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As an advocate of open work spaces, Ken Madsen was determined in February 2004 to find a bright, airy office space for his design production team. Imagine his delight when he found a landmark building in downtown Manhattan with 15' ceilings and 12' windows to house his firm, Graphic Systems Group (GSG). “It’s 40,000 sq. ft. of light-filled, contiguous space,” explained Mr. Madsen, one of three partners/owners in GSG. “We love the view of the park, and the classic look of the building. It is a completely different work space than what we had on 17th Street.”
Like most 25-year-olds, GSG is very conscious of how it looks to the public and its clients. The company’s primary business is as a production agency that specializes in creative design, retouching, short-run digital printing, variable data, wide format, and Web solutions, as well as other areas of data management and production. With Fortune 500 companies such as Estée Lauder, Colgate, Ralph Lauren/Polo, and Elizabeth Arden putting their confidence in GSG’s ability to brand and design their products and marketing materials, the firm should continue to grow and thrive in its bright, sunlit space down by Union Square Park.
“We cater to ad agencies and corporate accounts,” Mr. Madsen noted. “Some of our clients want us to retouch their work, some want our proofing capabilities, others want our concept and design skills. We understand and can deliver the whole process to our clients.”
The new office space may seem like a corporate move to bring all employees under one roof for maximum control. However, as Mr. Madsen explained, it was done to increase productivity and efficiency among the staff of 120 full timers and 30 freelancers. And it worked.
“We analyzed our productivity and efficiency for the last three months of 2004 and the first six months of 2005, and found that efficiency increased 32 percent in that period,” Mr. Madsen stated. “The most important thing about the new space is that employees understand the whole process, not just their small part of it, because now they are seeing everyone everyday.”
In GSG’s old work space on 22nd Street, employees were scattered throughout the building on different floors. Even though departments sat together, the whole firm wasn’t one cohesive unit. The new space has changed all that.
“We are no longer disconnected islands. Our process flows in an orderly stream,” Mr. Madsen explained, adding that managers should never underestimate the power of a great, light-filled environment. “I believe it absolutely makes a difference in your employees’ attitudes and productivity.” Mr. Madsen hired an architect who understood process flow to design the space. “We wanted creative first, then photography, then mechanicals leading to the press area, and eventually to postpress.” With the new floor layout, a project travels in a logical progression through each department, increasing efficiency.
Building a Solid Base
The company runs all Xerox equipment, and has been pleased with the output from its DocuColor 8000. “We do a lot of short-run jobs, about 1,500 copies, on the 8000,” Mr. Madsen noted, adding that the firm may be looking to purchase iGen in the future.
One specialty GSG is becoming a pro at is managing databases for its clients and working with them to capitalize on the impact and profitability of variable data. “Many companies don’t know how to use the information they already have. We can help them with that,” Mr. Madsen noted. The firm’s variable-data jobs change depending on the application. This includes using variable text, graphics, line art, and color changes. GSG’s most popular variable content products are catalogs, brochures, direct mail, and take-ones. “We also build storefronts that enable clients to do a variable set,” Mr Madsen explained.
While the company did traditional prepress and some wide-format work in the past, after 9/11, the owners felt they needed to change the way they did business. One area they revitalized was the GSG Design division. Today, approximately 35 electronic/type mechanical artists are responsible for creative/concept, packaging, electronic type and mechanicals, direct mail/non-direct mail control, and comps in that department, under the management of Jan Stollerman.
Ms. Stollerman is also happy about the move to the space. “We feed off of the electricity that exists when many creative folks are in close proximity. It allows us to push our creativity—and our output—to a new level.”
Another growing area for GSG is wide format. “Wide-format output makes up about 15 percent of our business. We have the facility to produce high-end POP, POS, COMP, and display graphics on six- to eight-color HP inkjets.
These particular machines also print on more than 1,000 different substrates...silk, canvas, polys, clear, etc.,” noted Mr. Madsen. GSG also does super wide-format work such as building wraps, bus wraps, and billboards on several Vutek devices.
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