Wednesday 26 August 2009

My swinging friend Norm was in an expansive mood the other night. "It's all very well complaining about bigger printers under-quoting you for all the best jobs", he said, "but it often depends on how inventive you're prepared to be".

He went on to describe a job he once quoted for a local PR company.

"It was a pack of small advertising cards. There were twenty four of them. Fitted nicely on B2 board, 24 up. We hadn't got a B2 press, so we had to double up on the plates and run it 12 up. We lost the job to Harry up the road. I found out later that he'd printed it on his old Kord, just like ours, not even used his fancy new B2 presses ... "

"Eventually, over a late-night coffee, I figured out how he'd undercut us. If you swing the images around and print it 25 up, on a five by five matrix, you can do the job on SRA2 board with one set of plates. You just chuck the spare one away! Saves on materials as well. Crafty devil, no wonder he got their contract."

"It was obvious really, but so is anything once it's pointed out to you. `Course, if we'd had Printpak back then it'd have suggested the answer immediately. Instead of which, I only thought about it after Harry had got the job."

It's a funny old game, printing, isn't it?

(If you'd like to see what Printpak MIS can do for your productivity, why not download a free copy of the Printpak Community Edition and try it now?)