As digital printing technology is more widely adapted across the board in pressrooms, knowledge gaps can occur more often than with tried and true technology, like flexo printing. Thankfully for converters, Mark Andy has a dedicated staff of engineers, press operators, installation technicians, field service technicians and technical phone support to serve our digital presses in the field.

If you’ve ever contacted our digital support team, it’s likely you’ve interacted with Randy Tredway and/or Dan Jenner. We spoke with them about their experience in printing, some of the questions they see day to day and some overall tips they’d like to share on basic troubleshooting measures.

Amanda Flower: Randy, tell me a little about your experience in the world of print?

Randy Tredway: I worked on offset equipment at RR Donnelley for 10 years. In 2015, I started at Mark Andy working specifically on Comco equipment as a field service technician. As Digital One started taking off, I had the opportunity to join the digital service team and jumped at the chance since I knew there was basically an endless amount of room for growth in that arena. I started as a field service tech and transitioned to phone support when Digital Pro launched last year.

AF: How about you Dan – how long have you been at Mark Andy and what has your journey here looked like so far?

Dan Jenner: I’ve been at Mark Andy for about 10 years. I have kind of run the gambit, starting off in flexo, building print stations and then helping launch QCDC. I joined the digital team with the launch of the first generation of Digital Series, helping manufacture those and then moved into inspection of Digital One, which essentially means I was the final line before those shipped out to make sure they were good to go. Eventually I moved to phone support and I primarily tackle Digital Series and Digital Series HD service calls.

AF: What are some of the more common calls you receive day-to-day?

RT: More recently, I am getting a lot of inquiries that are color related for the Digital Pro. We’ve got a lot of great resources available for our customers on Mark Andy University I’m able to direct our customers to.  Overall, definitely digital engine code troubleshooting. Our manual is truly the go-to solution 9/10. Probably more than that, honestly.

DJ: My calls are honestly pretty varied. Digital Series and Digital Series HD users are usually a little more experienced, so when they’re calling us, those calls are a little more involved and long. I am noticing some trends when comparing the age of the presses – some of the gen one presses have been in the field for many years. The remote diagnostics capabilities makes benchmarking some of these things a lot easier – we’re able to start predicting things more and being proactive, rather than waiting for service calls.

AF: Is there any general advice you can give press operators?

RT: 95% of the people I talk to on a daily basis are press operators so I am really familiar with a lot of them. First and foremost – calibration! Always recalibrate if you’re having print quality issues that you don’t think are tied to the flexo portion of your press. It’s the modern day “unplug and replug” that you hear from IT, but it truly does solve a lot of the issues. We can “see” when presses have been last calibrated and more often than not, they’ve gone without it for far too long.

DJ: I definitely agree with calibration. Also, if you’re unsure, call us. That’s what we are here for. We not only have our service team’s experience, but I am in constant contact with our digital engineering team in San Diego. They’re the brains behind developing the Digital Series and Digital Series HD technology and they are always available to answer my questions.

RT: Oh yeah, we have an arsenal of support behind us. Just for example, specific to Digital One and Pro, we have an amazing working relationship with Konica Minolta. If we have print engine issues that we can’t seem to overcome, I know I can count on them to answer my calls and help me get to the bottom of things. That doesn’t count our entire field service team, Mark Andy University, KM’s field team, etc.

Service is such a broad term, we often forget that many of our ‘services’ (no pun intended) are included under this umbrella. From our literal Service department to prepress training to aftermarket experts and more, Mark Andy has the right resources for any challenge our customers may come across, anytime, anywhere.

Technical Support

24/7 phone support? Check. On-site technical service? Check. Remote diagnostics? Check!

Because of our extensive network of regionally-located technicians and philosophy of providing customers a true total solutions partnership,

Training

Mark Andy training is structured to provide hands-on, comprehensive educational classes to help printers and converters optimize their everyday workflows.

Press Upgrades

Retrofitting existing printing and converting equipment is a proven, cost-effective strategy to achieve bottom-line performance improvements. We have a team dedicated to serving our customers with these aftermarket solutions.

In an industry where service is often one of the first sacrifices to the betterment of the proverbial bottom line, Mark Andy is the exception.

If you’d like to see more content like this, whether from Dan and Randy or other departments at Mark Andy, please comment below and let us know!

About the Author

Amanda Flower is a Marketing Specialist at Mark Andy’s global headquarters located in St. Louis, Missouri. She is an experienced B2B content creator with a penchant for marketing automation, brand management and thinking outside of the box.