Products
Japs-Olson teams with Kodak for complet
Kodak solutions drive enterprise-wide productivity
Founded: 1907
Employees: 750+
Location: St. Louis Park, Minnesota
Services: Commercial printing and direct mail production services, including digital prepress, non-heat and heat-set web printing, sheetfed and full web printing, bindery, data processing, laser addressing and inkjet addressing, lettershop services, commingling and postal drop shipping.
Clients served: Financial services and corporate marketing departments, advertising and design agencies, publishers, and direct marketers.
Typical products: direct mailers, self-mailers, variable data mailers, full-color brochures, letter packages, postcards, and catalogs.
Japs-Olson Company, founded in 1907 by Barney Japs and G.F. Olson, owes its success in the direct mail industry to equipping highly-skilled employees with state-of-the-art tools, and total dedication to the needs of the customer. The company, which started out as a modest, yet respectable job-shop printer, has evolved over its history through constant innovation and refinement of production processes. Since the early 1990s, Kodak has been JapsOlson’s leading solutions provider.
Employees: 750+
Location: St. Louis Park, Minnesota
Services: Commercial printing and direct mail production services, including digital prepress, non-heat and heat-set web printing, sheetfed and full web printing, bindery, data processing, laser addressing and inkjet addressing, lettershop services, commingling and postal drop shipping.
Clients served: Financial services and corporate marketing departments, advertising and design agencies, publishers, and direct marketers.
Typical products: direct mailers, self-mailers, variable data mailers, full-color brochures, letter packages, postcards, and catalogs.
Japs-Olson Company, founded in 1907 by Barney Japs and G.F. Olson, owes its success in the direct mail industry to equipping highly-skilled employees with state-of-the-art tools, and total dedication to the needs of the customer. The company, which started out as a modest, yet respectable job-shop printer, has evolved over its history through constant innovation and refinement of production processes. Since the early 1990s, Kodak has been JapsOlson’s leading solutions provider.
Listening to the customer
The most powerful influence at Japs-Olson is the customer. “Maintaining customer loyalty requires continuous dedication to the basics,” notes Japs-Olson president, Michael Murphy. “Our clients demand our best in three disciplines: turn-around time, price, and quality. You have to be able to deliver on all three every single day.”
Japs-Olson has responded to these demands by focusing upon two strategic fundamentals. “By concentrating extensively on productivity issues, we’ve identified product quality and cost-efficiency as critical imperatives. The market’s high level of price-sensitivity dictates a constant search for increased workflow efficiencies. This is also key in choosing suppliers. The right product at the right price is not a cliché at Japs-Olson.”
CTP synergy equals productivity
Japs-Olson’s facility consists of five departments (prepress, press, imaging, bindery and manufacturing), and Kodak solutions are prominent in each. The hub for all prepress production is the Kodak prinergy workflow system.
“We were one of the first Kodak prinergy system users,” noted Operations Manager Chris Illa. “The total integration features of the system allow us to drive nine different proofers and printers including two Kodak Approval systems, and two Kodak magnus 800 CTP platesetters. Also feeding off the Kodak prinergy system is Kodak InSite software, Kodak EyeMedia software, Kodak TeamWorks software, Kodak upfront software, and Kodak preps software. The rules-based automation feature allows us to archive or purge jobs automatically, saving about 50% to 60% of a person’s day.”
The two Kodak magnus 800 platesetters are the newest addition to the production floor. According to Illa, the new systems have already become workhorses, producing an estimated 5,000 to 7,000 plates per month combined. “The magnus 800 platesetters have really changed our workflow. Speed in the direct mail business really differentiates you from your competition and the magnus 800 platesetters have allowed us to get jobs out to the press faster, which in turn has reduced down time and allowed us to do remakes faster. Anytime a press is down we’re losing money. We’re realizing significant bottom-line savings with the magnus platesetters.”
Another reason for their success has been Kodak sQuArespot imaging technology. “sQuArespot technology has integrated seamlessly into our workflow and allowed us to image a wider array of dot shapes and dot sizes,” added Illa. “The accuracy is consistent on every plate and is by far the best in that industry.”
With the ultimate quality of CTP results being a function of both equipment and consumables, Illa and Japs-Olson have also chosen Kodak plates. “We’ve been a Kodak customer ever since I can remember, and they’ve done a wonderful job with thermal Gold printing plates. You can walk through our plant and you’ll see that we have sheetfed, heat-fed, non-heat set presses, and even UV presses. For one plate to cover the whole gamut is really important to us, and thermal Gold plates do that. We have virtually no problems on press.”
Expanding capabilities with a proven performer
Japs-Olson was a pioneer in high-volume variable digital printing, and has been utilizing Kodak Versamark printing systems for nearly a decade.
“The Versamark DS9100 printing systems have been a huge leap forward in continuous inkjet printing technology,” noted Murphy. “We began offering high-volume VDP work using Versamark 2.75" printheads running at 300 feet per minute, which was a groundbreaking capability at the time.
“Kodak innovation is a critical component of Japs-Olson throughout our entire production workflow. Just about everything we do has Kodak’s influence embedded in it.”
– Michael Murphy, president
– Michael Murphy, president
Recently, we added page-wide DS9100 systems and we’re now producing laser-quality output at 1,000 feet per minute.
“The acceleration in output allows us to image a full nine inches of variable data inline on-press,” Murphy added.
“We can also use the Kodak inkjet printers inline with our bindery, which enables us to offer much more than name-and-address personalization. That capability has taken us into new and growing markets with higher-value applications. This is our vehicle for growth.” Pleased with the results of their first DS9100 system, Japs-Olson expanded their capacity in early 2006 with two additional DS9100 printing systems.
“The acceleration in output allows us to image a full nine inches of variable data inline on-press,” Murphy added.
“We can also use the Kodak inkjet printers inline with our bindery, which enables us to offer much more than name-and-address personalization. That capability has taken us into new and growing markets with higher-value applications. This is our vehicle for growth.” Pleased with the results of their first DS9100 system, Japs-Olson expanded their capacity in early 2006 with two additional DS9100 printing systems.
Kodak and Japs-olson: A winning team
The ongoing relationship with Kodak has not only brought Japs-Olson new levels of productivity and efficiency, but also industry recognition. By 1996, American Printer magazine had already named the company one of the country’s 50 fastest-growing printers three times. By 2001, the company had expanded significantly to 600 employees, and reported sales of $120 million. According to company officials, 2005 sales were in excess of $138 million and the company had grown to 750+ employees. According to Printing Impressions, Japs-Olson now ranks as the 52nd largest commercial printer in North America, and is one of the top ten direct mail printers in the country.
“I feel that there’s safety and security in relying on a trusted partner offering quality solutions,” notes Murphy. “The creation of the Graphic Communications Group only further enhances their value to printers like us. Kodak continues to earn our business with reliable and efficient production tools that enable Japs-Olson to be successful.”
“I feel that there’s safety and security in relying on a trusted partner offering quality solutions,” notes Murphy. “The creation of the Graphic Communications Group only further enhances their value to printers like us. Kodak continues to earn our business with reliable and efficient production tools that enable Japs-Olson to be successful.”