Keeping and Spreading the Faith

The financial layout was between $2 million and $3 million.

"I have to justify on ROI and other factors when I want to upgrade," Murphy notes. "We can't write stuff off for tax purposes. Consequently, we have to keep our equipment a long time.

"With the stitcher/trimmer, I was able to justify based on increased speed, increased makeready and the capabilities, since we couldn't do things like inside ink-jetting, tipping on and the like. In the prepress area, we haven't had a problem purchasing stuff because that market continuously phases out old technology, which doesn't leave you with a lot of options."