A Printing Press for Every Job

There are many factors that play into how your job will be printed at Print Tech. These include: the size of the run; the size of the paper; whether will it be one color, spot color or 4-color printing; and whether the printed piece will be personalized.

Once the scope of your job is determined, we will then print on the type of press that will be the most economical with the highest quality results. Print Tech currently uses the following three types of presses:

Traditional Offset

The Heidelberg Printmaster is an example of a traditional offset printing press. It is used to print one/two-color jobs (up to 10,000 pieces per hour), on sheets up to 12” x 18”. It is used primarily for envelopes, letterhead, newsletters, and business cards.

Traditional Offset Meets Digital

The Heidelberg Printmaster DI is a hybrid printing press. Although the actual printing is ink on paper, the plates are made on press by sending a digital file from the art department. This greatly speeds the process up, allowing the press to be running your job within 10 minutes of the files being received.

The "DI" can print up to 10,000 13" x 18" 4-color sheets per hour. It is used for large runs, four-color printing, newsletters, postcards and posters.

Digital Printing

The Xerox iGen 3 is a toner-based printing press that does not use printing plates. Instead, electronic files (Postscript, PDF, EPS) are sent to the printing cue for scheduling. The IGen 3 prints up to 6600 14.33" x 20" sheets per hour.

The digital art file can be combined with a database containing text, graphics and photos in a process called Variable Data Printing (VDP). With VDP you can change each message on one continuous print run. (More about VDP)

Digital printing and Variable Data are most often used in shorter runs of direct mail, postcards, sell sheets and any other marketing materials where personalization can help sell your product or service.

Print Tech Is Moving To A New Location

Print Tech is in the process of moving their corporate headquarters and production facility from the current Mountainside, NJ location to 49 Fadem Road, Springfield, NJ 07081. The move is being made to better service the Print Tech customer base and will be completed on February 14, 2011.

“We are always looking for ways to provide additional opportunities for the success of our clients,” said Production Manager Enrico DiNardo. “We feel that by combining the latest building technologies, our talented team and a more efficient floor plan, we can maximize our resources and provide an unmatched customer service experience.”

Print Tech’s proofreader Fran Angiola agrees. “We currently employ a state-of-the-art tracking system to follow every phase of a job from start to finish. The new plant layout will give us more control over the QC process and our plan to cluster departments like graphic design, IT and customer service together will result in speedier service and greater customer satisfaction.”

The move has begun with some services already located at the new building. “We expect to be completely moved into the Fadem Road facility by February 14, with little or no service interruption,” said Keith Knox, Print Tech’s Printing Production Manager. “The main reason for this move is to enhance customer service. Our Print Tech team is determined not to let anything fall through the cracks during our move and so far, nothing has.”

Our Quality Control is Looking Out for You!

Print Tech uses a unique tracking system that ensures quality control every step of the way. Your job could flow through as many as twelve QC stations, including design, prepress, proofreading, press, bindery and fulfillment.

If a problem arises, our employees are empowered to stop any job at any time to resolve the issue. After all production is complete, the job is reviewed one final time before being delivered.

We appreciate your trust in us and we will continue to make quality assurance our #1 commitment to you.

Print Tech is looking out for your success!

Why You Need a Print Tech Web Portal

Print Tech is always online and always ready to streamline the ordering process for static, versioned and variable data documents, ad specialties and inventoried items.

We offer secure, branded web portals that are designed for high paced businesses with multiple locations. Our Print-On-Demand services can be personalized to dramatically increase the return on your marketing investment.

Print Tech Web Portal Features
Private and secure customer portal
24/7 Access
Connect from anywhere through your internet browser
Central ordering for unlimited locations
Digital Asset Library
Customize marketing campaigns quickly and easily
Online Proofing
Reorder business cards, letterhead, envelopes and more!

Benefits
Brand Consistency
Control Costs
Save Time
Reduce Carbon Footprint
Increase Revenue!

Visit our demo at:
www.print-tech.com/printflexdemo

Enjoying The Last Days of Summer

Summer has always been a time to take a little bit of a breather from the frenetic pace of the other seasons. Summer hours, vacations and a slower work schedule give everyone time to spend with their family, catch up on home projects and explore the world around us.

Print Tech is no different. While some have stayed close to home, a quick survey shows that some of our co-workers have vacationed in Washington D.C., North Carolina, Watkins Glen, the beaches of Delaware and the Jersey Shore.

But with the passing of the July heat waves and the coming of shorter days, it's becoming more apparent that Fall is just around the corner. That means cooler days, kids going back to school and most of us returning to business as usual.

So try to take some time during these last couple of weeks of Summer to relax and enjoy yourself; Fall, school, business and our regularly scheduled lives will be here soon enough. You deserve the break and we'll all be here when you get back.

QR Codes Bring Interactivity to Printing

Recently there has been a lot of press about QR (Quick Response) codes. These 2D glyphs were developed in Japan and are capable of containing up to 4000 characters of information.

