This story of Copresco’s first day in business is well known to all and has attained mythical proportions in printing and publishing circles.
The big news on the day Copresco opened was the stock market. October 19, 1987 will forever be remembered as Black Monday, the day all of the world’s stock markets crashed in unison. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost over 22% of its value in one day, a record that still stands to this day.
Few realized it at the time, but all the stock market hullabaloo covered up the sound of the real crash: the crashing down of barriers to economical short print runs of books, manuals, and publications.
The world’s financial markets soon recovered, but the worlds of book manufacturing, publishing, and corporate communications would never be the same.
Never again would it be necessary to print thousands of a book, manual, or publication if only hundreds, dozens, or even just a few copies were needed. No more excess inventory, no more waste and spoilage. Revisions, corrections, and updates could now be done instantly, and multiple versions could be tailored to specific audiences economically.
“The hardest part was convincing potential customers that we really could deliver their books overnight, instead of the month-long turnaround that was the industry standard at the time,” recalls Copresco president and founder Steve Johnson.
The concept was simple. Conventional book printing machinery and workflow couldn’t handle short run-lengths. Much of the technology, both hardware and software, that enabled Copresco’s success existed but no one had thought to combine it all to create an on-demand book manufacturing system.
“Once a customer tried us, we had them hooked for life!” exclaims Johnson. “I’d like to thank all of our clients, some of whom have been with us for decades, for making our longevity possible.”
Eschewing cakes and candles, Copresco is celebrating 35 years in business by adding two new digital color presses to our lineup. Haven’t we told you about that yet? Stay tuned!Details to come in upcoming issues of Overnight Lite.
Steve admires the color accuracy on one of our new presses.
Suffice it to say for the moment that Copresco remains committed to delivering the same lighting fast turn-around to full-color books, catalogs, calendars, and annual reports that we’ve always provided for black and white books and manuals.
In last month’s issue of Overnight Lite we discussed coated vs uncoated papers. We gave you facts, figures, and features, and briefly mentioned a paper that is the “Best of Both Worlds.” In fact, you are holding a sample of this paper in your hands right now.
Overnight Lite is printed monthly on 28#/70# Cougar Digital Super Smooth Color Copy Text. Isn’t it beautiful? The smooth polished surface gives the appearance of a silk finish coated paper, yet it weighs less than an equivalent coated stock of the same thickness.
Confused by weights? 28# and 70# are the same weight, just using a different scale. 28# bond/writing = 70# text/book/offset.
Uncoated paper adheres better to glue for superior adhesive binding and won’t smear or smudge if written upon with a pen or marker.
Cougar is a tried and true paper,celebrating fifty years since its introduction in 1972 as a bright white opaque book paper. Originally formulated for offset, Cougar has been upgraded many times for digital, making it ideal for printing books, manuals, catalogs, and publications.
If you specify coated paper for color pages as a matter of habit, consider testing Cougar Super Smooth as an alternative. If you’ve been using an uncoated stock for color to save money, consider upgrading to Cougar or equivalent. Copresco is happy to furnish printed samples.