Turn Around Times.

One of the hardest factors to determine in commercial printing is the turn around time, or the time it takes to deliver the project once you have given the project to us.

There are several factors that go into this decision:

Is there typesetting needed to print this project? Typesetting is an open book on time. For large projects there is no way to determine exactly how long it will take to set, proof, make changes, re-proof, or how many times this will occur. A typical business card will take about two days to set and proof and usually only one set and proof process is required. But for a catalog or complex color brochure the process can take weeks.

For more information on digital or camera ready art click here.

How complex is the project? The complexity will increase turnaround not only in the design phase but also in the press and bindery processes. For instance imprinting a foil onto your project with ink takes time because the process is done on different types of equipment and scheduling between the different processes can be disrupted if there are any problems getting the first process done, on very complex projects there can be as many as eight or ten processes scheduled.

What type of bindery is required? The bindery process takes place after the press process. This can include perforating, folding, die cutting, numbering, collating and much more. Each of these processes are usually done one at a time on specialty equipment.

Other things that can extend the turnaround time on any project are: paper availability, equipment breakdowns, project changes after final proofing, ink drying times and more.

For more information proofing click here.