Bob Atkinson

Bob Atkinson
Moving Into Transpromo

OVER THE past couple of years, the term “transpromo” has been popping up across the printing industry, particularly among in-plants, where demand for it is highest. What is transpromo printing, and why is it an attractive option for many companies and organizations? Transpromo is the addition of promotional or customer education messages to regular transactional documents, like bills and statements.

Time to Go Green With Your Plate Production?

ONE OF THE smartest things an in-plant can do to reduce production time and environmental impact is to go computer-to-plate (CTP), eliminating the entire film imaging and developing stage and all of the toxic waste issues involved. The quality, speed and efficiency improvements of CTP make it an excellent business decision for almost any shop. Many have already done just that, and are now ready for the next step up: low-process/chemistry-free or no-process plates. Going green has been a big story in the print business for the past decade, and chemistry-free plates are the next wave. “Non-process plate technology will improve to meet

Management Systems Can Save Your Shop

RECENT RESEARCH suggests that just over 40 percent of in-plants use some form of print shop management software or management information system (MIS). If you’re one of the other 60 percent, perhaps it’s time for you to consider joining them. Obviously, this depends on the work you do, your customer mix and the level of management and planning/analysis capabilities you need. Let’s look at the pros and cons of these systems. The Pros 1. Print shop MIS systems can significantly automate, speed up and organize almost every business and production management role in your shop, whether it’s large or small, litho or copier-based. Depending