Print Precision with DigiTech

In this video you will get a background view of what goes into the TruFire printer. What components make it unique to us and what are the parts that push our platform beyond our competitors. From the Engineers, to the software developers, to the R&D team, Digitech works best as one. The TruFire features the industries flattest table, an advanced ink delivery system, to go along with industry leading software and top notch service. The TruFire flatbed printer helps to streamline your print shops operations while not sacrificing any of the key aspects including quality, adhesion, and time.

In this video you will see one of our many happy customers! We got to visit with the great folk at https://www.stokessigncompany.com/​ up around the Austin, Texas area. This video features the LTX2 in its natural habitat! A production environment.

Daniel Litwin spoke to Patrick Coldewey, President and CEO of DigiTech, about the automation hiring process within the printing industry. The conversation covered a breadth of points, including the Great Resignation, skilled workers aging out, and how smaller companies use automation [in hiring] to their advantage. The Great Resignation is not showing any signs of slowing down, and in fact, recent labor statistics show that 4.3 million people quit their jobs in January 2022. This is only a slight improvement from the highest numbers that were seen in November 2021. Workers are biding their time to find a new opportunity, and only a few are reporting “buyer's remorse” or regret over quitting their jobs preemptively.Naturally, the printing industry hasn't been spared from this trend either. As a legacy workforce ages out and a new workforce fails to gain steam, the answers to more efficient printing processes might be found in automation technologies. This episode highlights the challenges of the Great Resignation and guides listeners to potential solutions and strategies to deal with the situation.

Print Precision kicked off a four-part series with a case study on integrating TruFire into a small printing operation. Brett Sutton, President at Patriot Print Fulfillment, joined DigiTech's President, Patric Coldeway, and Host Daniel J. Litwin a look at the one-year journey documenting TruFire printer's adoption strategies. One week into the partnership, Sutton said his company had already seen results.“I wanted to offer something different where we're helping people out that need help and can't get it otherwise because they had to spend way much more than they needed to get something done,” Sutton said. Sutton's background is restaurant print fulfillment, but a couple years ago, he branched out with Patriot Print Fulfillment to tackle additional areas. “What we do today is the large format flatbed printing for the fulfillment side of things,” Sutton said. “I also do embroidery in-house. We try to offer a one-stop-shop fulfillment. We pretty much encompass all of the aspects of printing except off-set.”Sutton considers himself a bit of a gambler, but when he searched for new print technology, he didn't feel much risk betting on DigiTech's TruFire LTX2. “The speed alone was what drew me over there to watch it,” Sutton said of his first experience seeing the TruFire. “I realized the machine I had that at the time was a great entry-level machine but wasn't going to cut it for the way I wanted to take this company and grow it. Flash forward to one week ago, and the TruFire LTX2 made its debut at Patriot.If Sutton had one complaint about the TruFire, it was that it is so fast, work is backed up in his cutting area. Not to worry—Sutton said a new cutter is on its way. It's a challenge he was more than willing to solve.

Print Precision kicked off a four-part series with a case study on integrating TruFire into a small printing operation. Brett Sutton, President at Patriot Print Fulfillment, joined DigiTech's President, Patric Coldeway, and Host Daniel J. Litwin a look at the one-year journey documenting TruFire printer's adoption strategies. One week into the partnership, Sutton said his company had already seen results.“I wanted to offer something different where we're helping people out that need help and can't get it otherwise because they had to spend way much more than they needed to get something done,” Sutton said. Sutton's background is restaurant print fulfillment, but a couple years ago, he branched out with Patriot Print Fulfillment to tackle additional areas. “What we do today is the large format flatbed printing for the fulfillment side of things,” Sutton said. “I also do embroidery in-house. We try to offer a one-stop-shop fulfillment. We pretty much encompass all of the aspects of printing except off-set.”Sutton considers himself a bit of a gambler, but when he searched for new print technology, he didn't feel much risk betting on DigiTech's TruFire LTX2. “The speed alone was what drew me over there to watch it,” Sutton said of his first experience seeing the TruFire. “I realized the machine I had that at the time was a great entry-level machine but wasn't going to cut it for the way I wanted to take this company and grow it. Flash forward to one week ago, and the TruFire LTX2 made its debut at Patriot.If Sutton had one complaint about the TruFire, it was that it is so fast, work is backed up in his cutting area. Not to worry—Sutton said a new cutter is on its way. It's a challenge he was more than willing to solve.

