New Year, New Plans
Filed under: Binding, Corner Rounders, Corporations, Cutters, Events, Finishers, Folders, Laminating, Products, Sales and Marketing, Trade Show Displays, UV Coating
As the holidays approach this season, many businesses are looking for that special gift of holiday spirit to send to their clients, business partners, employees and/or affiliates. However, finding that “special gift” has become increasingly more difficult as time progresses–and with a new year approaching, companies need a “special approach” to remain competitive, efficient and prepared for the new fiscal quarter (Q1 2012).
With the dawn of cloud-computing now in full swing (and with the over-commercialized use of the internet), many people feel as though society has become less involved, and less interactive on an offline-basis than in years previous…
When holiday seasons begin, businesses are asking themselves:
HOW CAN WE. . .
- Increase our production efficiency
- Expand our consumer awareness
- Improve our customer loyalty
- Maintain & Develop our business relationships
- Strengthen our strategy for the next fiscal year
Well, as people are moving away from the offline-basis of communications, hosting a corporate event may be the “special gift” your company needs. Providing a nominal, relaxed and seasonal event is an excellent way to boost overall business reputation and a great way to reward your hardworking team of hands. But why not go the extra step, why not surprise your employees, your loyal clients and your long standing business partners. With the new fiscal year approaching, and with the tax incentives of Section 179, your business has the potential to prepare well, in fact, so well you may change your nominal, seasonal corporate event into an astounding New Year’s Celebration.
However, to pull this off your going to need visit lloydsofindiana.com for all of your laminating, binding, paper handling and graphic finish needs, and then you may want to gather some invitations from GoPromoting.com to keep your event planning at its best. ‘And for the remainder of your party supplies, you may try a friendly, sociable store around your local area. Or you could just visit CustomPrintProducts.com for all of your specialty printed signs, banners and displays.
No matter what your plans are for this year’s events–time is still ticking–and great savings and Section 179 Advantages end this year! So hurry up and get your planning done, and finalize those year end sales, its your time for fun.
How Do I Choose the Right Corner Rounder for My Print Shop?
Filed under: Finishers, Large Mailroom, Print Shop, Products, Sign Shop, Small Biz Printing
In this series of posts, “How do I choose?”, we will help you take a little of the guesswork out of selecting the best print finish product for your shop or office. It’s sometimes difficult to find the right machine to fit your needs when there are so many models.
For example, Lloyd’s has nine different round corner machines. There are options and add-ons for some, and others are simply manual. In each purchase you make, you should consider the following as it relates to your business’s operation.
Corner rounders are pretty simple machines. They basically make measured cuts on the corner of your printed sheets. This finishing method has always been popular, but more-so in recent years as print products mimic the style of online communications. It’s not often that you see an icon or a photo online with squared-off corners.
So, let’s look at application first. Are you printing posters or business cards? Are you printing on heavy or standard stock? The size alone may rule out a manual table-top rounder, so be sure to look at the table dimensions. And, heavy stock may require the power an automatic can provide – which also puts you over $1,000. If you’d like the option to cut through metal for signage production, you’ll need a specific machine.
For rounders I think quantity and speed necessary can be measured by the capacity of sheets you can feed the machine at one time (in inches). A rounder in the hobby category may only accept a few sheets at a time with a .04″ clearance, but commercial medium and heavy-duty rounders will allow an inch or more to be cut. Thicker cut, means you’ll be moving through projects faster. Do you think your capacity will grow or remain the same? Choose a model for 2 years down the road, rather than one you need today, because your needs will hopefully grow once you add this machine.
The frequency of your use will require replacement cutting dies, so the availability and cost of these parts should also be a consideration. You’ll also want to investigate the variety of blade sizes and designs available for a particular model as well. A wide variety of cutting options will also add to your flexibility and options for the customer.
Finally, consider maintenance. All Lloyd’s corner rounders come with a year warranty, but looking beyond this time frame consider your potential frequency of use and the availability of replacement parts.
To check out Lloyd’s selection of corner rounders and compare models, visit our website.
Five Tools Print Shops Can Use to Improve Profitability
Filed under: Binding, Cutters, Finishers, Laminating, Mailing, Print Shop, Products, Small Biz Printing, Small Business
You can run a print shop with an off-set press or a digital printer, but you can’t run a profitable shop unless you bring in-house the tools that will help you take projects to completion. It’s one thing to print pages, but what if your customer wants you to bind them? You printed 5,000 sales letters, but now the customer wants to take them somewhere else for mailing? You’re losing out on some valuable revenue by not having a couple extra machines around your office. Add extra profitability to your shop by offering each of these services.
