After a 30 minute bike ride through previously unfamiliar parts of Leeds I got to Target Print. From the seminars on print and print processes I was expecting it to be much bigger. Other than that it was just how I imagined it to be.
We met Peter Biggins who works at Target and he began the tour by explaining all about plates and the CMYK colour lay up, stuff that we already covered by still important to go over before seeing the machines. Then he took us through to the warehouse where all the printing, cutting and packaging goes on.
Firstly he showed us the Big Litho printer which is the main printer for the company and he explained how they kept the jobs as economically efficient as possible with how they lay up the plates with both sides of a flyer of leaflet and just send the paper through again, this saves money and time on creating a second set of plates for the reverse side of the prints.
One of the other workers at Target happened to be fitting some of the plates that we saw at the start of the visit into the machine, It took him about 15 minutes to fit them all and it would take about an hour to get them all printed, guillotined and packaged. So it has a very good turnover rate and they can do several jobs at once by placing more than one design (rotated to fit) on to any spare space on the sheet. This allows them to do lots of jobs incredibly quickly and efficiently
Peter Explained how the rollers revolve in a certain way so that they pick up more or less ink depending on how much need to go down, It comes off on the roller in stripes of different densities and lengths. Very clever method and amazing to see happen in front of you.
Peter explained lots about how the machine processes the paper, how it works to a well timed system of grips opening and closing fractionally to feed the paper through each of the 'towers' where the next layer of ink will be applied.
This is the start of the machine where the paper is feed through to being with, which is all done by the machine using a vacuum to lift the paper and a push it through, the part which Peter is pointing out is the bit which stops the paper before it goes through to make sure none of them overlap and jam the printer. Just to the left of this is a small part which makes sure the paper goes in straight so you have no off prints. These machines are very cleverly designed to maximise the efficiency and success of the finished job.
There was a build up of what looked like white dust on parts of the printer, Peter explained that it wasn't dust but it was in fact a starch power that gets sprayed onto the prints so that they don't rub off on each other. The amount applied is tiny, only a very thin layer is needed for it to be effective.
At the end of the process someone is checking the prints everyso often and making sure they remain consistent and checking the ink levels incase some of the ink is running out or has come out a different colour to what it should have. This is important so as to keep the client happy and to save money because if something is of then you would have to reprint a lot of jobs.
After the printing is done on both sides it's passed over to the guillotine to be cut down and trimmed for packaging and delivery to the client.
The machine used is very high tech and requires someone to operate it constantly. Its a very safe machine because for example if you were to put your hand in the lights under the blade it will automatically stop where every it is in the cutting. Furthermore it has two buttons that need to be pressed with both hands for the blade to actually come down and if one button is released it will stop the blade.
Once the prints are trimmed and guillotined they throw away the top and bottom most flyer or leaflet incase they have gotten dirty or smudged in the process.
We were shown this machine which is designed to fold prints like menus, greetings cards and brochures. Peter mentioned that they rarely use this as Targets main source of profit comes from the Litho printer jobs. If they get a job where they are asked to print and fold they will normally print the work then send it somewhere else that specialised in folding and creasing and then have it sent back. The same would apply to print jobs that are too small or jobs that require particular print finishes. So the company has handled that for the client even though they haven't done those finial touches to the job.
Finally before leaving we were shown the printer that makes the plates that would be attached to the cylinders in the Litho printer. The machine is very reliable and they have little to worry about when using it so they generally have quite a smooth start to most print jobs.
The printer will make grooves and cuts in the edges of each plate as its being printed in accordance to where the plate is attached and bolted into the four colour towers on the printer. Very precise and sophisticated technology.
Overall I found the visit to be extremely interesting and very educational. You don't really appreciate the knowledge, skill and practice that goes into printing until you see the process for your self.
Peter has very kindly emailed me some links to Kooji Creative and to his own blog for further research into Target Prints facilities and the processes they use.
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