 PADPRINT NOTEBOOK USEFUL TIPS & INFORMATION © ITW Trans Tech An Illinois Tool Works Company |
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 Art & Plate Services Customer Suppport Customer Support Associates are assigned to accounts by regional territories. They help determine your specific needs and stay in tune with your business. Each associate works with an artist who serves as a back up in his or her absence and is also familiar with your account. There is always someone here to help you with your art and plate needs. Our skilled staff of artists and Customer Support associates bring over 50 years of combined experience and knowledge of pad printing graphics. We are all committed to providing you the best possible art services available worldwide. Our associates are trained using the specifications of ITW Trans Tech machines as well as the methods of producing our specialized artwork. With that background knowledge, we are better able to answer your questions when completing artwork orders. Learn more about How To Use Our Artwork Order Form... Customer Support for CENTRAL REGION including: ND, SD, MN, WI, IA, IL, IN, MI, OH, KY, ONT  Plate Services Eric Haak 630.909.4598 Customer Support for EASTERN REGION including: ME, VT, NH, MA, RI, CT, NY, PA, NJ, DE, MD, WV, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL Puerto Rico & Foreign  Plate Services Michele Runyon 630.909.4597 Customer Support for WESTERN REGION including: WA, OR, ID, MT, WA, NE, KS, MO, S.IL, TN, MS, AL, LA, WY, CO, UT, CA, NV, AZ, NM, TX, OK, AR, Canada, Mexico, Central & South America  Plate Services Carol Mehelich 630.909.4596  Plate Services Supervisor Steve Millane 630.909.4673 Artwork Order Guide: To view a PDF of the Art & Cliche Order Form, CLICK HERE. When you place an order using your own supplied, computer-generated artwork, we recommend that you provide us with: 1. A proof print of what the final art should look like. 2. The name of the program used to make the art. 3. The name of the supplied file on the digital medium. 4. Any linked graphics. We can accept these forms of electronic media: • E-Mail attached file • Compact Disc • Flash Media • USB Flash Drive • 3.5-inch floppy diskette • Iomega Zip disk (100 Mb) Need more information? Call your Plate Services or Consumables Associate at: 630-752-4000 or e-mail us For Tooling, Re-Tooling or Fixture information: Retooling Supervisor: Owen Ault 630.909.5777 |
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Production artist Kyle Tran inspects a film output from the high-resolution imagesetter.
Art & Plate Services Focus:
Full Service Art Department Fulfills Your Graphic Needs
AS EVERYONE in the decorating industry knows, pad printing
enables two-dimensional graphics to be printed on three-dimensional surfaces. But just how the original artwork gets to the plate (cliché) is not so well-known. The highly specialized skills to create and manipulate an image prior to etching it onto pad printing plates are the niche of our production artists. Their valuable service is an ITW Trans Tech speciality. Let's take a closer look at this team of experts.
Art Services Made To Order:
• Film
• Digital File
• Cliché Plate
Beginning with the order input, the final form of artwork or finished plate are created to suit your specific graphic needs. Whether you need a film to make your own plate, a file to create a film on your own, or a plate ready for printing our specialists will accommodate your needs whatever they may be.
Artist Kris Bender makes changes to a customer's electronic artwork using her computer drawing program to adjust the image to match specific distortions.
Usual Processing Times for Art and Plates:
• Digital Art File Only: 1 to 2 Days
Once your purchase order and the complete information necessary to make a finished plate or digital art file are received, the turnaround time for a Digital Art File Only is one to two days.
• Quick Plate: 2 to 3 Days
For a Quick Plate, which is a repeat order of an existing plate, customer supplied film, or customer supplied file, the time required is two to three days
• Art & Plate Order with No Approval: 3 to 4 Days
For an Art & Plate Order, which involves art creation or layout of customer-supplied art, and no art approval is required from customer, three to four days are required.
• Art & Plate Order with Approval: 5 to 7 Days
To produce an Art file with customer Approval and then a finished Plate requires five to seven days. That consists of two to three days for art, then the plate will usually be made within 24 to 48 hours of receiving customer approval.
NOTE: Non-stock material, special etching requirements, or critical line up may require extra days. We will to try to accommodate any special circumstances or special needs on an individual basis. Ask your Customer Support Associate for assistance.
Also, contact us for more information on our newest product: Etched Laser Plates and Quick Processing times.
Scheduling
All orders are entered into our computerized system after we receive your Purchase Order, then an order confirmation will be sent to you with a sheduled ship date. You will know when the plate or cliché will arrive at your facility, and can plan accordingly for production.
