T206 production/printing questions/comments

[steve B]

[QUOTE=teetwoohsix;1109139]

Originally Posted by steve B

Thanks for the response Steve, but check out this link:

http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-newsouth/4402

One paragraph, in particular, says this:

" Factories in North Carolina began printing cigarette-packaging material, such as labels, cartons, and containers, and produced cigarette paper, tipping, and filter rods. other suppliers furnished tinfoil, cellophane, and poly-film".

So, I think they were printing more than the cancellation on the tax stamp.

For the record, I know the ALC was printing both backs and fronts. I just wondered if at some point, due to the heavy production, they may have found it to be a bit easier to have the backs of the more popular brands (Piedmont & Sweet Caporal) printed at the factories. I'm not saying it was, just wondering if it could have been possible.

Another thing, it seems odd in a way that after printing these beautiful fronts, that they would then slap a sheet of freshly printed backs on top of the fronts (causing WST's). But, in a scenario where the sheets were shipped (uncut) to the factories with the pre-printed fronts, these people printing the backs and stacking them wouldn't be taking any pride in the beautiful work done on the fronts. Hence, the WST's.

*Disclaimer* I need to again point out that none of what I suggested above should be taken as factual whatsoever- I'm just drumming up conversation based on pure specualtion and nothing more.

Sincerely, Clayton

That's very interesting. It would be interesting to know which factories.

As I read it it doesn't specifically say that the factories in NC that were producing the paper and doing the printing were the same factories that made the cigarettes and packed them.

Manufacturing is all about producing the object as cost effectively as possible.

So.....
Possible?
For the printing yes, possible. But unlikely. They would need a press, a camera or artist to make the plates, a separate room for each, and workers who knew how to run them. Possibly a cutter as well, although I think cutting locally wouldbe by far the most likely.

For boxes? Ok, I'd buy that. Lots of automatic packing machines produce the package from rolls of material. And a box folding machine is small and doesn't require a whole lot of training to operate. Even if the boxes were printed at ALC they were almost certainly folded in the packing plant.

For the papermaking? Having lived in a paper town(Dalton Mass, Home of Cranes who make among other things the paper for Us currency) I'll go on a limb and say "No way" The equipment is too large too specialized and takes too much knowledge and skill to run for nearly anyone to just start making paper at their plant. And I'm not talking about artsy paper with dried flowers and stuff in it, that can be made at home with a window screen,blender and a bucket. Cigarette paper takes a load more skill and equipment. Even into the 1920's the companies supplying paper for stamps had recurring quality control issues and that's fairly simple paper.


A smaller brand would be very likely to use a local printer. If nothing else, it would save on shipping costs and with reduced shipping time allow a bit of flexibility in ordering.
A huge concern like ATC would have been more likely to stay with a printer like ALC. Their savings would be in volume discounts and consistency in the packaging. In other words, If I'm ordering 30 thousand wrappers and expect that to be 3 months supply for my one factory I'll go with the local printer. If I'm ordering a few million wrappers for at least 5 plants and 16 brands I want a plant that's big enough to handle that. And I'll get a lower cost.

The biggest cost in lithography and most other forms of printing is making the color separations and halftones. The figure I heard as typical when I was working in the print shop was roughly $100/ color just to produce the negatives. The job I had them do the year after I left cost just about that for one color 16x20 And that was a special price for myself and the school department partly based on my accepting whatever paper they chose. They picked some nice stuff, good weight with a bit of texture They had a couple hundred leftover sheets of that and about 50-75 sheets of some even nicer stuff.


All the colors got stacked when printing. The press prints the sheet and places it in a stack of just finished sheets. They run maybe a foot or so worth of sheets then remove the small cart they're on and put in another. The sheets dry with a bit of air space between them, but still stacked. After a little while the stacks are put together into a larger stack on a pallet. That goes for each front color and the backs. The sheets on the bottom are the driest, but also have more weight on them. Stack too high too soon and you'll get an offset transfer. Lean on the stack and you'll get a small area of really great offset transfer on the top 50+sheets. (I'm positive of that from personal experience, not one of my better days at work ) Setting a box or tool on the pile will also make a nice localized transfer. - (Coworkers bad day at work, I think most of us learned the hard way.)

Note- different types of printing done at different paces will be done differently. Typography done with care like for an art press special edition book or for art prints will usually be done individually and hung individually to dry. Newspapers are printed at a frantic pace from rolls of paper (Web fed presses) and are cut and folded wet by a machine that's an extensio of the press. Nearly everything else falls somewhere in between.

Steve B