Josef Schmidt is a listener. Each word is important. Printing substrate, machine speed, environmental requirements. The print image should be even better, even brighter. Without the overall costs going through the roof.
Josef Schmidt reflects on it. And within a few seconds he has come up with an idea of how to successfully put his customer’s wishes into practice.
Siegwerk inks don’t come off-the-rack. They come from the lab. A network operating worldwide. Computer-assisted.
Paper and film. Board or cardboard. The Siegwerk experts are familiar with all the substrates and their special properties.
Josef Schmidt drives home from his customer appointment. His idea is beginning to take on concrete shape. The substrate is a clear case. What’s missing is the right ink. What was that case last year? A whole different scenario, but somehow similar. Tomorrow first thing he’ll get together with his team about it. Josef Schmidt calls his assistant. She unearths the recipe from back then last year. So as not to waste time unnecessarily tomorrow.
Pigments, binders and solvents, plus the right additive. Each Siegwerk ink has its own individual character. Some have particularly good adhesive properties. Others have no problems if put through ultra-high speed printing presses. The real artistry lies in finding the right one from a huge range of thousands of formulations, and in composing a new ink.
Josef Schmidt is 52 years old. He studied chemistry. Then he did his doctorate. He was 30 when he joined Siegwerk. There he was first initiated step by step by his senior colleagues into the secret world of inks. He worked for Siegwerk in Thailand for three years. If everything works out, he’ll be going abroad again next year. Argentina or Mexico, the decision is not quite final yet.
This morning everything has been well prepared. Carlos Bolivar has made sure that the right proposals have already been laid on the table. He initiated Carlos the same way his colleagues had done for him a generation before. They understand each other, even without talking. And they both came up with the same idea independent of each other. Carlos Bolivar will be his successor when he goes abroad again. The customers know him well and they appreciate his lively demeanor.
The team is quick in reaching a consensus. Three recipes are to be tested. Laboratory assistant Carolin Hann prints the precise formulations from the computer. Then she mixes the inks in lab quantities. Once the first tests have been run, there is already a clear favorite. All that needs to be improved is the adhesion. Josef Schmidt and Carlos Bolivar select a different binder. Now everything works just the way it should. And the print proof on the big machine in the test pressroom turns out ideally.
Three days later, Josef Schmidt is on his way to the customer’s again. He has three ten-liter containers of printing ink in the trunk of his car, ready to be tried out on the brand-new printing machine. His family realizes that he probably won’t be home for a couple of days. And a couple of nights too, the way things look.
John Collins is already waiting for him. He is British and for six months now, he has been working on contract to his employer as head of the pressroom. Prior to that, he managed a pressroom in Ireland for his company. John Collins has already heard a lot about Josef Schmidt and Siegwerk. About nights spent together at the printing press. About liters of coffee and sleeping bags in the conference room.
John Collins is not disappointed. Well, a little bit, perhaps. This time they only need half the night until the ink flows just the way they all envisioned it doing. By a quarter after one the job is finished. Josef drives to a hotel. John drives back home. John had embraced Josef out in the parking lot – and suggested it should be first names for them from now on.
