Franchise Printer Sees Immediate ROI

AlphaGraphics of Franklin, Tenn., provides printing services, marketing solutions, graphic design, and custom business sign and banner production.

Jim Bright, owner, is focused on customer service and his growing double-digit print revenues, while maintaining his same 4,800 sqft operation. Key factors in the purchase of new equipment include space, and whether the solution will enable more productivity and customers, while reducing costs. In one month since installing the Rhin-O-Tuff (Booth 11464) Tornado Autopunch EX, AlphaGraphics #630 has experienced an immediate return on investment. Its savings include the elimination of overtime and second shift runs for large punch and bind jobs; 50% faster job turnaround time; and labor savings on 95% of jobs.

AlphaGraphics #630 is a bustling print operation experiencing tremendous growth.  One of their growth challenges is space. Bringing in new business requires updating technology, equipment, and services, while fitting within the current footprint. A second key factor for this growing AlphaGraphics is how they can achieve more productivity while keeping costs in balance. The bulk of their punch and bind jobs require manual steps — hand-collating index tabs (95% of jobs), manual punching, book separation, and binding. Most of its books are either coil (80%) or wire-bound (20%), and include several varying components:

• Clear Acetate Front Covers
• Black Vinyl Back Covers
• 110lb. Coated Covers
• Inside Content Pages – 70-lb. Text
• Index Tabs — 4 to 15-Tabs per book; 5 Bank Copier Tabs

Prior to the Tornado Autopunch EX, Bright and his team would move large finishing job components to their conference room, and have at least two operators working on the job until completion. The finishing process required a series of manual steps by trained operators. All of the index tabs were hand-collated into each booklet, as well as front and back covers. The documents were then hand-punched on a desktop punch, separated into books, and bound. The conference room was unavailable for business meetings until the job was complete.

Now, with the auto-collation and punching features on the Tornado Autopunch EX, every step is automated, reducing job turnaround time by an average of 50%. The jobs no longer need to be collated in a conference room, freeing up space for other business meetings. The compact design of the EX fits within their existing space, can be wheeled to different areas, and requires no special power outlet.

“We have paid for our EX within one year. With more bindery work I would definitely purchase a second machine,” says Bright. “We were running 30 hours of overtime per week attempting to keep up with our bindery. Since installing the Rhin-O-Tuff Tornado, we have eliminated all overtime.”