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FIVE STAR PERFORMER
As production manager, it's Jonathan Griffiths's responsibility to ensure that his company, Touch Panel Products, gets the most out of its printing machines. His determination to maximise efficiency has resulted in the company achieving outstanding runs with Autotype's Five Star indirect stencil film, which, he claims, has never let him down. The company’s business, which is divided between the manufacture of membrane switches and security tags, has been built on a reputation of print quality and reliability. The majority of the company's work is derived from the membrane panel side, which the company has been involved in for over 18 years. Recently, however, the company has diversified and entered into the world of security tags, which are typically used to protect displayed products on shelves in high-street shops belonging to the Dixons Group. Both revenue streams are dependent on achieving high levels of quality that is achieved through using Five Star stencil films. The manufacture of membrane switches is characterised by high quality, short print runs, varying from an individual job to runs of 2,000, while the production of security tags is usually reliant on longer runs. The development of the company's system to enable extended production runs of security tags was, Jonathan explains, somewhat unorthodox. Touch Panel Products had been using Five Star stencil film to produce the membrane switch overlay panels and electrical circuits. They continued to use the film during the production development stages of the security tags, since the short test runs were ideally suited to the film's recognised high-quality and rapid turn around. However, when actual production started, Jonathan explains: 'We just continued to use Five Star to see how long it would last.' The results were phenomenal. Jonathan says that the company works in a batch system that usually consists of 2,500 sheets passing through the machine at a time. Since each screen can be used on four or five print runs and each sheet consists of 50 tags, a single screen can produce up to ½ million tags. Jonathan is at pains to point out that the process typically involves five colours and the staff at Touch Panel Products takes great care to ensure that the screens receive the highest levels of care. Jonathan says: 'We look after and respect them and we are rewarded with the best results.' Although the company has been using Five Star to produce the overlays for membrane switches 'right from the word go,' its ability to extend the generally accepted life span of the film when manufacturing security tags has been extraordinary. Indeed, it is the film's flexibility when dealing with both long and short runs that most impressed Jonathan. He says: 'No matter what the size we just use Five Star.' Yet Jonathan asserts that the potential longevity and flexibility of Five Star are not the only outstanding features of the film. Being a relatively small firm, Touch Panel Products must be able to adapt quickly. Jonathan explains that with Five Star, processing times are kept to a minimum and sure-fire results are guaranteed. Almost as importantly, Jonathan explains that Five Star provides a level of operational simplicity that means almost anyone can produce quality screen. He admits: 'I'm not a screen printer, but with Five Star, I can screen print.' Jonathan explains that he has never been seriously tempted by other stencil films for production simply because he feels that the company has found 'the winning formula'. Jonathan also reveals that while other printers rely on job separation, the Touch Panel Product’s formula means that his printers do everything - set screens and stencils, clean and strip used screens, etc - ensuring a high level of individual job ownership. Touch Panel Products use one fully automatic flatbed, one ¾-automatic flatbed and two semi-automatic flatbeds, all of which utilise Five Star. Jonathan explains that the fully automatic machines achieve the longest production runs because there is more opportunity to control the process and protect the screens. Jonathan says that the company is so comfortable using Five Star film that it has become second nature to use it. He says, 'It's like learning how to tie your shoes - you eventually just put them on without thinking.'
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