Two big game production headaches are the box and the counters. In both cases, small errors in any of the many production steps can make the final product unusable, at least for a company that cares about its customers. Unfortunately, these are also two of the more expensive components. Therefore, redoing them for any reason is bad if you want to remain in business.

In Operations #8, 1 wrote "Birth of Guderian's Blitzkrieg," about the effort required to get that game out the door. I have been very busy since then (teaching Chemistry and officiating both Track & Field and Cross-Country), and missed most of the playtest and production effort for EatG. However, this summer I have helped with several projects, including the OCS Tunisia game. Therefore, two years later, I am compelled to return to my dreaded word processor to write about some exciting production changes at The Gamers, Inc.

But first, Sherman, set the Way-Back Machine to the Summer of 1992, so we can review box and counter production of the time. After Dean created the graphics on his Macintosh, he sent a computer disk to California for laser conversion of the data into film. Each printed sheet needs four films: one for each process color. The films, and a rather large invoice, returned to Homer. Any necessary corrections required another week and cost another small fortune. If none were necessary, the films went to the printer in nearby Champaign. The printer converted them into plates for the computer-controlled fivecolor press and printed front and back artwork for the box and each set of counter sheets. A print run was 2,500 games (it is now 5,000). Wastage during set-up by the box maker and graphic finisher required printing about 2,700 of each sheet. Dean hauled the finished sheets to St. Louis, a four hour drive, in a rental truck. Here the real headaches began.

The box maker was in a dingy, dirty, old factory building. The salesman started spouting excuses even before we entered his office and he had more of them than EatG has counters. The overall excuse was "It's not my fault." Given 2,700 printed sheets, they usually delivered from 2,200 to 2,300 boxes, a loss rate of over 15%. Another 5 to 10% were rejected during collating, because they had glue streaks, grease stains or spots of ink rubbed off somewhere between St. Louis and Homer.

The graphics finisher had a newer building, but that did not result in a better operation. When we walked in, the attitude of the office staff seemed to be "What the hell do you want?" Again, anything that went wrong was the fault of The Gamers or the printer. Although they made several suggestions after problems occurred, they did not sit down ahead of time to discuss what we should do to avoid problems. Like Mulligan in "Kelley's Heros," these guys have not been on time or on target yet. They lined up much of the work by hand using an unmotivated work force, including the two women with glazed eyes and have, between them, five original teeth who mounted the wraps, and "Lefty," who risked life and limb hand-feeding the diecutting press. This resulted in too much wasted inspection time in Homer and too many rejected counter sheets. In one case, the loss rate was over 50%.

Although 1992 was the year that The Gamers, Inc. really took off, success produced some growing pains. The production process had to become more efficient and cost-effective.

Present

Now we return to the Summer of 1994 to see what is new at The Gamers.

First, Sara Essig and Don Nesbitt are now involved in the production process, including a continued search for better vendors [publisher's note: We found them!].

Second, The Gamers began using some over-the-road companies to deliver right to the warehouse door at a reasonable cost. Gee, I am going to miss riding to St. Louis in an old broken-down van or an uncomfortable rental truck. NOT! Finally, the boxes and counters are no longer being finished in St. Louis.

Credit for the new box maker goes to Darlene Miller, wife of GDW's Marc Miller, of Heartland Publishing. I have not been to the new box maker, but here is what I understand happens. The films go to a printer in Chicago, who ships to the box maker, who ships the finished boxes to Homer. Darlene and Sara both keep close tabs on this operation.[publisher's note: This is no longer the case. We had such good luck with the counters that we went to SVH for the boxes, too, but if you need a broker, call Darlene.]

The counter films go to Steketee-Van Huis (SVH) in Holland, Michigan. They ship the finished counters back. First, let me talk about the die maker. Before you can punch them out, counters must be die-cut, like making cookies with a cookie cutter. SVH is associated with Michigan Laser. Besides making the die, they helped The Gamers and SVH in the production process. Michigan Laser provided Dean with a computer template, so he can lay out the counters precisely to fit the die. They also sent SVH a clear acetate overlay, to make sure that everything on the printed sheets lines up correctly. I've seen the overlay; it has tolerances to .0001 of an inch!

On Thursday, August 11, Dean, Don and I went to Holland. SVH invited us to watch the first print run. To show you what kind of people they are, SVH even paid for our room! Wow, a company that cares!! The only tough part of the trip was dragging Don out of bed before 8:00 a.m. Bob Johnson, the SVH salesman, picked us up for a tour of the plant. It was very impressive. The place was amazingly clean, unlike our previous vendors. Our counters were on their best press: a $1.4 million computer-controlled beauty with six color rollers and a special roller to apply a clear aqueous coating. They printed the counters on 24 point card stock, with separate front and back sheets. The entire run was done by noon. We even checked the fit of the fronts to the backs; they were perfect.

SVH specializes in printing on card stock, and has been making boxes for the pharmaceutical industry for many years. They supply these boxes to a company that is very particular about what they will accept. If the reject rate exceeds 1%, that company will find a new vendor. The intensity with which both Bob Johnson and the pressman watched our counters was impressive. They worried about things other printers do not even think about. For example, they did not start the backs until the colors exactly matched the fronts!

During the week, SVH sent out the front and back sheets for gluing. Bob Johnson went with the sheets to make sure the job was done to his, and our, satisfaction. Unlike our former graphic finishers, this company mounted the sheets by machine, so tolerances were quite close.

The following Thursday, Dean, Lee Forester (a TCS playtester who teaches at Hope College in Holland) and I met Bob for another trip to SVH. Our mounted counters awaited cutting on one of two large, fully automated die-cutting machines. Again, the process was amazing. After the operator carefully adjusted the machine, we watched the machine die-cut counter-sheets at a rate of about 4,000 per hour. Though we checked through pile after pile of die-cut sheets, we did not reject any. The precision was a quantum leap over anything we have seen.

So what does this mean to you, the gamer? Well, in terms of the box, not much. The Gamers is now more likely to thrive as a company and you will receive the same quality you have come to expect.

In terms of the counters, there is a big change. Lee and I have both punched out the new counters. We now have some of the cleanest, neatest counters we have ever seen. The counters are two pieces of white 24 point stock glued together, with a shiny protective finish. The die-cutting is cleaner and more precise; there is no longer a brown cardboard core, and the information is centered better than before. In short, we feel that you will be very happy with the new counters. SVH is helping us set a new standard for the gaming industry.