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Month: May 2018

The Benefits of Precise Inspection

When you order printing to be done, you have a right to expect the quality of the printed image to be a central requirement for defect-free print results. And why not? You are having work done that will present you and your company to your customers, and why would you not want to present your very best image to them? In terms of achieving these quality results, precision inspections are a necessary part of every project. In the old days, this process was often referred to as quality control. And while it might still be called the same thing today, in this day and age, it takes on a whole different meaning.

Quality control is a concept that is often said to be pursued by many firms, but when you really think about it, it’s often just an imagined goal instead of a tangible result. It’s a concept that was pioneered after World War II by W. Edwards Deming in his effort to rebuild the Japanese industry to become the fine running instrument that it has become today. A by-product of this effort has reached American business for the better. And a beneficiary, among others, is printing.

Any printing firm worth its salt is conscience of quality and naturally implements precise inspection in their effort to implement effective quality control. After all, one without the other is simply wishful thinking. Further, given the number of stages along the way to a finished printing product allows for multiple checks to achieve a quality end result. A good printer who is working towards a quality finished product understands the need for these steps to achieve these standards.

This is not something that many people might call feel-good warm fuzzies. It’s something that every printer should do in order to not only ensure the success of their business but to ensure it will continue in the long run as well. After all, any printer–or any business–that does not work towards constant and never-ending improvement in their finished products, can hope to do nothing.

Even a printer who has never considered using quantitative analysis of his methods can implement such standards in an effort to improve their output. At Hallmark, however, quality isn’t a long-term goal, it’s an everyday standard for not only our equipment but each employee as well. This is why, for example, we insist that every piece of machinery work to its maximum efficiency and that performance of that machine is constantly maintained to its highest standards. Not only that, but each employee must know his or her job intimately so that at every step of their job they can improve or at least maintain a process so that a quality end product is not a surprise. It’s a natural by-product.

Hallmark employees also know their equipment and tools like nobody else in their effort to deliver the highest quality finished products for all of our clients. This is also part of the reason why each of our employees undergoes constant training so that they are up to date on all processes and developments that are new to the printing industry. This will give them the benefit of contributing in a very active way of making your project the very best it can be.

All of this is the reason why you should trust your printing projects to Hallmark. This way, not only will you receive the finest end product for each of your printing jobs, but you will also benefit from the knowledge of our staff in terms of using our graphic arts products to give your business every advantage it can possibly enjoy. After all, each of your printed products is representative of your business and how you do business. Should you allow anything of lesser quality to speak for the kind of business you operate? Whatever your business goals are, count on Hallmark to deliver the highest quality tools you need to present your business in the best possible light. Precise inspections are only one stage to this process, but one that is important to make sure you have the best possible tools to do your business. Why not contact us today to see how this can benefit you?

Quality Measured Actuations for Membrane Switches

Planned obsolescence, If you have been in business any length of time at all, chances are good that you have heard of this term. In fact, you have probably experienced it in any number of forms, from the amount of time a product will serve your needs to the number of jobs a piece of equipment can be reasonably expected to benefit your business. As obscure as most people consider the idea, planned obsolescence is something that almost all companies not only plan for, but they count on it.

What does all of this have to do with you? Quite simply, planned obsolescence is the time or conditions that you can count on a product lasting or from the maker’s point of view, not lasting. For example, if you bought a watch, how long can you plan on it lasting before you need to have it replaced? Of course, you want your watch or other purchases to last as long as possible, but the maker has another plan. They want their products to last only a given time period before the consumer wants a replacement. this is a deliberate shortening of a product’s expected lifespan.

This model can be expanded to any product, including membrane switches. Of course, every product maker, including those of membrane switches, like to say that their product is the best made on the market, which might or might not be the truth, but it ignores the fact that in truth every product wears out, which makes purchasing a replacement a necessity. This is where the ability to plan the quality of the switch to the extent that a given time period or a number of actuations can be determined before a replacement is needed. This helps both the user as well as the maker.

Having an understanding of how measured actuations works, consumers are able to purchase the best products for their use, and makers can work to develop the best products available. This is why Hallmark works consistently to create the longest lasting membrane switches on the market today. This saves consumers money and time. By using membrane switches from Hallmark consumers can rest assured that the products they use will not only work correctly but also be attractive and useful for longer than any other switch.

As a consumer who wants to change to membrane switches, you probably have a number of options that you are considering. That’s good because it shows that you are cognizant of the products that are available. Unfortunately, you still have to make a choice among many products that are often perceivably identical. The most important thing to remember, however, is that there is a difference, regardless of how difficult it might be sometimes to determine differences, with quality measured actuations being among the most important.

At Hallmark Nameplate, we consider it vitally important to make sure that our products stand the test of the hardest uses you can dish out, and then some. We consider this important not only in terms of the way a product looks but in the way it works as well. Only Hallmark has the testing equipment and procedures to ensure that our products are the best that you can install in your applications. The result is a product that you can offer that will perform better for your clients, regardless of their applications. And when your clients offer products that perform better, they will be happier clients for you and your business.

No other membrane switch maker can claim the quality of product that does Hallmark. And while Hallmark can’t claim to have invented the membrane switch, we can say that nobody has invested the time and work that we have to develop the best product of its type available anywhere. Contact Hallmark today to see how we can fill your membrane switch needs with the highest quality product available. Hallmark features a complete line of membrane switches and technologies that will allow you to create a switch that is most compatible with your needs.

