The document discusses the role and qualifications of a Customer Service Representative (CSR) or Project Manager in the printing industry. A CSR oversees printing projects from beginning to end, taking orders, writing job tickets, managing schedules, and overseeing billing. Key qualifications for a CSR include professionalism, strong communication and interpersonal skills, enthusiasm, willingness to work long hours to meet deadlines, attention to detail, and the ability to be honest when issues arise. The CSR interacts with various departments throughout the printing process.

1. Vol. 1
Qualifications for a Great (SR!
Graphics Arts Technology at Harper College, this is Susanne, how
can I help you?" This might be how a Customer Services Represen-
tative (CSR) might answer the phone when a vendor calls. An order
is given to a CSR after it has processed by the sales person and es-
timator, and at this point the vendor begins speaking directly to the
CSR, who oversees the whole project. The CSR, also called the
Project Manager, takes the information, writes the job ticket, man-
ages the schedule and creates the press layout. He or she is who
_
the client calls for all status information and questions, and oversees
billing. Professionalism is a very important requirement, and the
need to having a friendly and winning personality, be a good com-
~ municator, and have enthusiasm interacting with the vendors and
I the people working on the project. Enthusiasm is energizing and
contagious, and can create a good environment to work in
cont'dpage 4
• • •••...•• --..••••..•.•••• e-,:~ ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
....
RAM Pages, a
process where it
is RIPed, trapped,
and a final file is
created as a high-
K&M is a family owned 35-year- rez pdf. The next part of the
old printing press in Schaumburg, process is the Spectraphotometer,
we went to visit on May 5th. Bob, a measurement tool that reads the
a salesman, works with the cus-
tomers, and at K&M he is cMSO the files, creates a profile to make the
colors accurate so the press per-
project manager and estimator- forms efficiently, Next they make
wearing three hats. They produce 24" plates on an Epson 10600
folders with pockets, postcards, contract plate prepress and Epson
business cards, calendars, ban-
H d tb d Stink Jet. The plating equipment in process called perfecting. They
n
l
.ehrs
t
,~et~us. .e elscn e d po - pre-press is the AB Dick Plate use environmentally friendly inks,
19 pnn Ing: SIX coors an -.c J ~ (I l.' '._
"'I ;:p'e;r-~IE:.e: le~rO Graphlc-Artsl $.kIJ~ISIHallake VOU 1010 a
Successful career!
......·······.'-...
i' Gravure and Digital, Stock/paper
a darkroom. Bob said that this
biggest problem in pre-flight are
fonts, and high rezllow-rezgraph-
ics. After Pre-press we went into
the back warehouse area where
the presses are, K&M only
process sheet-fed projects, no
web press. The brand names of
the presses were Heidelberg (2-
color 74 Speed master) and AB
Dick. There is a plate for the top
and the bottom, so there is only
one pass. This saves time, it is a
J
call Nowfor enrollment information and •••••
career planning. Call 841-925-6448 or ••••• Harper College
go online al www.harpercollege.edu Go Forwerd

2. ·
Printing Process
pr -
comes •
the image
onto the paper, I -
digital printing, the im - • - •
the plate is transferred to
ber blanket on a cylinder, the r
ber blanket transfers or offsets
the image onto paper. It is also
called Planography because the
printing area is flat, and on the
same plane as the surface of the
print plate. A rotary press ap-
pears to have so many working
cylinders and mechanisms with
ink and paper feeds, it resembled
an invention Christopher Lloyd
could conjure up. There is
Sheetfed and Web Offset print-
ing: the difference being that
sheetfed are individual sheets
and web is a continuous roll of
paper. Offset Lithography is used
to manufacture books, maga-
zines, newspapers (example, the
viewin.g area at the Sun Times),
commercial advertising, and
m,
dryer
pletely dry
through the nex ••
absorbing another co
cylinders are made of ste
plated with copper and a light
sensitive coating, most are now
laser engraved. It can reproduce
millions of perfect copies at an in-
credible speed. Gravure is the
biggest rival to the Offset Lithog-
raphy industry, and is used for
high quality magazines like Na-
tional Geographic, stamps, cata-
logs, greeting cards, tiles,
wallpaper and gift wrapping
paper. Gravure, also called ro-
togravure, was invented in the

3. 19th century by a photographer,
Fox Talbot, as a means of repro-
ducing continuous tone on a ro-
tary press. The advantages are
the fiigh quality, high speed prints
with rich saturated color, known
for its remarkable density range
light to shadows, it is the process
best suited for fine arts. And, it is
more economical for long print
runs. The disadvantage is that it
is only profitable for long print
runs, and mistakes are costly be-
cause you have to create a new
cylinder, you cannot make cor-
rections on the cylinder. The
process is similar to Flexography,
utilizing rotary web fed paper and
an ink bath, but gravure is used
for more high end products, while
flexography is cheaper using
thinner inks, it is easier to make
corrections on the cylinder, and it
is used for plastics, cardboard
and food packaging.
Digital
With the invention of pes,
Macs, digital photography, laser
and inkjet printers, and compati-
ble software like Adobe, Digital
printing began in the 1970s
became a possibility for a ••
in their own home. The· ••
is not as commerci
ity as Offset Lith • ••
Gravure, colo
rated and t •
the ran .•
butt
p ,
bring the image up to color stan-
dard like in Offset Lithography. It
is faster and there is less waste
involved than happens when set-
ting up with a cylinder, but there
are limited paper and finishing
choices. It is used for personal-
ized printing, variable data print-
ing, e.g., printing up personalized
children's and family books, and
Print on Demand, for short-run
productions. There are different
kinds of digital print technologies
today, including Electrophoto-
graphic, which include xero-
graphic, photocopiers, and the
Indigo and Xeikon digital print
engines. Dry or liquid toner is
deposited by varying its elect •
static properties, and then
by absorption, chemic
or heat. Digital litho f • •
puter to Plate de
plate on pres • •
using a no
Inkjet is •
eith
di ••••

4. con't from page 1
and get things done on sched-
!..,......~~---J ule. A vendor will make a judg-
ment call about the company
by the way the CSR conducts
himself with the staff, and the
degree to which he is knowl-
edgeable about the industry
and process, and the specific
details of his project. He must
be a good negotiator and be
able to think on his feet. He
needs strong people skills;
their job is the most adminis-
trative. If the situation calls for
it he must be willing to work
long hours to oversee that a
project is completed on sched-
ule. They need to be comfort-
able with working with details,
because the sales people will
not want to take responsibility
for that, and the estimators,
designers, photographers,
etc., will only be aware of the
details specific to their job.
They also need moxie or
courage to be able to say if
something can't be done, or
say what needs to be said,
and if they are strong enough
to be honest they gain re-
spect. In reference to the
Graphics Arts Workflow, the
CSR interacts with the sales
people and estimators-deter-
mining whether the choices
made are feasible, interacts
with photographers, designers
and assembly-adding his
own creativity, is involved with
prepress and preflight-mak-
ing sure quality and accuracy
is on target, proofing and
press, and is there to ship it to
the vendor or hand it to him.
I
~Jr!%f!~1f4Ilf Jl~'f!(jrkflJ!71;;~ :m_ _I ~II. _!- J_III-
Color Management/IT '
Sales
Prepress
Estimating
Scanning/Imaging
Press
Preflight
Desktop/Assembly
Bindery/
Finishing
Proofing
Shipping
Plating