Technical Document: Print Ready Specifications

Background

Pricing for pad printing services is quoted with the expectation that the material received by TouchMark is in “Print Ready” condition. “Print Ready” materials enable high quality pad printing which is void of pinholes, smudges, or blemishes and has excellent ink adhesion.

Failure to provide “Print Ready” material can result in quality issues, delivery delays, and additional processing costs.

Print Ready Specifications

Incoming Inspection

TouchMark’s incoming inspection process consists of verifying the part number, the quantity received based on labeled package and any obvious damage to parts during transit. It is understood the parts in question have passed the customer’s inspection process, therefore will require no further preinspection by TouchMark.

“Print Ready” Definition

“Print Ready” is defined as customer supplied material which is:

  • Free of any contamination (i.e. mold release) or surface defect which results in print appearance and/or ink adhesion quality issues.
  • Within the key dimensional tolerance(s) specified in the customer’s drawing. Out-of-spec features can result in incorrect print locations.
  • Void of kinks, bends, large scratches and other visible damage.

Policy

If during the course of processing customer parts, it is found that they do not meet the conditions stated in the above “Print-Ready” definition, TouchMark will stop the job and immediately notify the customer of the issue. The customer will be charged for all parts already printed. In addition, TouchMark reserves the right to charge the customer an extra set-up charge if TouchMark needs to put the job on hold for more than one business day, then restart the printing process after disposition of the issue. The exception is if the material has surface defects such as scratches, kinks, dents, etc., but TouchMark is able to process without affecting the print quality.

The customer has the option of allowing TouchMark to print these materials “as is” with the understanding that TouchMark will assume no liability for any subsequent print quality issues.