Tackling constant change

Published On: January 1, 1970

Get it right once, says Gary Teich, partner at New York City’s Color X, and from then on, it’s easy: you just have to keep it right.

“I think we’re always efficient, and it’s just a matter of staying efficient,” Teich says. “If we get a big 10-foot machine in, we work it so that everything is still streamlined. Each new piece of equipment comes in, because it’s increased our capabilities, it’s definitely made us more efficient.”

The assortment of printers and other machinery in Color X’s 60,000-square-feet space changes on a fairly regular basis. Because newer, faster equipment is always entering the market, Teich says a lot of his machines are leased, so that they can be swapped out when their term is up.

Printers are in their own room, and all the finishing—mounting, trimming, cutting, sewing, and so on—is done in another area. The exception is a new build-out that is dedicated to digital die-cutting.

“Obviously the business keeps growing and changing, so we keep adding and changing equipment,” says Teich. “Every new [piece of] equipment that we get, we try to remanipulate or reconfigure, putting the same machines in the same area.”

Jamie Swedberg is a regular contributor to Fabric Graphics.