Color is an essential aspect of printing. Managing it and ensuring it's correct can be a challenge for operators. Ideally, print companies want high-quality color profiles that are accurate while also keeping ink costs down. Mike Adams, an expert on color correcting in the industry, joined Print Precision host Daniel Litwin and DigiTech Founder and President Patric Coldewey. Adams is the President and CEO of Color Correct and has 16 years of experience. Adams said, “When there's a color problem, most people think they need to re-linearize. That's the process of printing set patches from 0 to 100% of each color. Then you read the dot grains, and it creates a curve.”While linearization has been a pillar in color correction, Adams noted it's a “misguided strategy.” He argued that linearization doesn't fix color problems. His advice is to create a new profile. He added, “The biggest culprit of bad color is usually the artwork.”Adams noted that DigiTech printers are in a different category regarding speed and the longevity of print heads. “With our printers, we want users to get the most out of their investment, using the print heads throughout the lifetime of the printer,” Coldewey said. Next, they talked about reducing ink usage so that high-volume print jobs are “good enough.” Coldewey noted, “There are steps to take for some signs where color isn't as important.”Adams acknowledged that this is possible with gray component replacement. He explained, “The color's value doesn't change, but the lightness or darkness can. It's replaced by black, so it's adjustable to save ink and increase margin.”

Color is an essential aspect of printing. Managing it and ensuring it's correct can be a challenge for operators. Ideally, print companies want high-quality color profiles that are accurate while also keeping ink costs down. Mike Adams, an expert on color correcting in the industry, joined Print Precision host Daniel Litwin and DigiTech Founder and President Patric Coldewey. Adams is the President and CEO of Color Correct and has 16 years of experience. Adams said, “When there's a color problem, most people think they need to re-linearize. That's the process of printing set patches from 0 to 100% of each color. Then you read the dot grains, and it creates a curve.”While linearization has been a pillar in color correction, Adams noted it's a “misguided strategy.” He argued that linearization doesn't fix color problems. His advice is to create a new profile. He added, “The biggest culprit of bad color is usually the artwork.”Adams noted that DigiTech printers are in a different category regarding speed and the longevity of print heads. “With our printers, we want users to get the most out of their investment, using the print heads throughout the lifetime of the printer,” Coldewey said. Next, they talked about reducing ink usage so that high-volume print jobs are “good enough.” Coldewey noted, “There are steps to take for some signs where color isn't as important.”Adams acknowledged that this is possible with gray component replacement. He explained, “The color's value doesn't change, but the lightness or darkness can. It's replaced by black, so it's adjustable to save ink and increase margin.”

For our industry's customers, getting face to face with the right printing machine is more troublesome than ever, with tradeshows out of the picture until at least April 2022. And if you've listened to previous episodes of the show, like such as with our friends at Sign Master and Parrott Printing, they reiterated the importance of being thorough with finding the right printing solution.On this episode of Print Precision, a podcast by Digitech, Host Daniel Litwin talked with Patric Coldewey, President at Digitech. They dig into the process needed to take place to make sure ensure a graphics supplier, sign company, or commercial printer can find the suitable printing machine to fit their needs. So how are we getting folks to see our printers in person? "We're having demo weeks," Coldewey said. "We're having two or three demos a day. Some of them are live. Some of them are Zoom demos. We're getting people in front of them and telling people within driving distance to bring 50 to 100 sheets over here and watch the printer run."Obviously, a tradeshow environment is nice because you can go from one machine to the next, according to Coldewey. When you're doing that, you're sitting and watching the machine, but you can get confused at tradeshows because there's so much information. With that being said, even though you are sitting and watching the machine at tradeshows, it is easy to get confused due to the influx of information."The biggest thing I like to emphasize for customers if you're looking for a piece of equipment, don't take anybody's word for it," Coldewey said.

For our industry's customers, getting face to face with the right printing machine is more troublesome than ever, with tradeshows out of the picture until at least April 2022. And if you've listened to previous episodes of the show, like such as with our friends at Sign Master and Parrott Printing, they reiterated the importance of being thorough with finding the right printing solution.On this episode of Print Precision, a podcast by Digitech, Host Daniel Litwin talked with Patric Coldewey, President at Digitech. They dig into the process needed to take place to make sure ensure a graphics supplier, sign company, or commercial printer can find the suitable printing machine to fit their needs. So how are we getting folks to see our printers in person? "We're having demo weeks," Coldewey said. "We're having two or three demos a day. Some of them are live. Some of them are Zoom demos. We're getting people in front of them and telling people within driving distance to bring 50 to 100 sheets over here and watch the printer run."Obviously, a tradeshow environment is nice because you can go from one machine to the next, according to Coldewey. When you're doing that, you're sitting and watching the machine, but you can get confused at tradeshows because there's so much information. With that being said, even though you are sitting and watching the machine at tradeshows, it is easy to get confused due to the influx of information."The biggest thing I like to emphasize for customers if you're looking for a piece of equipment, don't take anybody's word for it," Coldewey said.

