Gravure Day - April 21, 2011

Gravure Day 2011
4/21/11

Tracy Hughes
Graphics Dept. Coordinator – Team Joplin
Bemis Packaging – Mill Print Division

Bemis in Joplin, MO is dedicated to creating packaging. Bemis currently generates 4.9 billion in sales and has 84 manufacturing facilities and Bemis HQ is located in Osh-Kosh, WI. They currently have 40 customers. Some of their clients include: McCormick, Ore-Ida, Bear Creek, Kool-Aid, Wellness Pet Food, Mothers Cookies, Smucker’s, Heinz and Axe.

Tracy mentioned that at Team Joplin, each employee holds each other accountable. Everyone is offered cross-training and is responsible for everything. Each operator not only knows how to run their machine, but maintain, repair and check quality of their press. Each employee has one rate of pay and is not adjusted for seniority.

Bemis runs gravure printing presses. The benefits of gravure, as opposed to flexography, are quality. With gravure, it is easier to put multiple shades of color on one plate, which is great for higher detail images. Flexography would need a plate for each of those shades. Also, gravure plates are built to last. A roto-gravure plate can run 5 million feet before the plate wears out. A flexo plate will only last for 800,000 feet.  

Tracy offered some advice to designers to help us maintain a good working relationship with press operators. Talk to the printers. Printers will see things on the opposite end of the spectrum that designers won’t with our digital printers. If the registration is off, even a small amount, the image will be flawed.

I really enjoy hearing about the other end of printing process. As a designer, it is easy to forget about what others may have to deal with if we don’t know how to properly submit our designs.

 ____________________________________________________

Jill Dlugopolski – Product Integrity Engineer
Hallmark

Hallmark is a Fortune 100 company and is the world’s largest greeting card company with $4.2 billion in annual sales. They employ 14,600 employees worldwide and have been family owned for over 100 years.

Hallmark is ranked 4^th on EquiTrends-Brand Equity list. Other companies include:
1. Craftsman
2. Crayola Crayons & Markers (also owned by Hallmark)
3. Kodak
4. Hallmark
5. Reynolds Wrap

Jill described that her job is the link between the creative department and the printing department. One of her main concerns is checking for product safety, ensuring there is no lead in the ink used in making greeting cards, gift wrap or any other products produced by the company.

Hallmark's printing equipment consists of 6 presses. (2) 7 color, (2) 6 color and (2) five color. They also have a slitter/rewinder, sonic cleaner, chrome stripping tank and a re-chrome tank. The presses are medium web that run paper between 26” and 42” wide. There are 2 presses solely dedicated to the Color Wonder products.

Their gravure print units have a copper base, the image is engraved in the copper and coated in a chrome finish. The ESA (electro static assist)/Rider roller is the impression roller that allows the ink to pull into the paper and ink metering system and several types of doctor blades. This makes for a better transfer of the image to the paper.

Hallmark also operates their own cylinder making equipment. They produce 6200 cylinders a year. Their engraving machine uses an industrial diamond that can engrave 6300 cells per second. This is followed by a chrome bath for coating. The cylinder is then proofed to ensure there are no flaws before shipping. When the job for that cylinder is finished, the cylinder is then de-chromed and the image is removed by polishing and then a grinder/finisher smooth’s the surface to prevent any flaws for the next job. 150 employees work with the gravure equipment.

Hallmark’s recent improvements include now using a water based ink that is friendlier to the environment, using infrared dryers, implementing lean manufacturing, and purchasing equipment for defect detection.

Although Jill isn’t a designer, she was kind enough to talk about the design aspect of the company. The time span of a greeting card from concept to shipping is 6-9 months. Cards for Christmas would print in July. Hallmark has many contracts with other companies such as Disney, Marvel, and Lego. The design team follows a style guide submitted by the companies to ensure the proper use of color themes, images and other elements. Hallmark does design work in house, then ships to print to one of their many printing plants, and then shipped back for finishing. Designers work in different platforms (ages and stages), and are able to rotate departments frequently. They have their own photographers as well as buy stock photos. There are departments for writing and design departments and there is no preference as to whether the image or the content of the card comes first. There is also an entire group dedicated to dealing with innovation and thinking outside the box.

Jill was a fantastic speaker and really explained the processes of gravure well.

 ____________________________________________________

John Castro – Estimating Manager
Harmony Printing – Liberty, MO

Liberty Printing was founded 30 years ago and houses 48 employees and has generated $9 million in business. They run heat set web printers that produce magazines, catalogs and direct mail. They have 2 digital presses and a full bindery.

John’s presentation was entitled, “What you may not have learned during your stay here (PSU)”. This presentation was devoted to teaching common sense tactics when entering the work place and claims that by following these tactics, we will be sure to climb the corporate ladder.  

He mentioned that no matter what you do, you will always have a boss. Either the client will be your boss, or you will have a boss at whatever facility you work at. His advice is, when interviewing for a job, tell the employer that “you want to work for them…to help them make money”. This tells the employer that you both have a common goal. By helping them make money, you help the company and yourself.

Next, he states that when you’re the boss, you should treat your teammates like gold. Clearly communicate your expectations and always give your employees the tools to succeed. If things go bad, look at yourself first. What didn’t you do to ensure their understanding, and then put yourself in their shoes. He also emphasized on the 3 F’s. Fair, Friendly & Firm. If you follow the 3 F’s you can’t go wrong as a boss.

Communication is essential. Always, be a good listener. Be clear and concise, avoid confusion.

You must learn to work well with others. Teamwork is important in any setting. When you can, always ask what you can do to help. He also listed a few topics to avoid to prevent conflict with teammates such as, personal matters, things that will get you fired, i.e. sexual harassment, and political views.

Always focus on continuous improvement. He tells us to embrace change and always look for a better way to do something, i.e. work smarter, not harder.

He mentions we will at some point be required to give a proposal. A proposal could either be formal such as a business plan or informal such as processes for completing a task. Your proposal should always be factual and accurate and remember that consumers, clients and management focus on one thing….money.

John tells us to embrace our new adventure called “life”. Don’t be afraid to try something new because you can’t turn back the clock.

I agree with most of the points in his lecture. Book smarts are essential but street smarts are vital as well.