- UV Coaters. Adding a UV Coater will give you the capability to apply hi-gloss, satin or matte coating almost on any printed sheet. There are many configurations to the available coaters on the market. Sizes range from 18” to 30” with a modular design to allow for added components like automatic feeders. This is also an environmentally friendly way to apply a finish to your printing. There’s even one line of UV coating that is 99.9% VOC free – exceeding all environmental air quality regulations. Add that to your marketing and get some new green-minded customers.
- Binding Machinery. Whether it’s low volume presentation binding or high volume commercial applications, binding machinery is a low-cost, yet crucial component to a successful shop. Prepare a presentations or proposals, books or newsletters with the look and feel your customers desire by having available comb, coil, wire or perfect binding. If you bind it, they will come.
- Letter Folders. Add fulfillment services to your shop. Every office needs to send mailed statements, invoices and other marketing material. If it’s going out in a traditional envelope style, there’s a folder to automate the process. These machines fold thousands of sheets per hour. There are tabletop models for low volume or floor models for high volume, but they’re all easy to setup and operate.
- Document Mailing Equipment. While you’re folding some projects, you might as well run an inserter for others. Save time and money by speeding up your mail processing. Inserters and pressure sealers keep your jobs in a neat sequential order so they’re ready for outgoing mail bins. Some inserters can fold and stuff up to five different sheets and BRE’s at 4,000 sheets per hour. Plus, a pressure sealer adds a whole new product type to your offerings.
- Laminators. Laminating adds durability and professionalism to any printing project. Toner, ink jet and UV inks alone are not very durable, but by adding even a thin laminate coating you can prevent ink cracking and insures a long handling life to a piece. Lamination also adds to the look and feel of your work You can impress customers and upsell projects like printing for photos, charts, posters and signage.
Improve your profits by adding to your catalog of finishing services. Lloyds of Indiana has competitive prices and a variety of models in each of these categories.
Why BIG Print Shops Should Use a Small Hand Scorer/Perforator
\Your shop is multitasking. When business is good, you’ve got 80% of your machines running 80% of the time. Your sales force is lining them up and you’re knocking them down. It’s a mix of new business and repeat customers and you’re very pleased with meeting everyone’s needs with a diversity of services. The big machines pay for themselves and are easy to justify in your business plan. But, what about the those hand-operated gizmos in the back corner? Do they ever get any use?
Big Payoff from a Small Job
Not every project justifies the use of a big machine. Sometimes the setup time alone is the same or longer than it takes for the actual run. And, are 500 pieces worth waiting in the queue if someone could knock them out manually in a couple hours?
You need to take a minute to reflect on the old theater adage, “there are no small parts, only small actors.” Sometimes the smaller jobs are the “rush” jobs. They’re frequently jobs you’ve charged a premium for, AND they’re jobs that a loyal repeat customer has brought to YOU instead of to the chain that’s closer to their office. Do it quick, with the same quality as a high-volume machine, and those customers stay loyal. Keep your bigger machines running without interruption and everybody wins.
Essential Gizmo – The Hand Scorer/Perforator
One must-have tool in the shop is a hand scorer/perforator like the HS-100 Handi-Scor. There’s virtually no setup and you’ll have the capacity to score and perf tent cards, brochures, menus, greeting cards, sales tickets, raffle tickets, business forms, carbonless and more. We’ve got this model and others at Lloyd’s. Check out the selection, and be ready to truly multi-task with efficiency in your shop.
Akiles Diamond 1 Manual Corner Rounding Machine
Filed under: Corner Rounders, Corporations, Finishers, Personal Use, Print Shop, Products, Sign Shop, Small Business
Corner rounding machines are great for, well, rounding corners. Sure, that doesn’t seem like much, but that can be important in print finishing when you want a professional looking card, document, or laminated sheet. The Akiles Diamond 1 Manual Corner Rounding Machine is great for doing
How is it Used?
?Not only can the Akiles Diamond 1 Manual Corner Rounding Machine cut through paper, but it wil cut through PVC, polyester, leather, and polypropylene. It’s ideal for rounding covers, pictures, laiminated IDs, and invitations. And the price is right for scrapbooking enthusiasts too. It has a 1 year warranty, and only weighs 5.5 pounds.
And How Much Does it Cost
The Akiles Diamond 1 is $134.95 at Lloyd’s.