On previous episodes of Print Precision from DigiTech, we've covered a simple truth – quality is the cheapest thing you can offer your customers. There's no substitute for a high-quality flatbed printer like the DigiTech TruFire, which allows you to eliminate rework costs, up printing speed without a dip in results, and more.However, not every organization has the capital to make a significant purchase. That leads to the search for a “cheap” flatbed printer – but what does that actually mean? Not everyone's budget is the same, but where should a lower cost reflect in the quality, speed or flexibility of printing hardware?To find out, host Daniel Litwin was joined for this episode of the podcast by DigiTech President Patric Coldeway and Founder and CEO of SignMaster.com, Tommy Trucks, who shared their leading insights about finding the right flatbed printing solution for every unique operation.The most important consideration, even when looking for a more affordable option, is throughput. When you can print at greater speeds, you don't have to turn down business you otherwise might have, and you can recoup the cost of the printer more quickly.“The capital expenditure is always a big deal, [but] the printer with the biggest capital expenditure on the front end is not always the most expensive,” Trucks said. “We've benefited greatly in upgrading our equipment.”

On previous episodes of Print Precision from DigiTech, we've covered a simple truth – quality is the cheapest thing you can offer your customers. There's no substitute for a high-quality flatbed printer like the DigiTech TruFire, which allows you to eliminate rework costs, up printing speed without a dip in results, and more.However, not every organization has the capital to make a significant purchase. That leads to the search for a “cheap” flatbed printer – but what does that actually mean? Not everyone's budget is the same, but where should a lower cost reflect in the quality, speed or flexibility of printing hardware?To find out, host Daniel Litwin was joined for this episode of the podcast by DigiTech President Patric Coldeway and Founder and CEO of SignMaster.com, Tommy Trucks, who shared their leading insights about finding the right flatbed printing solution for every unique operation.The most important consideration, even when looking for a more affordable option, is throughput. When you can print at greater speeds, you don't have to turn down business you otherwise might have, and you can recoup the cost of the printer more quickly.“The capital expenditure is always a big deal, [but] the printer with the biggest capital expenditure on the front end is not always the most expensive,” Trucks said. “We've benefited greatly in upgrading our equipment.”

A surprising trend during the pandemic that presented printing companies with opportunities was unexpected growth in demand for yard signage. Patric Coldeway, Founder and President of Digitech, and John Parrott, Vice President of Parrott Printing, explored this interesting side-effect of COVID-19 and provided context regarding how this opportunity made a difference for printers during some tough months.

A surprising trend during the pandemic that presented printing companies with opportunities was unexpected growth in demand for yard signage. Patric Coldeway, Founder and President of Digitech, and John Parrott, Vice President of Parrott Printing, explored this interesting side-effect of COVID-19 and provided context regarding how this opportunity made a difference for printers during some tough months.

Price isn't the only driver of satisfaction. While it matters for buyers of print products, they care about quality, as well. In fact, quality and affordability aren't mutually exclusive.Additionally, representing quality every time leads to cost savings. DigiTech Founder and Owner Patric Coldewey joined this episode of Print Precision to share his thoughts on quality and its fiscal impact

In this video you will see one of our many happy customers! We got to visit with the great folk at https://www.stokessigncompany.com/​ up around the Austin, Texas area. This video features the LTX2 in its natural habitat! A production environment.

In this video you will get a background view of what goes into the TruFire printer. What components make it unique to us and what are the parts that push our platform beyond our competitors. From the Engineers, to the software developers, to the R&D team, Digitech works best as one. The TruFire features the industries flattest table, an advanced ink delivery system, to go along with industry leading software and top notch service. The TruFire flatbed printer helps to streamline your print shops operations while not sacrificing any of the key aspects including quality, adhesion, and time.

High volumes in print shops mean workflow challenges. Patric Coldewey, Founder & Owner of Digitech, understands how these process challenges can lead to scheduling delays and other hiccups, but, more importantly, he knows solutions to these problems.

