Manitowoc printing, packaging company pleases customers nationwide

By Charlie Mathews, Herald Times Reporter

Name: Color Craft Graphic Arts Inc.
Ownership: Tom Foster, chief executive officer; and Steve Mirecki, president and chief operating officer.
Origins: The company was founded in 1929, with Foster taking control in 1983. It had 12 employees a quarter-century ago and now has nearly 60. Mirecki became president in 2005.
Location: 5631 West Drive, Manitowoc
Phone number: (800) 345-1650
Web site: www.ccga.com
Hours and days of operation: The office is open from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday; production personnel in various areas of the facility are running equipment 24/7, five days a week.

Services and products: Color Craft is a paperboard packaging company (about 98 percent of its business), and a commercial printer doing everything from business cards, wedding invitations and six-color brochures.

Its graphic design capabilities include a prepress department blending skill and technology to create eye-catching packaging.

"Having internal graphic design and die-making capabilities is important because it gives us the ability to turn out jobs from conception to delivery quickly, sometimes literally in two to three days," Mirecki said.
Color Craft's package designers help customers design cartons functional in protection and display while being cost effective.

The simple goal to the design — including text, photographs and graphics printed on the paperboard — is to get the customer to notice the product on the shelf or spindle and put it in their shopping cart.

Print runs may be in the thousands or millions. Die cutting is critical to specialty printing and packaging, with Color Craft using the latest in laser-cut technology, assuring optimum accuracy, precision and consistency.

Several machines are equipped with auto stripping to reduce labor involvement and maximize efficiency.
Color Craft's finishing services also include scoring, gluing and folding.

Just in time warehousing dovetails with shipping via two Color Craft trucks for local clients, as well as common carrier and inter-modal transportation for other customers.

Changes: Computerization and automation are the key drivers of change.

Computer-to-(printing) plate technology has increased productivity and quality.

Proofing options include e-mailed PDF files and an ftp site, with clients able to upload and download proof files from Color Craft.

Color Craft is fine-tuning a new, 6-color Komori press representing a significant technology investment that will speed production and enable the company to bid on a greater variety of projects.

The company also has invested in wider, 40-inch sheet-fed presses to increase its "number up" capabilities on different paperboard product applications.

Customers: In 1983, the vast majority of Color Craft's revenue was generated by Manitowoc County clients.

In 2009, about 5 percent of the revenue comes from its home county, another 40 percent from the rest of Wisconsin, and almost all of the remaining 50 percent from other states with customers in New Orleans, San Diego, New York City, Sioux Falls, Ontario and points in-between.

About eight major clients are the majority of Color Craft's business. In the past two years it has served about 300 clients.

Many of the customers are in the household goods and food industries.

Marketing: Done via its Web site and face-to-face opportunities, including major trade shows like the International Housewares Show and Private Label Manufacturers Association convention in Chicago, and the Fancy Foods Show in Chicago and San Francisco.

Keys to success: The owners said to continue timely delivery of a cost-efficient, well-designed product. Many of its employees have been with the company for many years and they are offered the opportunity to be trained in various positions.

Factors not under control of ownership: The cost of raw materials, including an anticipated increase in paper.

What is the role of creativity: That is an ever-present imperative with Color Craft's graphic designers helping clients develop attractive cartons able to be printed cost-efficiently.

What is enjoyable: Foster and Mirecki both said they enjoy working with their employees and a diverse, nationwide customer base on hundreds of projects.

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