FRANKLIN PARK, Ill. — For a company that has presses and output devices of all sorts throughout its suburban Chicago headquarters, Tukaiz is careful not to label itself as a printer.
It’s not that the self-described “marketing services production company” doesn’t value print. It does, and in fact, Tukaiz, which will mark its 50th anniversary next year, still derives a healthy share of its $35 million in annual revenues from placing ink on various substrates — from paper to plastics and from vinyl to other exotic surfaces. That won’t change, said CEO Frank Defino Sr., who helms the family-owned Tukaiz alongside partners Frank Defino Jr., John Quinto Defino, Dan Defino and Chris Calabria. What will change is how those images are managed, created and placed on those substrates. And Defino doesn’t intend to stop investing in the new technologies and systems that will propel Tukaiz’ business for the next 50 years.
To that end, Tukaiz has carefully retooled itself as a firm that offers a wide breadth of services that go beyond its legacy of print capabilities. “We print, but we don’t like to think of it as an entity of its own here at Tukaiz; we look at it as a tool of integrated technology in marketing production,” Defino said. Tukaiz relies on print as one of several services — ranging from dedicated Web portals to on-site software development and social network management consulting — it offers to its clients.
Next-gen key
Clearly, it’s next-generation output that attracts Defino’s attention.
Tukaiz, for example, is one of only three U.S. sites to install a Scodix S74 digital enhancement press. The equipment, innovative technology that allows a printer to add three-dimensional elements to coated stock (see sidebar, page 29) generated extensive interest when it made its global debut at this year’s Drupa in Dusseldorf, Germany. Meantime, Defino said Tukaiz already signed a letter of intent to use Indigo inventor Benny Landa’s forthcoming nanography printing technology — a development Defino calls a “game-changer” for the offset printing industry.
Specially engineered presses capable of using the formulation’s nano pigments, which will essentially enable high quality, high-speed variable printing on a variety of substrates on a waterless sheetfed press, is expected to be available within the next two years. It’s no accident that Defino is intrigued with Scodix and nanography. Tukaiz was equally interested in 1994, when it installed two HP Indigo digital presses — only the second company in the United States at the time to incorporate digital printing as part of its operation. The Landa press will join eight Indigo digital presses, 10 flatbed output devices, two Heidelberg 6 color in-line UV sheetfed presses and the Scodix S74 digital press already in operation at Tukaiz’ 175,000-square-foot facility that also incorporates fulfillment and pick-and-pack.
In-house studio
The groundwork for Tukaiz’ complementary marketing and software design services was laid in the mid-1980s, when Defino invested $5 million to build a proprietary studio system to produce online pagination for consumers and corporate clients.
“We bought our first Mac in 1989, and by the early 1990s we saw the shift from proprietary to open systems, and that’s what sparked our interest in this kind of technology,” Defino said.
The following decades saw Tukaiz continuing to fine-tune its software and interactive development, culminating in 2006, when it rolled out Backstage, a customized Web-based configuration platform that enables customers such as PepsiCo, Frito Lay, Burger King, Redbox and State Farm to order promotional materials tailored to their specific needs. The portal allows companies to ensure consistent messaging throughout their brands and to create marketing initiatives that can be tailored to specific regions, Defino said.
Tukaiz produces the materials, which range from restaurant window coverings to print ads and
POPs — and then delivers them to agents, outlets and franchises nationwide.
“It’s a product of on-demand printing plus new technologies that make it possible for us to make these materials and deliver them as needed,” Defino said. “They can order print (materials) and it becomes more valuable (because of the relevance and ability to order and receive them quickly). “Print is always evolving, and Tukaiz leads the way in providing it in an Internet-driven world.”
Some 30 corporate clients now use the portal, Defino said.
Understanding change
Dan Defino, Tukaiz’ vice president and managing director, said Backstage was a “result of understanding the business.” “We saw a need for a Web portal and we made it happen,” he said. Backstage 2.0, set for release next year, will add new features to the platform, including mobile support, Dan Defino said. “Printing is still important but the landscape has changed. The end user and the corporation are changing, and we want to make (the ordering) process simple and more efficient. We also are seeing that people want their process to be personalized and variable.
“Localized marketing is the new term and Backstage 2.0 will support that. Print will still be there,” Dan Defino said, “but it’s how the ordering and output are accomplished that has changed.”
Tukaiz markets its software development services to current customers and also through a subsidiary company, TKML, which was launched earlier this year. “TKML is an effort to leverage our software development expertise as distinct from our print expertise,” Dan Defino said. “It’s really about understanding what our customers need and being able to satisfy those demands.”
Feel something different on the cover?
The covers of this edition of News & Tech were produced by Tukaiz on a Scodix S74 digital press. Tukaiz is one of only three U.S. firms with a Scodix press, which was developed by Israel-based Scodix Ltd. The technology allows printers to apply three-dimensional designs and other digital enhancements such as glitter effects to paper, plastic, vinyl and other substrates.
To apply the effects, the machine registers a clear polymer, measuring up to 250 microns thick, across the substrate. The polymer is placed on predetermined areas, based on how the substrate has been designed.
The results, Scodix officials say, are promotional materials and other products that allow readers to actually feel the texture associated with a printed image — from dimples in a golf ball to scales on a fish, or any other pattern or texture a designer can create with Adobe Illustrator, InDesign or Photoshop.
Scodix introduced the technology at Ipex in 2010; the press had its formal global debut at drupa 2012 and the vendor will showcase its Rainbow (glitter) option for the first time at this year’s Graph Expo in Chicago.
The design and production of News & Tech’s cover took about two weeks, said Matt Giandonato, Tukaiz’ digital print manager.
First, a Tukaiz artist designed the two covers, using Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. After a review of the concept, a Tukaiz creative technician prepared the Scodix file containing the digital elements selected to enhance the piece.
Proofs of the covers were then printed on one of Tukaiz’ HP Indigo presses and once everything was OKd, the files were released to Tukaiz’ offset printing department where they were then converted into plates.
The covers were printed, with hybrid UV ink and soft-touch coating, on a 40-inch Heidelberg CD 102 sheetfed press, one of two Tukaiz operates in its Franklin Park, Ill., facility.
The sheets were then cut into two, measuring 20 inches by 28 inches, before they were fed into the Scodix press for final printing.
Following that step, the covers were transported to Tukaiz’ bindery department where they were scored and folded before being shipped to J.B. Kenehan’s Beaver Dam, Wis., printing plant for final postproduction.
About Tukaiz – https://www.tukaiz.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
