Sanger’s annual Isles of Scilly calendar is a job that requires perfection: its longstanding customer base, many of whom have bought the calendar since its inception 15 years ago, expect nothing less.
Booths Print, just 20 minutes’ from Sanger’s base in Truro, has earned his trust in spades.
What was produced?
Sanger works with a tight knit team; the calendar is one of the products resulting from 20 years’ collaboration between him and designer Jesse Wilson of Beyond Media. Between them and Booths, they design, print and ship up to 2,500 double A4 calendars – printed as one job – each year.
What did the job entail?
Once Wilson has paginated the calendar, he sends it to Booths as print-ready PDFs, having imposed them, Booths runs them through its Kodak Nexfinity eco-friendly digital press onto Novatech 300gsm for the covers, and Novatech matt for the inners.
Exceeding offset at 1,200dpi, according to Sanger, the Nexfinity has managed to deliver the quality required for the job – and, being digital, has made a real difference to the quality and efficiency of production.
Once printed, the calendars are gloss-laminated for better strength and presentation, folded on an MBO, and finally stitch trimmed on a Muller Martini Presto. From start to finish, the 2023 calendars took 10 days to produce, with eight people involved in their production.
What challenges were overcome?
Sanger, in his own words, is a “fussy customer”. Peter Hesketh, print estimator at Booths, puts it more generously: “The calendars are produced to an exceptionally high standard, as we know – because he tells us – that Robert and his team inspect every page of every calendar, so they are confident the goods they send out are of the highest possible standard.”
What was the feedback?
“We’ve had all sorts of experiences over the years with calendars,” said Sanger, mentioning one year an unnamed printer misassembled a large number of calendars, which then had to be shredded.
“We’re really happy with Booths [...] They respect, I think, why [I’m fussy]: we promise to supply perfect products, and we’ve been doing this long enough now that if we don’t carry on doing it, we will lose our customers. So perfection is what I’m looking for.
“I think when you’ve found a printer whose work you really like and can rely upon, it’s incredibly important to support them and stick with them. Because if you don’t you might lose them.”
Do you have a Killer App? We are interested in special, difficult or simply fabulous print jobs of all shapes and sizes. Email printweek.newsdesk@markallengroup.com.
