Spiegel Brands Inc. has restructured its prepress and production systems and estimates the move will save the company approximately $2.8 million a year in costs.
The goal of the new system is to allow Spiegel to get its catalogs in the mail on time and under budget while enabling last minute changes to be implemented immediately and have the changes reflected across the entire company, from creative through accounting.
Working with workflow consultancy Rods and Cones Inc., Spiegel addressed the existing system that had built up organically over the years to look for how to increase efficiencies. The decision was made to combine Spiegel’s current two catalog brands — Spiegel and Newport News — while bringing the whole operation under corporate control with a completely new team, equipment and technological interfaces that could grow as the business expanded.
Previously, Spiegel’s facilities management was handled by an outside company while creative was handled in-house.
Rods and Cones, Santa Cruz, CA, took over one floor of Spiegel’s New York office and installed a network of Apple G5 computers and integrated the new Adobe Creative Suite 2 for retouch and page design.
NAPC installed a customized media asset management system by Xinet, which enables Spiegel to access and use their assets in real time while Kodak Creo’s Prinergy manages the backend PDF workflow. Epson 7800s with EFI ColorProof XF RIPs were installed and a contract proof was developed that works with the presses used by Spiegel’s printer, RR Donnelley.