All About Perfected Color Matching

Mark Twain is supposed to have said that the difference between the right word and the almost right word is like the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. And while it might be a good joke, it’s a point that is very solid. Exactness in color should not be measured in degrees, especially with the presence of today’s measuring technology. To have a job done correctly and completely, one of the standards it should meet is the perfect match of the color mixture.

The world is full of examples of colors that do not match. As a result, in the realms of business, sports, and many more, there are plenty of instances where confusion reigns supreme when it comes to color matching. Regardless of your purpose, you should have given standards when it comes to color in your product, advertising, and even your company letterhead. Without continuity in these areas and many more, your public cannot easily identify the relationship between your company, products, services, and the image you project.

The truth is that consumers come to expect the products they buy to have the same family of colors, design, and other elements from one product to the next. In the past, printers, graphic artists, and other professionals had tools such as the Pantone matching system to not only order colors for completed projects, but they could use it to also evaluate the quality of the color on the finished job. The standard of the finished quality was often at the mercy of the printer, but it still served its purpose for many years. The trouble, of course, was that, for example, if a graphic artist wanted an ad to reflect Pantone color number 032, what resulted was often at best an approximation of that color. After all, mixing a color was largely a matter of by guess and by golly. Not anymore. Not only are there more exacting methods of getting color right, but ink manufacturers not only use the Pantone matching system in their offerings, but they produce finished inks in the most popular colors as well. Either way, graphics artists are better able to control the quality of the colors they end up within the final result.

Even in cases where colors might be the same, different effects can result in what sometimes appears to be a different color. This is the case of different types of paper that need specialized types of inks to match. For example, even in chip books that are prepared to give users as close a look as possible to the final appearance, ink can look different. This can happen, for example, when papers are coated, uncoated, or matte. Printers and graphic artists must work together in order to achieve the look that they both want. And why not? Exactness in color matching is just another tool that allows graphic artists, printers, and their final customers to achieve a good final result.

Interestingly, there have been so many advancements in printing technology over the past few years that the final result is more often than not a satisfied customer. This is because in the past so much of what was called a quality end result was simply a meeting of the minds over what a color represented. Unfortunately, this was often just a matter of guesswork, whether everyone was in agreement or not. After all, even in the best of times and conditions, good enough was often, well, good enough.

The good news in all of this is that with today’s standards and the tools we have available to measure them, the end result can be colors that more people can agree will meet the needs of the end client. And fortunately, that’s not a brag, it’s a fact. The tools available to everyone in the creation and printing process allow everyone to have their own input in the process of printing a job, regardless of what it is to end with a better result than ever before. Even better is the fact that as printing technology continues to improve, this will lead to even greater advancements in the future, which will allow everyone to reach their respective goals.

Hallmark Nameplate: Where Cover ups Are Our Business

If you are like most people, chances are good that you have or have had something to cover up. No. We’re not talking about past-due taxes or criminal misdeeds. We are discussing things that are much more difficult and frustrating, not to mention expensive, to deal with. If you have ever had something printed that had either an error on it or it needed something added to it, you know precisely what we mean.

One of the biggest problems with errors or omissions on paper is that most people believe that dealing with them effectively means over-printing or, in the worst cases, printing a document again, which means considerable time, effort, and expense. What most people don’t consider is something far less time consuming and expensive: labels.

The trouble that most people have with labels is that they consider their use a big step down from traditional printing, a quick cover-up of a mistake or a way to make an addition without spending the money for a reprint. This might have been true of the past, but no longer.

Using today’s technologies as well as materials, labels can not only be used to make corrections to printed materials as well as make additions, but they can add design uniqueness that would have previously been impossible to achieve. For better or for worse, people expect to sometimes encounter errors in copy and they appreciate the effort that is taken to provide them with copy that is accurate, even if this is done with the use of labels.

Even if a document or publication has already been distributed, a label can be a time, energy, and money-saving device to make sure that the correct information is distributed to everyone who receives printed matter. Not only that, but the wide variety of paper and ink types can make whatever changes are made virtually indistinguishable from original printed matter.

Labels are useful for not only corrections and changes, but updates as well. Take your latest printed catalog, for example. Why print an entirely new catalog if the only information that changes is a single list of prices or products? A good graphic artist, along with a little computer wizardry can produce a label with anything from a single price to a complete list of prices and products that could cover an already existing list with a minimum of inconvenience in terms of both time and money. This could easily take the problem out of producing an entirely new catalog in time for a special season when the only matter to be changed is a small amount of copy or a photograph.

In the past few years, vendors have created a mind-boggling number of label products that are not only made of paper or cardstock to save on time but money as well. Just a glance at virtually any catalog shows a wide variety of tags and labels that can be added to products, and with the addition of a printed label, can be used to supplement any need. The shape and size requirement can be almost anything you desire.

And regardless of the requirements, why worry about the type and other technical materials prior to set up? Today’s software puts a virtual print shop in your office to have any printing need custom made to send us over email, only to have the next time you see it in the form of the finished label for your product.

The success of much of this process depends on the use of your printer in the job. by working closely with Hallmark, we can virtually guarantee that whatever your need might be, you will have a completed product that you can use with pride. By working with Hallmark from beginning to end, we can give you our expertise that will eliminate considerable amounts of time, effort and money to give you a result that will exceed your expectations. This will not only help you to accomplish your mission but provide your customer with a quality product that reflects the workmanship and professionalism of your company, two end results that will benefit your company for many years into the future.