Gifts for the printer who has everything

Dec 1, 2003 12:00 PM, by Katherine O'Brien, Editor | kobrien@primediabusiness.com

Around this time of year, many people are desperately searching for the perfect gift. I have four suggestions that are sure to make this a truly memorable holiday season.

Designer's Postpress Companion

Several years ago, an experienced designer told me about the pitfalls of working with recent design-school graduates. “They will try to do the impossible,” he said. “We get guys who come in to show us their portfolios and you'll see a three-point rule bleeding on the edge or around the page. That's impossible — you can't do that unless you hand-cut each one.”

But as a veteran printer once observed, “Nobody wants to work with a printer the designer doesn't like... If the designer doesn't like the printer, my God, will they be difficult on press. Believe me.”

“Designer's Postpress Companion” will help you befriend designers while diplomatically explaining that just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean that you should. “Begin with the end in mind,” stresses author Malcolm G. Kief. “Planning is the key to smooth production.” In addition to paper basics, Kief covers cutting and trimming, diecutting, folding, saddlestitching, perfect binding, mechanical binding, foil stamping/embossing, distribution, and fulfillment and mailing. For more information, see napl.org.

GATF Bindery Training Curriculum

According to Christy Semple, GATF (Sewickley, PA) training curriculums coordinator, this training package was created by popular demand. GATF has offered prepress and press instructional guides for years, but this is its first comprehensive bindery training tool. The curriculum has four components: an instructor's manual, trainee's workbook, an introductory textbook for new bindery employees, and a CD-ROM featuring more than 200 video clips and illustrations. Written by Daniel G. Wilson, a professor at Illinois State University (Normal, IL), and the GATF staff, the program covers binding and finishing basics, safety, paper, planning/imposition, cutting, folding, saddlestitching and adhesive binding.

Semple stresses that the material is customizable. Standard operating procedure templates on the CD-ROM can be tailored to a specific facility's equipment.

The GATF Ergonomics Training Program

This training package includes a guidebook, leadership guide and CD-ROM with customizable PowerPoint presentations, as well as a 16-minute video: “Work Smarter, Not Harder: Ergonomics in the Graphic Communications Industry.” The spiral-bound guidebook offers basic ergonomics information with specific solutions for printers. Fact sheets define and illustrate prepress, press and postpress ergonomic issues and solutions. Postpress topics include guillotine operations, jogging and fanning, palletizing, stretch wrapping, pocket feeding, hand collating and folding. There's also a special section on workplace assessment and employee training. More details on both GATF publications can be found at gain.net.

Wind-up Hopping Lederhosen

What could be more appropriate as we approach Drupa 2004 (May 6-19) than hopping Bavarian folk pants? This three-inch wind-up toy is a bargain at $4.95. Makes a great gift for printers looking forward to making the trek to Dusseldorf! See mcphee.com/amusements/current/11138.html.

What are your 2004 resolutions?

What will you do differently next year? That's the question PrintCom Consulting's (Charlotte, NC) Bill Lamparter posed to attendees at Executive Outlook, the annual one-day seminar that precedes Graph Expo.

Here are my 2004 resolutions:

I will call Satellite Direct back and apologize for never being home when they are in my neighborhood.
I will cultivate and maintain a perky telephone voice — even when Dick Vinocur calls.
I will concede that Ira Gold and Rob Reiner may indeed be the same person, but I will have to let someone else prove it.

Armed with these modest ambitions, I compared New Year's resolution notes with some printers. Steve Johnson, president, Copresco (Carol Stream, IL), has big plans for 2004. “I hereby resolve to re-engineer every aspect of Copresco's workflow,” he declares. “It isn't that the current processes aren't working; in fact, [work] is flowing more smoothly than ever. But better tools and technology are constantly becoming available, and there is always room for improvement.”

For more printers' resolutions, see assistant editor Leslie Shiers' article on p. 76.

Have a prosperous and profitable 2004.