In-Plant versus Ooops

To err is human, to really screw things up takes a committee.

Or, in this case, a Corporation.

R R Donnelley Screws up a job for Google, as reported by In-Plant Graphics. And they point out that an external company has to ultimately answer to their own shareholders more so than to the clients they are printing for.

Not sure if this qualifies as a full point for the In-Plant Team, but I know every In-Plant manager out there is making a copy of this story to put in their files.

Happy (Fiscal) New Year!

Happy Fiscal New Year everyone.

Line by Line

I guess I'll keep with a theme and share another Letter Press story, this time about Jerry Richardson in Fargo North Dakota...

Jerry Richardson is a man of letters – many, many letters. 

Talk to the 82-year-old and you’ll likely get a carefully considered, concise response delivered in a low, quiet, even tone. 

While not known for his prose, he is well respected for his visual presentations of words in print. 

In the basement of his Ninth Street home in Fargo, Richardson runs two letterpresses, producing some of the finest textual prints in the region, from individual literary lines to limited edition books and broadsides. 

To paraphrase a great orator, Teddy Roosevelt, “Speak softly and carry a big pica pole.”

One of the printing presses in Richardson’s basement weighs about 2,000 pounds. Each piece of paper that is printed on is placed by hand. Dave Wallis / The Forum
Read the entire article here: http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/374709/

Old becomes new again....

Everything old becomes new again.... not sure I have the cliche exactly correct even if the idea is appropriate.

http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/entertainment/168205986.html


In a small town in Canada, at the Okanagan College, a new project called 'The Bunker' is opening soon.

What makes The Bunker so special? It is a Letter Press shop that is going to teach students how to set type by hand and print with ink on paper. And when I say ink I mean the kind that gets under your fingernails and stains your fingertips like your Father and Grandfather used in their shops.

I am very excited to see a program like this opening even if it is in Canada, and therefore very far away from here, because this is how I got my start in printing. I have a huge appreciation for modern typesetting and layout programs because I know what it used to be like. And I truly appreciate the irony of early in my career being 'rushed' to manually typeset a newsletter in several days to now being 'rushed' to typeset the same newsletter in an hour or less. As the technology improves so do the expectations placed upon the technology.

Anyway... click the link above and admire some beautiful equipment and enjoy the glimpse back to the print shops of the 50's and 60's.

The smell of a good book

Paper satisfies all five of the senses....

Paper can be beautiful to look at.

The tactile process of turning a page in a book satisfies both the fingers and the ears.

Well, OK, not so much does paper satisfy your taste-buds, but I had to keep you interested up to this point so I could show you how paper can satisfy your sense of smell....

Paper Passion perfume.

"the smell of a freshly printed book is the best smell in the world."

Read more here.










http://www.huhmagazine.co.uk/view_article.php?id=3887&s=culture&t=news

Paper or Plastic?

No, not for your shopping bag... for your milk!

Print Week has an interesting article about plastic milk jugs compared to carton-packs.


While carton-packs are less common here in the U.S., maybe we should become a bit more familiar with them for some environmental reasons.

Follow the link and see for yourself.




http://www.printweek.com/Business/article/1138764/bottles-use-50-finite-resources-carton-packs/?utm_source=WhatTheyThink+Newsletters&utm_campaign=dfe2065890-wtt_goinggreen_11110111_1_2011&utm_medium=email

Why are deadlines so important?

Why are deadlines so important? I mean why not just do everything as soon as it comes in?

Well..... what gets done and when is a delicate balance of what paper is available for which job on which machine in which order based on what has to be done before, during, and after the project. There is a lot of science to the process, and a surprisingly large amount of artistry. When a production schedule works it is a thing of beauty. When a production schedule goes wrong it is the source of heart burn, headaches, and unhappy customers.


Let me offer you the following example:

Project A is going to take 1 hour to complete using  Machine 1.

Project B is going to take 2 hours to complete, 1 hour on Machine 1 and 1 hour on Machine 2.

Project A is due in 2 hours, Project B is due in 3 hours.

It looks like it is a simple thing to do, Project A and then Project B. Everything gets done in order and everything gets done on time.

True.

But that is not the best way to organize those jobs. If Project B is started first, then Project A can run next in line while the second part of Project B is worked on. The result is both Projects A and B getting done at the same time with an hour to spare to do something else.

Not so intuitive to put the second project ahead of the first, is it?

That is why a complete Due Date is so important to us here in the Copy Center. If we know exactly when you need your project we can mange our schedule to better provide you what you need, when, and at the lowest possible cost.

So please, give us a complete due date. Help us to help you.