Service Up Front

Amgraph’s own efforts have led to substantial improvements in front-end costs. For example, since 1991, the company has had a fully integrated electronic prepress department on site. Ten years later, the company switched to sleeves, further reducing its costs. Purchasing steel air mandrels for each repeat size has reduced its inventory from more than 500 cylinders to 80. “This has opened up a lot of real estate on the manufacturing floor,” says Fontaine. “It’s no longer necessary to use a forklift to prepare the press, and we avoid the boxing and crating of cylinders for de-chroming and re-engraving. We print with fresh sleeves when the mileage is up. We reduced the safety risk and made the quality of life much better in the printing department.”