so 2 months later...

I finally manage to find some time to write something. We've had killer few months with the amount of new business coming in. Coupled with the new printer going in etc.... that degree of chaos attained!

In order to get the new CPP550 printer in, we had to clear out our back room, move several tons of gear and boxes into the studio and public area, have pallet racking installed, change the electrics, get the new printer installed and networked, and move everything back into the back area onto the new shelves.... arrggghhh!

Making life even more interesting was the busiest period we've ever had coupled with both Ian and myself taking some holidays (shed painting type) and also changing our accountancy systems to accommodate our growth. (10 out of 10 to Fyfe Moir Associates for steering us through this interesting period)

This month is quieter (as October is always is for us), but not that quiet... still on extended days and weekends....

ps forgot to say that the new printer isn't a 1/4 tonne, but 1/2 tonne and can hold 6000 SRA3 sheets at a time in it's bulk feeder..... details you really didn't want to know...

trying (or should that be tiring) times ...

In the run-up to our new light production machine coming in, we needed to get some changes made to our electrics. So the sparkie was called in (one of the better ones in Aberdeen) and the extra ring-thing was added with the increased amperage. While he was doing this, he accidentally tripped a circuit which provides for the servers. At this point we discovered that of all the UPS' we have, only one has a problem.. you've guessed it... the main one. Four hours later and we have finally reset all the various servers and got things running again. Technology, you 've got to love it ... ?

On a brighter note, we're expanding and taking over the unit next door for a meeting / chill room.

space - our current frontier....

We've ordered a new light production machine for the print side, all super -duper and weighing in at a cool 1/4 ton. Problem is the size... it's the size of a very small car, requiring special electrics and much-needed space.

On the bright side, there is a unit coming up for lease which may just suit our needs for more space.

Watch this space (sic transit) ......

Another name to remember...

It's been a while since I've had time to update the blog, so there will be a few in quick succession...

New face onboard ...Craig! He's a young lad who came here for a work placement and everyone liked him. We have been getting busier and busier on Saturdays (even though we're officially closed) so we asked him to come in to help man the phones, clean out computers etc. He's been doing it for over a month now and gets on really well....

students, students everywhere and .......

Incredibly busy period with the end-of-year shows (we even sponsored a local one) . The feedback we got from students all over the country was brilliant - loads of very positive comments about the quality of the print and the speed of service.

We made a point of offering a 24 hour standby service for end-of-year assessments with digital printed cards - for the students that forgot to get stuff ordered on time (even with our fast 2-3 day service).

Many thanks to all the students who wrote, emailed and called to thank us for their cards, posters and perf'd artcards - it's great to get such positive feedback.

power of the web.....

It's been a busy few weeks, yet again. We have had some time to look at various aspects of the business and our clients. It appears that, while our existing client base is growing, we have started to appeal to a lot of students. If it had been purely local I could have understood this, but we're getting students from far and wide. Makes you realise the power of the web..... and we haven't even done anything to enhance our SEO......

the things you see at Morrisons Supermarket..

I had to include this one. Spotted at our local Morrisons it's a fair size of a propellor. Amazing what gets carted around the country......

Or is it a new line they're taking in.......

new tech people

We've started using a new tech person called Mark McKie. Very switched on and up to speed with the latest developments. He's just started in business for himself so, if you need someone, give us a shout for his contact details.

He's currently reading up on Unison to get our new exchange server up and running. As per everything that goes on with us, it'll be yet another learning curve...

Holidays....

I've been putting off having a real holiday with the thought, that, it'll happen at the end of this glut of work. I was rudely awakened to the reality by a recent event...

We were approached, along with a few other Aberdeen businesses, and asked to pitch for a well-known Oil Company's requirements for the next few years. Both Ian and myself were startled to realise that we were way too busy to accommodate even the pitch, let alone the actual work if we were to actually get it, and we are constantly evolving with new methodologies and staff, which is not a good mix for a large injection of work.

So a fresh look is called for. Our growth has always been organic with, in particular, Uni's and SME's (along with a few big players) being particularly attracted to our no-nonsense prices and attitudes to delivery etc. We've now decided to try to set targets and have a salesperson coming onboard in a bid to steer our growth. Only problem with this is that we have hugely beaten our last 2 years' targets and grown in an exponential manner.

I have had a wake-up call with this, and have decided to start planning holidays, irrespective of projects and jobs to be finished. Time for personal change.

one of those days...

It wasn't actually, it was a really productive one. From a satisfying meeting with a favourite client through to a quick phone call to a good mate in London, it really felt like I had achieved something today. I also launched www.laws-tyres.com , a site that has been sitting in the wings for a week or two, awaiting technical content.

