Small quantity production of sales promotion items.

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Time saving and cost reduction by internally producing POPs in small quantities

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CFL-605RT was introduced in September 2017. It was chosen considering the combination with a large on-demand laser printer installed in the head office in Minato-ku, Tokyo. The product was selected for its small size and handling characteristics, and the pricing suited to the work environment of the company. After introduction, the product was relocated along with the on-demand printer and actively in use within the company logistic center in Kawasaki, Kanagawa prefecture.

It is most popular in POP production, but processes many others including sales proposal product-dummies and cup/lid/box samples.
CFL-605RT offers an option to on-demand printers when it comes to minor quantity printing of labels in the 100 to 400 scale. It effortlessly cuts electrostatic adsorption-type decals often seen in consumer electronics sales floors, and "comes in very handy".

"Asking shops to cut-out dummy is often quite expensive, and takes one to two days to print, cut and return the results" says, Mr. S.O. of Company Distributions. "We took away a day-and-half from the process with [CFL-605RT]."

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Assistant manager M.Y. of Distributions added, "If we need 1,000 prints in medium-octavo, we ask external cutting-shops. Less quantity or smaller size, we do it ourselves with the cutting plotter. Depositing cutter-blades at the shops also cost money. The cost really makes a difference."

The boundary of outsourcing and in-house processing for decals and seals settles to roughly 500 pieces, depending on the size of the cut-outs. The on-demand printer is capable of handling up to 13 by 19 inches, but machines in cutting shops handle only smaller sizes, and processing efficiently drops significantly. The closeness of production to shipment allows for easier understanding of the production results and scheduling, helping to lift the load off employees.

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At ART PRINTING, the cutting process is handled by part-timers. The staff lingers by the cutting plotter, inserting sheets in idle time while handling assembly and other jobs.
"Once you instruct the operation, anyone can use the machine." says Mr. S.O.

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Contributing to promotion items that sell

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The introduction of "CFL-605RT" brought about not only just production efficiency.
ART PRINTING also responds to orders from brand-owners, and Mr. M.Y. remarked "we are now making proposals about issues the brand clients are not even aware of."

To begin with, the product was introduced to meet the growing demand of brand owners for small quantity printed materials. As the sales floor is limited in area, POPs and fixtures to be placed on exhibit needs to be well-selected. On the other hand, the brand-owners want their promotion material to be exhibited at sales locations. To this end, the owners are abandoning mass-produced promotion material for the creation of high-quality, worthwhile sales promotion material in smaller quantities. The excellent cutting performance of "CFL-605RT" came into play to respond to this demand.

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Previously, written presentation material was all there was when making proposal for promotion material. But now, several pre-printed and pre-cut samples are available for the proposal. This has "tremendous persuasive power" to brand-owners. By presenting several samples, selection of the most suitable idea became possible, and choices to offer the most favorable material to different stores are also available.

There used to be cases where the sales force presented samples, but these were painstakingly hand-crafted by the marketing staff. By letting "CFL-605RT" do the task, the efficiency of the marketing staff was significantly enhanced. Pointing out the significance of this transformation, Mr. S.O. says "by turning ideas directly into material form, we can definitize the issues our customers have, and support them with 'effective' promotional material."

As for future prospects, Mr. S.O. showed his interest in 3-dimensional creations and intended to proceed with refining the fixture design. Although ART PRINTING already produces fixtures used on the sales floor and in exhibitions, the introduction of the cutting plotter made it possible to enhance the design "to be useful and fascinating" by actually trying out the fixture in material form.

Recently, many customers are deferring the use of fixtures to individual stores, and "designs to make fixtures customizable" is in demand. "CFL-605RT" stands up to the challenge.
"Sometimes, the store staff takes a liking to the fixtures we made, and keeps them on display for a long time. It feels rewarding to see them around." says Mr. S.O.

According to Mr. M.Y., "ART PRINTING has the company climate to 'do and propose interesting things.' Without this atmosphere, the 'CFL-605RT' centered approach would not have been possible, so I'm grateful." he smiled.

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ART PRINTING Co., Ltd.

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ART PRINTING Co., Ltd. is a printing firm established 1972. With 110 employees, the group sales amounts to approximately 4.3 billion yen. As a commercial printing-oriented integrated printing firm, the company provides a one-stop counter for planning and design, digital pre-press, printing through bookbinding and logistics.

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