EPG Helps Western Web Thrive on a Healthy Dose of Short Runs
Today, the company operates five days a week on two shifts, employs 20 people, and prints between 100,000 and 200,000 impressions a day on its four Tensor four-high towers equipped with 32 fountains. Newspapers, including the award-winning San Francisco Bay Guardian, remain an important part of its product mix, as are local and national city- and event-guides, calendars, maps, marketing materials, brochures and annual reports.
Jack Davis, co-owner and vice president, who oversees production, is especially appreciative of the KeyColor AutoSet presetting capabilities. “It’s always fun for me during the start-up of a job to see the second operator take a paper off the delivery, go over to the color console, open to a spread, look at it to adjust the color, and then do nothing, because the ink presets have done their job. The ability of the program to preset for different substrates has really made the difference in the small-run market,” he says.
Jackson concurs. “Reducing start-up waste at any time is important, but it’s absolutely essential for short runs. Otherwise, waste is a much larger portion of your total costs. EPG systems are always good, but for us they really shine with short runs.”