Printer in Transition: Bartash Printing Strives for Excellence

More than 50 years ago, Joe Bartash started Bartash Printing, the largest coldset web printing company in Philadelphia, to print his weekly newspaper, The Southwest Globe-Times. In 1962, Bartash’s son-in-law, Sidney Simon, joined the print shop, and during the next 40 years, Simon and his son Michael transformed the company from a single-press operation to a five-press operation in a 100,000-sq-ft facility.

Bartash now has about 300 employees. Publishing Executive Magazine ranked Bartash Printing one of the top 20 magazine printers in the United States. A manufacturer of magazines, newspapers and niche publications, the company has full prepress, postpress, imaging and mailing capabilities. Bartash specializes in newspaper and magazine manufacturing, one- to full-color printing, fulfillment and distribution, variable data imaging, detached address labels and cards, inserts and FSIs, production consulting and Internet publishing. And the company operates 24/7 with live technical support.

Expanding Services

Bartash Printing recently added full circulation services to its growing postpress capabilities, including CWC QuickFill software solutions. The company selected CWC QuickFill to help its publishing clients better manage mail lists and subscription deletions and renewals.

Tom Meyer, director of production, pointed out, “We print more than 250 periodicals, and mail more than 10 million pieces per month. Postage costs and circulation management are two of the biggest challenges that our clients face. We have a U.S. Postal facility on-site, and we’re constantly looking for additional ways to reduce those costs further and streamline the circulation management process. This is just another example of how we help our clients grow. We selected CWC’s QuickFill software because it is the best fit for our clients’ needs.”

Bartash prints small periodicals and newspapers including The Catholic Advocate, Suffolk Parent, HillRag, The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles and The Bernards-Ridge Connection. Bartash Printing also prints advertising inserts for publications.

Deborah Anderson, Bartash’s circulation specialist added, “Subscription and circulation management is a critical service for many of our clients. This increases our value as an adjunct part of their production workflow. The QuickFill System is ideal for tracking and documenting circulation, maintaining customer’s subscriber lists and automating the subscription renewal process. The efficiency and cost savings of the system are tremendous, improving speed, accuracy and managing costs which are all essential benefits.”

“Offering more postpress capabilities for our clients gives them greater flexibility to manage their business, attract advertisers, and expand their subscription base,” stated Postpress Manager John Grimaldi. “In addition to the benefits of QuickFill circulation and subscription management, we’ve added polybagging and repositionable sticker application to our already formidable offerings. These are just some of the ways we’re using the latest technology to strengthen our relationship with existing customers while attracting new ones.”

Bartash Printing also enhanced its digital prepress department. The company upgraded its existing Kodak Prinergy Workflow System to improve prepress quality while handling the increasing need for automation. Douglas Wentworth, an industry veteran, was appointed Bartash’s new prepress manager. “The Prinergy software upgrade will enable us to take full advantage of features inherent in Adobe’s InDesign software. It gives us the right tools to meet our customers’ needs,” explained Wentworth. Formerly prepress systems engineer at RR Donnelley in Greeley, Colo., he has more than 23 years of prepress production experience in web offset printing, including experience in Kodak Prinergy, Creo direct-to-plate systems, and more than 10 years experience with InSite soft proofing.

“Doug’s assumption of this vitally important position is another important step in maintaining and enhancing our position as a leader in the graphic arts industry,” noted Ed Yucis, general manager. “We are acutely aware that our capacity to grow and satisfy the needs of a broadening and increasingly sophisticated customer base is predicated upon making the optimum use of cutting edge technology such as Prinergy. We have always been positioned well ahead of the curve in that regard, and we intend to stay there. With Doug’s insight and experience, we’re looking forward to making 2009 the most productive in Bartash’s long and esteemed history.”

Bartash veteran Don Seedes has accepted the position of prepress quality manager, a newly-created position aimed at addressing the technical needs of clients who require on-site technical support. “We’re focused on synchronizing our systems with our customers’ to create a smooth production cycle that results in a great publication issue after issue. Additionally, more and more clients are taking advantage of our Bartash eDITIONS to gain an Internet presence. I’m there to make the entire process easier for them,” said Seedes.

Bartash eDITIONS are flash flip versions of publications that are posted on the Internet. Bartash takes their clients’ PDF files and turns them into flash flip books for the clients to post to their own Web sites. All the links are live on eDITIONS, such as menus for restaurants and live e-mail links for publishers and advertisers. The added value is that Bartash charges minimal for the flash flip books, but publishers can sell the online editions for more money in turn. Bartash eDITIONS are ideal for small publications who do not have an Interactive department.

Bartash Printing also upgraded its pressroom. The company selected EPG (Essex Products Group) KeyColor remote ink control systems, and QI Press Controls for the system upgrades. The system upgrades allow the company to reduce the amount of waste in makereadys and produce faster turnaround times.

Pressroom Manager Phil Wines said, “The registration marks utilized by the QI system are nearly invisible to the naked eye. Other systems use marks approximately an eighth of an inch in diameter. QI’s marks are approximately a millimeter. It results in a cleaner looking publication with no obtrusive marking. Clients are noticing the improvement.”

“By completing the implementation of these systems, we can increase the speed of makereadys, and better maintain color consistency and registration. We also are achieving more accurate cutoffs than ever before. Another benefit is the reduction of material waste during makeready and production runs. These improvements not only help our bottom line, but move us towards environmental sustainability—a goal that is increasingly important to all of us,” stated Yucis.

Employing a Strategy

Not many printing companies have their own internal marketing department. “This company had very limited marketing in the past, before I came on board,” noted Richard Greene, director of marketing for Bartash. “The Web site needed to be updated. It wasn’t necessarily easy for people to use—people come to Web sites for specifics. They want to know what your capabilities are, green initiatives you have, and charities you support. Companies should also put news on the Web site when they win awards. But most importantly, it comes to dollars and cents when they want a quote.”

Bartash’s new updated Web site is scheduled to launch in early July.