The team had a good day as well, getting everything up to date for the weekend (nice feeling) installing Karla's new super-duper monitor, getting Lynne's one up and running as well, and Lynne even managed to get the buyer personas done for our new service.

So what is our new service? It's no great secret, just package deals for clubs and organisers so they can save even more money using our print service.

great technology.......

We've been considering a CAC for ages, and we finally bought one, a Verevide Colour Assessment Cabinet. What a great piece of technology! Transmissive and reflective work can be assessed as a comparison on the box or cabinet. That combined with our Pantone Two reader means that our colour reproduction accuracy is going to be higher than ever, and our artist clients in particular will be happy bunnies.

Another new service we're offering is a 4000 dpi scan up to 6 x 7 transparencies on a Super Nikon scanner.

Time to start looking for our next premises at this rate :)

not much to say....

It's been a really busy few weeks with the working hours really racking up. However, we're keeping up with the work (just). Some of the new projects coming on board are some full rebrands for established Scottish companies. So a nice mix of print, web and app development. Always fun...

wow....

I'm amazed. Having been so busy for the last couple of years, I haven't been doing some of the things I keep meaning to. So the other week, I added Google Analytics to a few of our sites as an experiment. One of these was this blog.

Amazing insight into who reads this. So hello to readers from Sale & Shenzen, Rochdale, Stanwell, California, Washington, Fareham, Canterbury, Poplar, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Blantyre, Leeds, Rawtenstall, Rotherham, Leeds and Lillehammer, Barnstaple, Maidstone, Ipswich, Norwich, Stafford, Birmingham, Bristol, Hydrabad and Alesund to name but a few of the locations, and a big hello to all the other readers in places too numerous too mention.

Hope it's not too boring......

hold that thought..

Well, we decided to hold off buying the Canon production machine for the moment, having got wind of a new machine due on-market in the next couple of months. However, the new software etc goes in over the next couple of weeks.

forgot to say...

A few other things have been happening.

We've just ordered a new Canon light production digital print station to go into Cotton Street. It arrives this week for a 2 week trial, but we think it will work well if the reports are anything to go by.

Also, we have the installation and trialling of our new bespoke workflow software to handle enquiries / orders through production to delivery. I think it will be a learning curve.

Having been given a bum steer re accountacy software (MYOB Professional) thanks to someone who's opinion I respected, we have been advised by our accountants to move to Sage, which is happening soon.

We have also looked at production layout software from Metrix, an Australian company, which gives you automatic layout for print, but we're not sure as our requirements are becoming ever more sophisticated and possibly a fast designer will make more sense of it than software.

Sore head time again...

Friday night came round, and what a night. We went out, ostensibly to say farewell to Lynne, a student placement from RGU. However, we had decided to offer her a part-time job with Rocket and Paradox, as she had done really good work, and the rest of the team think she's great. So we just went for a drink anyway.... Five, Korova and 99 ending up home early morning with beer vision, and can Lynne drink... kept up with the rest of the team...

I have published a comment to the previous post. I don't usually, but I thought this one quite funny, especially as we almost doubled our print trade in February, and have just had an enquiry in from a major brewers (an existing client) to design and supply 1600 bound menus to some of their pubs. I think it may be from a competitor:) but who knows... they didn't have the nerve to leave their name.

busier and busier....

We thought we were coming back to a quieter January, after the rush up to Christmas. Needless to say, we were totally wrong with this January being almost 3 times busier than last January.

February hasn't been any different, so far, with everyone running around like busy bee's. Amongst the many projects on the go are a Pizza Home Delivery website, a video site for a Dance company, websites for flowers, an innovative new golf product also being launched in Japan, a site for a charity in India, and many others.

So for March....in like a lion, out like a lamb? don't think so......

sore heads...

Almost at the end of the week and we are still 1 short after Karla's birthday bash at the weekend. Much drink was consumed (Karla's bad influence, don't you know:)) and everyone was suffering for a few days. Main victim was Karla however, who claims it's a bad cold/flu :)

The event was at the Tunnels with Dead Rabbit playing and DJ after. Excellent!

Images to follow, if I have time....

race to the end of the year

A bit belated, this one. We finally got all our gear including the big printers, down to the new place. So what now? Well we're starting the year on a high note with tons of work, so much so that I was in on the 2nd doing a website for a client in a rush.

The week before, I was in installing new workstations for the extra people coming on in late January. After the G5 servers were such a success, we went with HP workstations with the new Triple Phenom processors. Wow! HP Compaq has really put the boot into the competition with that combination of processor and GPU in their new workstations. Opening a file that used to take 90 seconds ( a big one) takes 15 seconds on the new machine. Well worth the cost.