When a client sends over a print project, it’s easy to imagine a pretty simple process: you send over the artwork, we hit a big button that says “PRINT” and we all wait for the finished piece.
If only…
There’s a whole lot that happens between “we need 600 little cards” and a finished piece you can actually hold in your hand. At Tactive, that process involves account management, prepress, production, printing, finishing, quality control and assembly, with plenty of people making decisions along the way. So let’s take a recent project for our friends at Rad Care Services and follow it from idea to in hand.
1. Meg, Account Executive
Rad Care Services came to Meg with a pretty straightforward request: they need 600 custom buttons for an upcoming event.
Meg’s job is to take that initial idea and turn it into something our production team can actually work with. She gathers the details, works through the specifics with the client and creates a print work order for the button backers to get the whole process moving.
For this project, she also handled something happening behind the scenes: sourcing and ordering up the buttons themselves to making sure it would arrive in time for assembly. One request, two sides of the project.
And we’re just getting started.
2. Anastasia, Prepress Designer
This is where someone takes a good-looking design file and makes sure it’s actually ready to become a physical piece.
Anastasia checks that the print file has the right bleed and margins, makes sure the colors are set up correctly for print and does a visual check for things like image resolution and fonts. If something needs to be adjusted, this is the stage where it gets caught before it becomes a much bigger problem later.
Once Meg and the client approve the proof, Anastasia gets into the production-specific setup. She creates the die lines that show where the finished pieces will be cut, including the two tiny holes needed for the button hardware. Then she arranges the artwork on the press sheet to figure out how many pieces can fit on each sheet.
Once the production file is ready, it goes to the server for the press team, along with a physical sample they can use as a reference.
3. Eric, Director of Print Production
Now that the artwork is ready to go, it’s time to figure out how the project is going to make its way through the production floor.
That’s where Eric comes in. As our Director of Print Production, Eric keeps track of all the projects running across our print and finishing equipment, balancing quantities, timelines, equipment and team availability to keep everything moving.
He assigns each job to the right person and makes sure the schedule works across all the other projects happening at the same time. For this RCS project, that means handing it off to Cai and the HP Indigo.
4. Cai, Press Operator
Cai starts by pulling the job from the server and reviewing the work order and physical sample Anastasia prepared.
Before running all 600 pieces, Cai produces a few initial sheets and compares them to Anastasia’s approved proof. Color, registration, image quality and even how the paper is feeding through the press all get a look.
Once everything checks out, Cai starts the full run. This is where having a person at the press still matters. Cai monitors the job throughout the entire run, keeping an eye on the printed sheets and making sure everything continues to come out correctly. If something changes, they catch it and make the necessary adjustments.
5. MiCole, Bindery Operator
Once the printing is finished, the sheets head to bindery for their next transformation: from a sheet of printed pieces into the actual button backers RCS needs.
Micole takes the job through finishing, starting with a die cutter that creates the two tiny holes needed for the button hardware. Then, to a hydraulic paper cutter to trim everything down to its final 2 x 2.25-inch size.
6. Kelli, Quality Control
Before the pieces head to assembly, Kelli gives them a final quality check.
She’s looking over the finished pieces to make sure everything meets the expected quality before they leave the production floor. Once they pass inspection, they’re ready to go to our other building for assembly.
Bonus!
Remember those buttons Meg ordered back in step one? After confirming designs with our graphic designers and placing an order with Kim from purchasing, the buttons have arrived from the vendor.
Now it’s time to bring the two sides of the project together. Our assembly team combines the printed backers with the button hardware, turning everything that started with a client request into 600 finished buttons ready for Rad Care Services’ event.
That’s a lot of people and moving parts for one little button. But that’s what we mean when we say we bring your ideas to (real) life.
