Worth the Trip

It's been a busy week with travel and meetings with potential customers. These are the kind of weeks I absolutely love and remind me that making the phone calls and doing the follow up are so important...and worthwhile. Yesterday, we were fortunate to have potential customers visit BPI Media Group's plant in Boaz, AL from the Atlanta area. I was reminded of how much we really can do under one roof, and the prospects seemed quite impressed as well.

Sometimes, it takes seeing to believe that we really can do all the design, prepress, print, bindery, mail and fulfillment from BPI's primary location in Boaz. As we made our way through the plant from department to department following the work flow, the faces of the employees were welcoming and confident. They're confident because most of them have been there for 10+ years...some even 20+ years. That's a lot of experience, and a lot of technology to keep up with as it is ever changing in our industry.

Having our Kodak Insite proofing system in place makes those who are hours (even states) away be able to proof immediately upon uploading files. Just because we're in Boaz doesn't mean it will take longer to get your proof. In fact, you'll get it faster through Insite. Seeing our conventional presses in motion and how a 40" 6-color offset press works is impressive if you haven't seen it before. The technology of our Kodak Nexpress digital press is also something to see. If you have custom pantone color needs, our pantone mixing system will knock your socks off. When we added 20,000+ square feet to the existing building in 2002, we allowed for room to grow and added room for a warehouse to hold fulfillment materials. Bindery was able to grow by added additional folders and fugutive glue features. This added space also allowed us to set up our own mail room with 2 inkjetters/tabbers in the mail department.

You don't have to take my word for it that we do it all at BPI in Boaz, come visit. I promise, it's worth the trip, and we'd love to have you!

Until next time...Elizabeth

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Full Steam Ahead!

The summer holidays are over, and it is clear that everyone is back to work this week. After a S-L-O-W week last week, presses and other equipment at BPI Media Group are running non-stop. That is a great thing for us! When the plant is buzzing and everyone is busy, we are all more productive. We don't have time to stop and think, we just do.

Much like a crew on ship, our team works together to make each project run smoothly and to meet our customers' deadlines. To make sure that this happens, here's what each of us are doing to keep running full steam ahead.

• Sales Team: We keep making calls (despite the rejections and voice mails), making appointments with prospects and customers and closing the deal to make sure the busy season rolls from summer to fall to winter and on into next year. (We welcome two new sales team members, Ann & Colby, as they join us with marketing experience that will help them have an insight into what marketers look for in a print production partner. Welcome to the BPI sales team!)
• Customer Service: This fantastic team is quite possibly the busiest of all at BPI. They churn out quotes quickly while searching out the most efficient ways to produce each project, enter order details and manage each project throughout the plant until it is out the door.
• Creative Team: This department spends countless hours generating ideas for both print and web design for our customers who trust us with the "look" of their sites and projects. Attention to details is an understatement and one of the strongest assets they possess as they create ideas to make your company look great.
• Prepress: Troubleshooting files and outputting proofs are day-to-day tasks for this team, but they also work closely with customers service and sales team members to communicate ways to help customers prep files to help projects flow smoothly during the proofing process, especially utilizing our Insite proofing system.
• Pressroom: These guys are highly skilled and pay careful attention to each job as it is being printed. Set ups to ensure press sheets match proofs, color calibration and constant checks throughout the run make each project top notch as it comes off our presses (both offset and digital).
• Bindery: This crew works on a variety of equipment to fold, trim, collate, bind, drill and/or shrinkwrap each project to your specifications. While doing so, they carefully monitor for quality to make sure everything is finished properly.
• Mail & Fulfillment: This department is diligent in every aspect to make certain that not only the best postage rates are utilized, but they also prep and package each fulfillment order carefully checking off items that are picked and packed.
• Shipping/Delivery: The last but certainly not least step for projects is handled with care as packages are either shipped to customers or delivered on our trucks by drivers who are professional and courteous when they knock on your door to deliver your project.

Each of these departments work hand in hand with one another to make sure that projects flow smoothly through the plant. You can rest assured that when you hand over an order to BPI, it will be managed from start to finish by your sales and customer service reps as we check on the status in each of these departments. Or course, none of this would run as smoothly as it does if it weren't for great captains of our ship steering us all in the right direction toward success for both ourselves and for our customers. If you haven't been in a print shop, or if it's been a while and haven't seen our updated workflow and equipment, we invite you to do a plant tour any time. Visit our website for directions to Boaz, and we hope to see you soon!

Until next time...Elizabeth

I Need it ASAP!

A great customer recently shared this photo with me, so I thought it was appropriate to share with you all as I'm sure you have all found yourselves thinking this, or better yet, you're the one posing the question, "How soon can I have it?"

Being in a deadline-driven industry, this is a question I hear daily, if not several times a day, so don't EVER feel bad for asking me this question. I promise, you are not the first, nor will you be the last. It is part of my job! Here are a few stats on how quickly BPI Media Group's equipment can work, and these machines can crank out the printed pieces and mail to help meet tight deadlines!

Prepress. If you upload the files for your print project using Insite, you'll receive an email notifying you that your soft proof (pdf) is ready to review within the hour. Once approved, the files will go directly to plate, so your project can be ready for press in a matter of hours.

Presses. Our Heidelberg conventional presses can run 12,000 sheets per hour. Our Nexpress (digital press) can run 2,500 14 x 20 one-sided sheets per hour.

Bindery. Our folders run 10,000 sheets per hour. The perfect binder binds 3,500 books per hour. We can saddlestitch 7,000 books per hour. The shrink wrap machine can do approx 1,000 wraps per hour.

Mail. For magazines or catalogs, we can address 7,000-8,000 per hour; for self mailers or postcards, we can address 15,000 pieces per hour.

As you can see, the machines can run very quickly, so if you are working with a tight deadline, we will work hard to make that deadline allowing you to breathe a sigh of relief and know that your project is in good hands at BPI. By utilizing our storefront for print-on-demand fulfillment, we can ship orders in as little as 48 hours (of course, if it's not a custom item or on a specialty-type paper).

By using our automated proofing system (Insite) or taking advantage of an online storefront for ordering of your collateral via print on demand, we can help you reduce turn-around time and overall costs on your print projects. Paired with all BPI's equipment are our quality employees who have years of combined experience who help you get the most out every asset we have. Don't hesitate to give me a call if BPI can help on your next project (whether it's a rush order or not!).

PS--caffeine usually helps me stay on track and keep up with all the hustle and bustle of the work day. These are my two vices of choice lately:

Until next time...Elizabeth

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