The truth is that every industry has its issues. After all, people aren’t perfect. However, true industry leaders will do their best to change the status quo and make visible improvements to the market.With his vast experience in the field of digital and industrial printing, Digitech founder and president Patric Coldewey has seen areas that can use some improvement. Today, he joined Daniel Litwin on the Print Precision podcast to talk about these issues and what needs to be done about them.

If you're in need of enterprise-level digital printing, you're going to need a color profile. And, as an end-user, it may be tough to understand what level of detail your color profile needs to be and how to choose the printing solution to meet those needs.But it’s important to do so. Making the wrong choices can result in wasted time, money and material trying to get the color of your images correct.

One question print head manufacturers don’t want to answer is how long those print heads last. A better question might be how long should print heads last, or how long can they last?

Digitech has earned the loyalty of many of its long-time customers and keeps those partnerships strong with diligent service without mandatory service contracts. But what’s the new customer experience like working with the company? It’s something John Parrott, President and third-generation owner of Parrott Printing, which started using a TruFire machine this year, has enjoyed. In addition to getting to know and work with Digitech President and Founder Patric Coldewey, he has been blown away by the lengths Digitech has gone to make sure his team understands how the machines work and how they can make jobs faster and more effective. “We kept researching other companies, but their machine just seemed much more fine-tuned than what the other companies were doing,” Parrott said. “They didn’t cut any of the corners I felt like other companies were cutting. Those little details were things that I was looking for.” That extends to the setup and continued service provided by Digitech, something the company was doing even before offering its own printers. Parrott said he and his staff will get occasional check-ins from technicians, even in a casual text message, a first for him despite years in the industry. “I guess it makes sense that they started out as a service company. Service is No. 1 with them. Obviously, the machine and everything else is great, but before they were selling machines, they were selling inks and selling service. That’s what they’re best at,” he said. “They’re a service company that happens to sell the best printer I’ve ever bought.”

After 30 years of digital printing experience, how is the DigiTech Solutions Group’s TruFire Flatbed Printer making an impact for its clients? Patrick Coldeway, Founder & President of DigiTech, brought along an end-user of the TruFire digital printer, Tommy Trucks, Founder & CEO of SignMaster, to discuss it. The TruFire story was born out of necessity. Customers, like Truck’s company, SignMaster, needed a printer that DigiTech didn’t supply or service. “Tommy was one of those guys who said, why, Patrick, don’t you guys make a printer?” Coldeway said. “He was partially responsible for getting us going down this path of making a new printer.” “We ran into some real issues with the first-generation digital printer we got,” Truck said of his company’s early forays into digital signage printing. “We could tell screen printing was going away, everything was going digital, and technology was skyrocketing. It was lending itself to lean manufacturing. As technology started to increase, we were stuck with this older printer. Over time, we were trying to get into some LED curing and faster machines.” Unfortunately, some of the newer machines Truck tried weren’t cutting the mustard. “To get to where we were trying to go, there was such a gap in the market,” he said. After a bit of prodding and several years of development, DigiTech began manufacturing and distributing its printer solutions. “There are a lot of printers on the market that are hybrids,” Trucks said. “But, as far as where we’re standing, we think a true flatbed is the only way to go. When you’re printing rigid substrates as we do, the only way you can get that perfect second side registration is on a true flatbed.”

So many modern companies want to force customers to be loyal. In the printing industry, many look to lock customers into service contracts, saying they won’t be able to perform repairs if the customer doesn’t enter the agreement. That is not the DigiTech way. “We have the ability to service the printer long-term, and that’s important to us, because these customers that buy printers from us? They trust us,” said Patric Coldewey, Founder and President of DigiTech. “Trust is the No. 1 reason we get the customers that we get. They trust us to maintain and make sure we’ll always be able to service their machine. They like the way we do it.” Part of the reason DigiTech is able to utilize that method is it now builds its own printer rather than repurposing a product from another manufacturer. TRUFIRE printers achieve a rare precision and have a number of technological components that make them tops in the market. “We used the very best technology and what we felt was the best print head at the time, as well as the best curing capability, which was the LED lamps we use from another U.S.-made company,” Coldewey said. “We built something we thought fit well within the market and something we thought would be easy to service and support for a long time. That’s really what we set out to do.” Even in production of its printer, service was front of mind, with DigiTech keen to back the product it produces. In addition to servicing any printer DigiTech produces, there’s also a personal connection. A customer’s local representative fields calls with issues and can remote in to take a look, often solving problems in the amount of time it would take to even get a hold of someone in competitors’ call centers.