[Sandy G]

I worked in a gravure printing plant. We had several 8 color presses-Each "Press" was actually 8 individual single-color presses ganged together, w/a common driveline. Keeping the 8 color jobs in perfect registration-Where all the colors lined up EXACTLY, w/NO over or underlap, was a continual fight. We had ancient machinery, a building that was built circa WW1, & were trying to do this w/1940s-'50s technology. In the eighties, several companies came out w/microprocessor control registration systems that, when they were working PROPERLY, were The Bee's Knees. But after age, wear, etc were factored in, you rarely got "Nirvana" anymore. Management oversold the system's capabilities, & that was also when "Quality" became such a God, as did God's younger brother, Cost Reduction...Our customers wanted more & more for less & less, & each generation of new electronic gizmotrons became more & more complicated & expensive. My company had a proud tradition of NEVER telling a customer No, & we ultimately ended up being squeezed out of business by monopolistic suppliers & equally monopolistic customers. We basically had about 5 or 6 customers, & were only allowed to buy from one or 2 suppliers of each different kind of paper & ink...Ours was an EXTREMELY specialised business...