The day to day in Digital Operations moves at a very fast pace. We are able to react very quickly to our customers’ needs and support the desired level of speed to market. With our stout line-up of digital presses, we are able to produce a variety of different product types that are most common in the retail industry. We can quickly turn prototypes, mock-ups, and short production runs in a matter of hours or a couple of days. The Digital team can also turn large quantity projects, thanks to our state of the art single-pass technology. Because we have four digital presses and five CAD/CNC machines, we are able to provide a wide variety of non-corrugated solutions to our customers as well. We have the ability to cross-over into the retail signage and permanent display markets. The beauty of digital is that we are printing direct to substrates without the added cost and time of print plates and custom inks.
Our Digital presses eliminate the need for these additional requirements and still provide a high-quality product in a very short amount of time. 2020 proved to be a challenging year in our industry due largely to the worldwide pandemic. Although we were impacted with material delays and less resources at times, we were able to keep up with the demand of the marketplace. The Digital team was able to overcome some of our staffing issues by being very intentional about cross-training. We needed to adapt and develop a high level of flexibility on the plant floor. All our Digital personnel learned to run multiple machines so that we could adjust as needed with the unknown just around the corner. Our work environment became much different with the new safety protocols and procedures. At times, these protocols made it challenging to collaborate on projects the way we were used to. Through some new communication tools, we were able to still achieve the desired level of communication and collaboration.
Moving forward: 2021 is sure to bring some new challenges and opportunities as the industry recovers. Some of the down time we experienced in 2020 allowed us some time to test and push our printing capabilities on our Barberan. For example, we had great success on printing our first high quantity job on Coroplast for a new customer. By successfully testing other materials such as PVC and Styrene, we are positioned to be a fierce competitor in the retail and restaurant signage arena. Most of the competition in this marketplace will not be able to match our speed since they are using multi-pass technology. Your Digital team is only looking straight ahead and will be ready to accept the new challenges that are heading our way!