I've only been in the industry for 13 years, and 11 of those 13 were in the same shop. I used to be an Operations manager, and now I've turned into a consultant (mostly helping roll out MIS systems), but I want to get more involved with employee and culture development.

I've joined a few different local print-related organizations, and after speaking with presidents and other consultants, I'm hearing the same story: retention is an issue.

The shop I used to manage never had retention issues, so it is a bit of a surprise to see other leaders in the industry saying it is a big problem, along with finding and training talent.

I'm interested to see what others are experiencing. I want to continue to write and speak on topics the industry cares about, and I wanted to pick others' brains on retention. Or any of their problems they can't seem to push past.

For starters, the customer is (as far as I know) wanting these raffle tickets to be perforated in a grid like pattern on a 8.5 x 11 inch sheet, 8 up, so that they can tear them off individually, the sheet I’m using is 9x12 in the image. Each ticket is 2 x 5.5, no bleed or gutters.

The top half of the ticket will also be perforated (the section of the ticket that says Name and Phone) We usually use our Duplo DC 646 for perf jobs, but I’m still a little green on the machine when it comes to setting up perforations and scores. The second image is my attempt at setting up the length wise perforation with the RTM module. We also have a CPM for vertical scores, but I can’t continue from here because the Duplo just resets my numbers at the bottom for the RTM and I’m generally just confused on how the X and Y values are inputted.

I’m starting to wonder if this is even possible with our machine? They’ll need a thousand of these tickets as well. Any help with someone smarter is appreciated!

Does anyone have a good vendor replacement for 4Over? I just cannot do the constantly delayed production times anymore.
Any leads would be greatly appreciated-
West Coast USA

Basically, I'm a 29 year old woman operating an old nilpeter FA2400 flexo press, printing labels for little food stuffs you find in gas stations. i've been working at the shop i'm at for 6 years now. started as an assistant cleaning ink pans, been running a press for about 3 years. i enjoy my job because it's methodical, i don't have to talk to customers, and my employers are very very nice. i get a decent amount of paid vacation and sick time. i get 401k matching here. 6 years ago i started at 13$/hr and have gotten a raise every year since - now i make 22.50$/hr.
the way i see it, i got pretty damn lucky. i'm not breaking my back, i don't get condescended to or harrassed at work, and i have what i'd call a pretty sweet work/life balance. but part of me fears that i'm wasting time or stagnating. i'm a college girl and people like my mom and pops are confused why i don't take that english literature degree and go get a 150k/year teaching position somewhere. obviously that's not possible, but i have been wondering if my sweet deal here is as sweet as i think it is. could I get a new printing job somewhere that would be more lucrative? should I? or would I be throwing away a position that I could comfortably work for my career?

any advice is appreciated.

We routinely get vehicles in that need some level of cleaning. Is there a good waterless car wash that won’t interfere with vinyl adhesion? Is just wiping the dirt off with a microfiber and alcohol? Interested in what you do.

I’m looking at moving more of my sticker production in house. Looking for recommendations on the best entry level machines and what their capabilities are. Any help is much appreciated.

Howdy Folks,

I work at an app company that has a variety of QR code features. We currently print up to a couple thousand QR codes a week and have so far been sending out to a print shop nearby. I was curious if that was something we could bring in house but after doing research i'm not really sure what type of printer I should be looking for. I'm a bit confused whether to go the route of something like a BN2-20 or a label printer. Was hoping someone here could point me in the right direction.

Our QR codes usually come in 2x4", and we get a box of individually cut vinyl stickers (not roll). We need to be able to print in full color, we add graphics/marketing/instructions to each design. For certain QR codes we need to print them on a tougher material that's chemical/uv resistant.

There are times where we have to do larger runs for bigger clients but usually we're in the wheelhouse of about 6-7k stickers a month.

I've been trying to find a machine that can do both the printing and cutting and ideally something we'd be able to not have to babysit the entire run (unless the run is fast). Curious if anyone has any advice or recommendations.

Printing isn't our primary business, but at the rate of how often we need to print these stickers it feels like it would make the most sense to bring that in house. Maybe thats a bad idea, i'd love to hear your thoughts.

I'm not totally sure based on the sub rules if you allow for these types of questions. So, i'm sorry to the Mods if these kinds of posts are not allowed. Thanks in advance!

I am getting tired of how Orbus is acting these days and wanting to take my business elsewhere. Where can I buy banner stand hardware?

Hello everyone,

We are located in Ohio and are currently looking for suppliers of 24 lb. 11 x 17 copy paper. We typically order about two pallets every other month and use the paper primarily for direct mail campaigns.

Our current supplier is W.B. Mason, and their pricing is fairly competitive. However, as costs continue to rise, we are interested in exploring other supplier options.

Do you have any supplier recommendations?

I am in the market for a new cutter. I am looking at Coulter Peterson and Polar. Are there any other brands I should be considering? (32" or similar size as we are a digital shop)

I am looking for a recommendation for a really solid tea towel printer, ideally someone who can attach my own custom labels to heavyweight, high quality stock. I worked with a few companies years ago but everything print related has changed in the last decade and I am extremely interested in hearing about new suppliers. Thank you!

Hoi allemaal,

Kent iemand een voordelige drukker die grote oplages hardcover boeken kan drukken (ongeveer 500 exemplaren)?

We lieten onze boeken voorheen in Polen drukken, maar door de sterk gestegen kosten zijn we op zoek naar een betaalbaar alternatief. Liefst Europa, bijv Duitsland, Polen. Levering is in Nederland.

Alvast bedankt voor het meedenken!

Hello. My shop got a used Komori UV Lithrone SX 29 press last year and it came with this compressor. Fully functional, we just had no need for the compressor as we run house air throughout our shop. If you or someone you know is interested or has questions, feel free to shoot em my way!

Details

Model number I338HC1S-D10

80 Gallon horizontal ASME rated

3 HP, 3 phase, 1450 RPM

Voltage 190/380V 50HZ

Integrated refrigerated compressed air dryer, magnetic starter box, pressure gauge

Trying to spot color white on a Roland IU-1000F for some letters on a logo. Having a hell of a time getting it to work. Does anybody have a walkthrough?

In our shop we currently have a 2 Abdicks and a Tokyo with a phoenix envelope feeder. We feel like we are going to have to move upgrade soon as these machines are getting old and parts are harder and more expensive to get. What’s everyone’s thoughts on what should we get? Our maintenance guys are pushing EnPress. Thoughts and concerns?

We print high volume envelopes 200k a month and lots of NCR.

Thank you!!!

I've been seeing a lot of videos showing people using ChatGPT to generate sticker sheets from a selfie, usually with 16 different expressions and captions. It got me wondering where these AI-generated stickers actually fit into a commercial printing workflow.

For anyone who hasn't tried it, the basic process is pretty straightforward:

1. Upload a photo to ChatGPT.
   
2. Ask it to generate a sticker sheet with multiple facial expressions (laughing, surprised, sleepy, etc.) and short captions.
   
3. Download the result.

The output looks surprisingly good for sharing digitally or as a quick concept. But from a commercial printing perspective, I can already think of a few questions:

• Are the exported images actually high enough resolution for die-cut stickers?
• How well do they hold up if a client wants to enlarge them?
• Would you redraw/vectorize them before production?
• How would you handle cut lines and bleed if the artwork comes from AI?

I'm curious how shops are handling this. Are you seeing more customers bringing in AI-generated sticker artwork, or is it still pretty uncommon?

Would love to hear how everyone is approaching AI-generated files before they hit prepress.