The information can be read by a dedicated QR Scanner or with free software that can be downloaded on the ever increasing number of smartphones. The code can contain contact information, calendar events, URL's, geo locations or text messages.

In printing, the QR Code can be used to expand on the printed piece. For instance, a catalog might have a small description and a photo of a Flux Capacitor. Since this is probably your first Flux Capacitor, you might want to know what colors they come in, how much power each of the 3 different models uses and if it's still compatible with your 1979 DeLorean. If a QR Code was included, all you would have to do is snap a picture of it with your smartphone's camera and you would be taken to a website containing videos that would answer all of your questions.

Although the U.S. has been slow to adopt the technology, the explosion of iPhone, Android and Blackberry smartphones will make QR Codes an increasingly important marketing tool for enhancing the customer experience.

Variable Data Printing - Mail Merge on Steroids!

Many of us have used Microsoft Word or similar programs and a database to create a mail merge for letters, labels and envelopes. It’s an efficient way of placing names, addresses and other information into text fields so the sender does not have to type out each piece. For Print Tech, that’s only the beginning. With our Variable Data Printing (VDP), we can also change blocks of copy, graphics, colors and photos.

VDP is a form of Print-On-Demand (POD) where information in a database is fed from a computer to a digital printer, creating a personalized piece for everyone on the list.

For instance, a car dealer might want to entice recent car buyers to return for regular servicing. Becky Smith, who paid $56,000 for her new Mercedes, will get 15% off her next servicing if she acts before the end of the month. The postcard could have her name, her salesperson’s name, the special offer and a picture of the car she recently purchased (see photo below).



That same dealer might offer Chris Jones, who purchased a used Ford Pinto, a different discount. His car might require more work at the regular servicing since it’s older, so his offer is only for 10% off and he has to bring his car in before the 15th of the month (see photo below).



The beauty of variable data printing is that these two cards could be run at the same time with thousands of other variations and without ever stopping the press. Each variation is targeted toward the person receiving it, producing response rates up to 20%; rates that are far higher than static mail, making variable data printing a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal.

Digital Printing at Print Tech

The Xerox iGen3 is Print Tech’s Print-On-Demand workhorse. It is a toner-based (like your laser printer) printer that can print Duplex 14” x 20” sheets in full color.

Using toners instead of inks, the iGen3 has some advantages over traditional printing methods. First, there are no plates, so set-up is less expensive and faster, making them great for short runs. Secondly, there is little waste. If you need to print 137 copies, a digital press can do just 137, eliminating the need for minimum runs and saving everyone time and money.

Finally, with the IGEN’s Variable Data Printing capabilities, those 137 pieces can be personalized with text, graphics, and photographs, giving you maximum flexibility in targeting your recipient.
(iGen3 Video)

What is Your Color Space? Part 3, CMYK.

Professional printers use CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) to print full-color text, graphics, and photos on just about anything. These colors are called Process Colors and, when printed, the inks are laid down light to dark. CMYK is known as a Subtractive Color Model because every time one ink overlays another the color gets darker and it subtracts from the reflectance of the substrate.

So, how does CMYK work?

Let’s take a picture of an old red barn surrounded by green grass, against a blue sky. First, that picture would be Color Separated into its CMYK components. Since this is a photo, the printer would use a Halftone Screen. This screen breaks the image up into little dots and controls the amount of ink being laid down in any particular area of the photo. In the separation (a negative image), the darker areas contain small dots, allowing more ink to be transferred to the paper by the plate. In lighter areas these dots are large, so the plate picks up and carries less ink to the paper, resulting in lighter printed tones.

Now we have our four plates and the press is inked up. We’re ready to print thousands of copies of our barn landscape. How do we get those brilliant reds, greens and blues? That’s easy (at least in theory). CMY are secondary colors in the RGB color model we spoke about last time. By mixing any two secondary colors you get one of the RGB primaries.

For the barn, the red will be a mixture of magenta and yellow. The green grass is a mixture of the yellow and blue and the blue sky is a mixture of magenta and cyan. (See photo)

Final Question: Why do we need a black (K) plate in four-color printing?
Answer: In theory, the secondary colors CMY, when printed at 100% saturation, should add up to a solid black. But that’s only in theory. The fact is that without the black added we end up with a dark muddy brown. This is not a problem with the theory, but instead it is the imperfections of the inks. Adding black is the only way a printer can get richness and depth in a printed piece.

On Press - The Heidelberg Quickmaster DI

The Quickmaster DI blends the quality of offset printing with the speed of a digital workflow.

The DI is a four-color press in which the entire printing process is controlled from a touch screen station. The digital data is loaded directly into the press where precise plates are made at the touch of a button, reducing the "makeready" time by eliminating costly, time-consuming steps.

The DI can run a wide range of paper stocks and print on a maximum sheet size of 18-1/8" x 13-3/8"

See Print Tech's Lead Printer, Keith Knox, describe more on the Heidelberg Quickmaster DI (video).