Another Best of Show for Bloomberg

When Bloomberg Ink Print Services won the In-Print Best of Show award for non-offset printing last year, Global Manager John Cruser was elated. It was only the second year the in-plant had entered the contest. As he showed off the trophy at his Dayton, N.J., company, though, his boss issued him a challenge: can you do it again next year?

The in-plant was up to the challenge. When the votes were in this year, Bloomberg had beat out 13 other Gold winners to claim its second Best of Show award in a row.

“It’s an honor. An absolute honor, and we’re really, really excited,” said Cruser immediately after the award ceremony on June 11 at the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference in Costa Mesa, Calif.

“It just shows all our hard work is paying off,” adds Colleen Seiler, manager of Bloomberg’s 20-employee U.S. Print Services operation, one of the company’s three international in-plants. “We work just as hard on every project that comes in, but it’s nice just to be rewarded this way by our peers.”

The Best of Show award followed two other impressive awards the in-plant won at the IPMA conference: This same piece was picked as the “Attendee’s Choice” winner, and the shop also won IPMA’s Print Center of the Year award for the second year in a row, solidifying the in-plant’s reputation within Bloom­berg as a top-quality print provider.

Multi-Piece Project

The Best of Show winning piece was a multi-part project comprising a pocket folder with brochures, booklets and business cards inserted into slots on the inside. It was printed for the company’s Discovery Days event when new engineering recruits visit Bloomberg to learn more about it. Since those candidates may be fielding other job offers, it’s crucial they get a favorable impression of Bloomberg L.P., a privately held financial software, data and media company — which meant this printed piece had to be impressive.

To accomplish that, the in-plant turned to a new technology it had recently implemented: an Impala flatbed UV printer from swissQprint, which can lay down varnish and produce 3D effects. Its UV-hardening ink set adheres to diverse materials and does not crack even during trimming. This was used to print the pocket folders, one at a time, on 13-pt. sheets. They were printed on solid black stock from Neenah called Touché, which features a soft matte finish. The swissQprint Impala printer laid down white ink lettering along with a clear varnish for the Bloomberg logo. These printed sheets were then folded and taped by hand, and a velcro strip was attached to keep the folder closed.

On the inside of the pocket folder, several slits were cut. Into each was inserted a brochure about Bloomberg, note cards, an agenda, the company’s philanthropy annual report, a notebook and a business card. The slits had to be positioned perfectly so each element fit and did not fall out when the folder was opened. What’s more, one of the inserted pieces contained an image that had to match up with the same image printed in clear varnish on the inside of the folder. Many tests and adjustments were performed until the slits were in exactly the right positions.

The project began when the client, HR Engineering, and its designer, Derek Bonvillian, met with the in-plant’s project manager, Leanne Trent, to discuss ideas. With only 30 days to complete the project, Trent let the client know what the in-plant could accomplish in that timeframe. Designs and samples traded hands, each time getting more refined. Jeff Ashbock created the print and cut files, working closely with the designer.

When the design was finalized, Scott Novak ran each piece on the swissQprint Impala, printing the white lettering that read, “Ready to build the platform of tomorrow, right now?”

“We had to go through and make sure none of the text filled in, because with that white ink, sometimes if the font’s small … the text can fill in,” Seiler explains.

Folders were cut and scored on an Esko Kongsberg XN22 digital cutter, run by Ken Walus.

The brochures, booklets and other materials were all printed on an HP Indigo 7900 operated by Danny Rivera using Neenah Classic Crest Bright White 80-lb. cover and Recycled Digital 80-lb. text stock. Each item featured Bloomberg’s trademark “rich black” toner coverage. There were two crossovers on the pieces, which lined up perfectly. The materials were collated, trimmed and saddlestitched by Anthony Videtto on a Duplo DBMi saddle system, which includes the DSC 10/60i collator and a two-knife trimmer.

Then came the project assembly process, which the in-plant staff took very seriously.

“Everyone wore white gloves when they were making these by hand because they didn’t want to damage the material with a fingerprint,” Seiler recalls. Several people chipped in to assemble the materials, including Novak, Trent, Ashbock, Walus, Sari Farhi and Ron Shiber.

“Before they were packed up, someone went through them and made sure every piece was in there, everything lined up and was folded right,” says Sieler. “Nothing was out of place.”

All 100 pieces were shipped to Bloomberg’s New York City offices, where the client was very pleased with the results.

“Bloomberg has a really big focus on quality,” Sieler notes. “It just shows them that we’re with Bloomberg’s mission to continue to provide a quality product. It gives them a reason to keep us here and hopefully invest in the team.”