Start Your Journey with Your Customer

Short-run printing often starts with a customer request. Integrating shorter jobs will impact your business in more ways than just the bottom line.

August 2008 by Chris Mc Loone

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Syracuse Label has invested in lean manufacturing concepts to eliminate waste and reduce non-value-added steps in the processes, new equipment to allow faster changeovers, and training of employees in lean manufacturing and new equipment.

Roberge advises that printers do their homework first, and take the time to ­really study their existing businesses and know them well. “It usually begins with customer demand, which in turn, leads to a detailed analysis and evaluation of how the changing customer trends in various markets are affecting your businesses now and, most importantly, what future impact they will have on your business growth and bottom line,” he says. In Profecta’s case, going short-run meant going digital, but only after two years of research, testing, and an overall evaluation of its existing business. “Once all the studies came in, it was clear to us that the next logical choice was digital,” says Roberge. “It fit into our existing business, accommodated the needs of our clients, liberated our overloaded flexo equipment of short-volume runs, increased profitability on those types of runs, and improved quality for complex designs.”

To accommodate Profecta’s short-run business, it purchased its HP ­Indigo WS4500 in September 2006 with a Rotoflex Vericut 2 finisher. In April 2008, the company purchased a second WS4500. “In the last two years, we have also invested a lot of time and energy in educating our resellers to think outside the box and focus on the latest advancements in digital labels as a means to create new revenue streams,” says Roberge.

Growth is possible

Whether or not printers purchase new equipment specifically for their shorter runs is a matter of what works best for the company. Syracuse Label has always had a mix of short and long print runs. “The main focus of where a job will be run is the technical aspect of the job,” says Alaimo.

For Profecta, acquiring the two digital presses to dedicate to shorter runs was the way to go. After installing its second HP Indigo WS4500, Profecta was running two shifts on its Indigo’s. “Our investment in this technology has allowed us to expand our sales territory to other Canadian provinces where digital label technology to the trade is nonexistent,” says Roberge.

Having dedicated presses to short and long runs has been an advantage for Profecta. The longer runs in CMYK are printed on the company’s eight-color flexo units. Short-run jobs with quantities as low as one label with many SKUs would be priced as a digital job. “You can even print a one-color job on the Indigos,” asserts Roberge. “Basically the balancing is done at the estimation level where the size of the label, quantities, graphic complexity of the label design, and all the related information is evaluated and the decision of what equipment will be used is made at the pricing stage.”

Bottom line

Integrating short-run printing is not as simple as accepting the job orders. Printers must look at the impact accepting such jobs will have on their overall businesses. Package printers should look at what investments they’ll need to make in their own people, possible hires, processes (lean manufacturing), and equipment. This is no easy task, and companies should take as much time as possible to study their businesses, their markets, and then decide when and which investments to make.

Short-run printing has been around for a while. It’s not going to go away as long as there is customer demand for it. For Roberge, it all starts with the customer. “In our case,” he says, “the journey started with our customers wanting more options, more opportunities, more flexibility, and more value.” As in most cases, the customers will show you the way you should go. pP

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