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Unicom Graphics' presses
kept busy round-the-clock |
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Printing has always fascinated me. The journey from design and layout to finished book, magazine, newspaper, brochure, label or business card is of interest creatively and mechanically. And I believe the printed word on paper will be with us a lot longer than some think; as will the appreciation of fine printing.
I was truly excited this past week to actually touch a page of Shakespeare's First Folio at Aquila Books on 16th Avenue N.W. I wondered who else had touched it since William's printer had run off this copy of the Merchant of Venice in 1623.
So I needed little persuading when Dean McElhinney, general manager of Unicom Graphics, invited me for a tour of his plant and to check out his new $2.5-million Man-Roland 500 press that spits out 18,000 quality coated copies per hour. It's only the second in operation in Canada and, like the 300 series that sits alongside it, is already working 24 hours a day.
Today's printing shops are all about new, high-tech equipment, and I was interested in watching a Heidelberg Suprasetter making plates. It used to be a messy job that used a lot of chemicals. The new machine burns and develops chemical free – saving Unicom 10 drums of waste delivered to Swan Hills every month at $300 per drum.
Unicom was formed out of an alliance of two Calgary print shops in 1991. It currently has four owners and boasts 105 full-time staff – some of whom have been working there from 30 to 40 years. A dozen are in sales but McElhinney says a fair amount of work is found through the Internet.
The best example is International Bingo Supply based in Columbus, Ohio. In the summer of 2000 it found Unicom on the web and asked if it could produce printed tickets. After a visit to Calgary an order was given |
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| Christina Ryan, Calgary Herald |
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| Unicom Graphics general manager Dean McElhinney
examines his new $2.5-million ManRoland 500 press,
the second of its kind in Canada. |
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for the first 600,000 sheets of 65-to-a-sheet tickets. Since then, Unicom has been producing 30 different games every three weeks.
I was fascinated to learn that the design is e-mailed from Columbus, a Unicom staffer writes the program for the numbers – one page of winners for every 102 pages of losers – and after proofing, the printed sheets are sent to China in a six-metre container to be die-cut, folded and banded. Then they come back to Calgary, are re-labelled and shipped to Ohio.
McElhinney says he does a fair amount of printing for out-of-Calgary companies. Another major customer, which uses Unicom to print brochures and mail them to Alaska, is based in North Carolina. Despite the rise in the Canadian dollar, he can still be competitive thanks to the type of equipment Unicom has and the experience of his printers. |
And he has cross-Canada customers that place huge orders for forms, letterhead and business cards, as well as using its direct mail service that stuffs, labels and shrink wraps.
But the one he is most proud of is local. Unicom has had the Big Rock account since it began brewing and now prints between 10 million and 15 million pieces a year for it. It was interesting to watch labels being produced – for the bottle neck, front body and back, which carries six different messages.
McElhinney finds the time to sit on a SAIT Polytechnic advisory council and serves as the local president of the Printing Graphics Industry Association of Canada, sitting on its national board. His shop is extremely busy – and fun to visit. |
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