"What form of artwork do you need to make my cliché plate or art?"
This seems to be the most frequently asked question from our customers who require cliché plates for their pad printing machines. Over the years, we have received art in various forms: e-mail, on a disk, on mylars, on stat paper or laser copies, in blueprint format, etched on a plate, printed on a part–– even sketched on a napkin! We can generate artwork from any form.
The electronic media of computer software and digital images have replaced traditional layout tools. Obviously some of these will work better than others for pad printing applications. We realize that each customer has a different method of generating artwork, so each customer’s request is unique. After many years of experience with thousands of artworks, we have found that it is important to be flexible in working from many formats. – Our Production artists inspect the images on a film output from an imagesetter to ensure good quality.
Customer Support Associate Eric Haak enters a new plate order into the system.
Digital Workflow
To be able to meet the needs of all our customers, we have equipped our Plate Services Department with a wide range of specialized graphic arts equipment allowing us to accept and modify artwork in almost any format. In addition to a state-of-the-art digital production studio with an artist and computer at each workstation, we also have networked the stations together to a common server and high-resolution imagesetter equipped with an in-line film processor. Our imagesetter outputs films using a standard resolution of 2540 dots per inch and a line screen of 120 lines per inch. Other settings are available for special cases.
This digital workflow is enhanced by various tools for checking accuracy of images such as microscales and densitometers as well as light-tables for drafting or film inspection. We can also scan your artwork at high resolution or even take a digital photograph of test-printed parts.
Completing Order Form Information
With your input, we then create your Art & Cliché Order Form (or call us for a faxed sample) that provides us with the information needed to complete an artwork order. The key to the speed of order completion is in the completeness of the information on this form. Unanswered questions or inadequate instructions may result in indefinite delays. As a rule, the more complete the information, the better. When in doubt, just ask your Customer Support person; chances are that you're not the first person who has asked that very question.
Michele Runyon, Customer Support Associate, checks the plate production schedule for a recent order.
When sending us artwork include your company name, contact person and phone number, address the item to your area’s Plate Services Customer Support contact. This information should accompany all e-mails or packages.
Expertise
But merely having high-tech, sophisticated equipment doesn’t make a production art department. Our skilled staff of artists and Customer Support representatives bring countless years of experience and knowledge to your unique pad printing projects. We are all committed to providing you the best art services available anywhere. Our customer support associates know the specifications of the machines ITW Trans Tech sells as well as how our artwork is produced. With that background, we are ready and able to answer your questions when taking your artwork orders.
When you place an order using your own supplied, computer-generated artwork, we ask that you provide us with:
• a proof print of what the final art should look like
• the name of the program used to make the art
• the name of the file contained on the supplied electronic media
• any linked graphics.
Our art staff is skilled in both traditional methods of art production as well as creating digital art. We work on a Macintosh-format system, using Macromedia FreeHand software to create images, although we are able to accept files from other Mac programs, including Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.
Customer Support Associate, Carol Mehelich verifies the ship-to address for a finished plate order.
If you are using a Windows PC, we can translate FreeHand (.FI) and Adobe Illustrator (.AI) files. When providing PC files, images using fonts must be converted to outlines. If specific fonts are required, the fonts for the Mac should be sent in suitcase form.
If you are sending a scanned image, please save it as a TIFF (.TIF) file. If sending an EPS (.EPS) file, we can use the file as is, however, we will not be able to make any alterations to it.
Media
We can accept these forms of electronic media:
• E-Mail attached file
• Compact Disc
• Flash Media cards or drives
• 3.5-inch floppy diskette
• Iomega Zip disk (100mb)
All e-mail must be accompanied by company name, contact and phone number, addressed to your area's Plate Services Customer Support contact.
As anyone who regularly uses a computer knows, the technology is constantly changing and we are committed to adapting to those changes. We continuously upgrade our systems as well as the programs that we use. Our goal is to provide you, our customers, with the highest quality artwork, cliché plates, films and service that meet or exceed your pad printing requirements.
If you would like to place an artwork or cliché plate order, or if you need to know the status of an existing order, please contact your Plate Services Customer Support representative at 630.752.4000. Or if you need further assistance, contact Steve Millane, Plate Services Supervisor at 630.909.4673.
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ITW TRANS TECH An Illinois Tool Works Company
475 North Gary Avenue • Carol Stream, IL 60188-4900
Phone: 630.752.4000 • Fax: 630.752.4460
www.itwtranstech.com
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