July 06, 2021
New Prepress Workflow
By Wally Thiessen, Prepress Manager
The most exciting aspects about having the opportunity to work in prepress all these years is how we use technology and how our work continues to evolve. There is always another opportunity awaiting us around the corner!
One of our goals in prepress this year is to build a plan for direct communication between prepress operators and our customers on file related issues. We would like to take our service to the next level and have our knowledgeable staff work with you to resolve file issues. In the past, when file issues were discovered, we contacted your project specialist to communicate file issues. Although the project specialists do a great job, they are not necessarily file experts. Often, they need to coordinate with prepress to get help in properly relaying the issues. In this cycle there is often a delay in providing the required information. If our tech support staff are busy, there may be a longer delay in getting a response. With our prepress staff communicating directly with you, we anticipate resolving file-related issues more efficiently. This will also allow our project specialists to focus on the other details of your project production.
Our prepress staff do great work; however they do not have a significant amount of customer service experience. In pre-COVID-19 days we often hosted customers at the plant for a press check. At times this would include spending time in prepress with an operator, working through file alterations. These were good experiences, but few and far between. In February and March of this year, we enrolled our staff in a customer training course to help prepare them for this transition. We feel confident that this initiative will be successful based on the twenty-five plus years of experience each staff member brings to finding solutions to preflight issues.
On June 7, we launched phase one of our new workflow. When our operators preflight your project and issues are found, you will receive a call to review and resolve the issues. We will incorporate the solutions and proceed with proofing your project. In the event that we are unable to connect with you, an email will be sent with details and the proof will carry on without delay. The issues found can be addressed when you receive the proof. If at any time you have questions regarding the files for the project, you can reach out to the operator via phone or email at prepress@friesens.com.
In phase two, we hope to include directly contacting you on all file-related concerns for corrections after you have reviewed the first proof. In phase three, we expect to include any file issues that we may have caught at our virtual proofing station. Virtual proofing is where we have dedicated operators reviewing your files one last time before we go to press. They ensure everything is as it should be, and that you will receive the product you are expecting. We also plan to expand operator training to include quote details to deal with any specification-related changes in conjunction with the project specialist.
As we begin this journey, one of three operators will be contacting you. They are: Liza Breyfogle, Wendy Thiessen, and Derril Braun. We look forward to serving you in this way, and would appreciate any feedback that will help us improve your experience. Feel free to reach out to your sales rep, project specialist, or myself at: wallyt@friesens.com.