FREEMAN CASE STUDY
PARTNERING FOR SUCCESS
FREEMAN
Background
Freeman, a global leader in events, operates a network of state-of-the-art production facilities. Committed to excellence and innovation, Freeman continually redefines the future of exhibits, events, and trade shows. By leveraging cutting-edge technology and a dedicated team, Freeman ensures every event is executed flawlessly, leaving a lasting impact worldwide.
Prior to PrintFactory, we had multiple RIP software’s. We were using one RIP to control the rigid side of the company and one RIP to control the fabric side of the company.
What Were The Problems?
- Multiple RIP software systems for rigid and fabric production.
- Color Consistency and productivity issues due to using different RIPs.
- Inevitable Inefficiencies managing over 17 million square feet of graphics annually using different RIP software systems.
Freeman Story
Freeman's main objective was to find a single RIP solution to replace the multiple platforms they were using and to provide the necessary drivers and technology for both rigid and fabric production, across their 10 locations.
We produce over 17 million square feet per year of graphics, so consistency is key, productivity is key and when you operate with multiple different RIP brands, it's more challenging. So we were looking for one RIP solution.
Our main objective was to find this one RIP solution where we could get rid of the multi-platform RIPs and get one that had the drivers and the technology that could do both the rigid side and the fabric side.
WHAT DID PRINTFACTORY DELIVER?
Since deploying PrintFactory, Freeman have achieved color consistency across their 10 facilities. The cloud-based tools in PrintFactory have enabled quicker and more efficient results, allowing Freeman to share profiles and spot color libraries between shops, especially for large corporate events held in different locations.
"Since deploying PrintFactory, color consistency across the 10 facilities has been achieved. We can utilize the tools that are inside PrintFactory to get our results quicker and faster. It’s cloud-based, so we have the ability from shop to shop, to not only look at each other's profiles, but we can share spot color libraries when we're handling these larger corporate events in different places"
“Color consistency is giving us the possibility to hit color from the beginning”
HOW DID WE DO IT?
PrintFactory’s tools ensure consistent colour quality across different printers and materials, and over long periods of time. Fabric is a highly variable substrate. Quite simply, this increase in accuracy means that much less fabric (media) gets wasted.
We supported Freeman on-site during the transition to PrintFactory.
We also make it easy for Freeman to share profiles and color libraries between sites.
We introduced the management team to PrintFactory’s browser-based reporting tools. These monitor ink and media usage, which makes it possible to work out far more accurate job costings and – with this level of detail – that in turn means Freeman can offer a more competitive proposition.
It doesn’t matter what the device and substrate combination is. Freeman knows that, by automatically calibrating devices and using smart color profiles, PrintFactory will compensate for differences and calculate the color output precisely.
We're bringing some customers here to the facility and they're getting involved in the process early on, with the tuning charts that are built into PrintFactory. They can pick their own color and they're like, yeah, this is exactly what I'm looking for. The way that the PrintFactory Spot Color Library manages that color, it just makes a consistent output so we don't have so many reprints coming back to us from show sites.
The main reason to recommend PrintFactory, first of all, is that they are a good partner in terms of allowing you to do testing, listening to you, and getting to know the specific needs that you have in your business.
PrintFactory set up some classes for us right out of the gate. We brought our whole team together and they walked us through everything in Editor, Layout, Calibrator, and put it open to Q&A for us. You can call people directly. I mean, there's just so many avenues to get support. Where we were two years ago and where we are today is night and day.