My Visit to Crane & Co.

My trip to the Crane plant in North Adams, Massachusetts was 24 years overdue.  Our close relationship with Crane, as a platinum account, has been long and fruitful.  I knew the beauty of the product they turn out, but I had never seen just how they do it.

I arrived at the plant at 9:00 am to a waiting welcome sign.

Graphic Services Manager Chad and Plant Manager Kevin took turns showing me around the facility. I met the fine people that take our orders and create the magic.  I have spoken to many of them on the phone over the last 24 years, but nothing beats a face to face meeting.

A fancy box of brag samples was ready for viewing.  I saw printing jobs for presidents, foreign dignitaries, royalty, actors, rappers and other assorted celebrities.  The rich history and reach of Crane and Co., is legendary.

I followed a Blacker & Kooby order of engraved business cards through electronic receipt and release into production.  The age old process of creating copper dies plates was described to me, as I caught a glimpse of the acid baths that help to etch the lettering into the sheets of copperplate metal that comprise the dies. An engraving craftsman then cuts the dies out of the metal sheet, and the plates are sent with paper stock onto conveyor belts to the engraving presses.

Holiday cards for Christmas 2012 were being churned out by the engraving presses, sometimes needing up to four or five runs.

Thermography presses were buzzing busily, and letterpress operators were going full steam ahead. It struck me how some printing was automated and yet, so much of it was manually run, by experienced craftsmen.  Many of the 200 Crane employees at the plant perform more than one function.  They may run multiple types of presses, tie ribbons, pull stock, and in a pinch at holiday time, they all line envelopes.

I have been using a lot of foil stamping for customers lately, and I was shown the Kluge presses and the rolls of foil that create shiny and stunning impressions on paper.

The bordered note cards that we take for granted on our store shelves are actually bordered by hand.  I met one of the sweet women who wears an apron, fans out the cards very evenly and “womps” the ink with precision on top of the edges of the fanned out cards to give us pretty custom borders of regent blue, cranberry and hunter green ink.

Newer to Crane is the digital services group. The advent of affordable digital printing is slowly changing the way personalized printing is being produced.  The efficiency of digital printing, particularly when using multiple colors, is unparalleled. The folks at Crane & Co. showed me how they combine several different printing methods to create a look….one you cannot possibly get out of your computer printer:  Multicolored, multi-leveled, shiny and multi-sided.

I really marveled at the work I had witnessed.  How so many presses are running at once, how wedding invitations, holiday cards and business stationery were being created side by side…and how the shipping department was sending neatly boxed packages to New Orleans, San Diego, New York and overseas.

The next time I call Crane & Co. to ask them about an order, I will be able to envision the well honed process, the many pair of skilled hands, printing presses, digital imaging machinery, and other tools of trade used to create the sumptuous, quality papers that arrive at Blacker & Kooby in the familiar, elegant blue boxes with the silver Crane & Co. logo.