adds Mountford. Also impressive to GS was Gallus’s screeny system of rotary screen printing. “The system to make the screen forms is very easy to use and allows us to make all our screens in house,” says Mountford. He claims that these features have allowed the company to target short to medium runs in the combination label market in a cost-effective manner.

“Screen/combination printing has allowed us to offer our customers a lot of additional options when it comes to printing their labels,” claims -Mountford. “We have been able to acquire new business because of these capabilities and at the same time satisfy our current customers and/or keep them from looking elsewhere for screen/combo labels.”

As screen printing has become more widely used, Mountford says GS has seen more specialized applications such as tactile printing, faux embossing using screen print, and high-luster metallics. “All of these screen printing techniques can really add value to a label or package and give customers the shelf impact they are looking for,” he states. He also cautions that because of the higher costs involved with printing a combination label, (e.g., screen material and higher ink usage) some printers attempt to replicate [the screen process] with UV flexo, especially in terms of opaque white on clear substrates. “While this reduces costs,” he says, “it doesn’t have the high impact of true screen-printed labels.”

An eye toward the environment

Sustainability initiatives are catching on, consumers are beginning to get the idea, and printers are addressing this market demand.

GS, Inc.’s own initiatives cover the gamut of printing supplies. “Currently we are in the process of testing many of the new ‘green’ materials that are being released,” explains Mountford. These include paper facestocks with a percentage of post-consumer waste, and “once [we complete] testing, we will be able to offer these materials as an option to our customers,” he adds. GS has also been working with its ink supplier, Water Ink Technologies, which has been developing new water-based inks and UV flexo inks that use renewable resources in their formulations. “The inks are both soy-content-compliant and replace 85 percent of the petroleum-based raw materials used in conventional inks with materials derived from renewable resources,” comments Mountford.

History of adaptation

Now in its 21st year of operation, a second generation of Mountfords now handles GS, Inc.’s operations. Over time, the company has proven itself capable of adapting to market conditions. Focusing on its customers and helping them “bridge the gap” between the design phase and finished product has proven to be no less important than adapting to market changes. With the emergence of sustainability initiatives, GS has proven to be proactive by testing sustainable substrates and working with its inks supplier to provide inks manufactured from renewable resources. No print job is the same, and the printing industry constantly evolves. GS is one company that will continue to keep pace if its history is any teacher. pP