The steps taken to ensure this happened have been quite extraordinary and I am pleased to say our suppliers, ably managed by our team in Singapore, stepped up to the mark.
To start their journey files were personally delivered by hand straight to the printer in Thailand and plotters were then created and checked on site. All plates were run at the same time and locked in the secure pre-press room until needed - two plating operators were on duty during the process. Non-conforming plates (rejects) were bent inward and held in the secure plate bin located adjacent to the press until after the book release date. The guarded printing area housed 2 x 8 colour presses dedicated to the job and only authorised, badged and separately uniformed staff were allowed into the area. All make-readies were held in a cage for destruction after publication and printed sheets were stored in a secluded area with a 2 metre high sheeting surround and under constant CCTV monitoring.
Security cameras were installed in the bindery and security guards employed in order to ensure goods were not removed from the area. All waste material was bought to the bailing room and shredded under the supervision of the pressroom supervisor.
Transportation was equally carefully managed with drivers having to remain in the truck throughout the loading process. In Australia each container was accompanied from port to warehouse by a security car.
The schedule was also super tight and as you can imagine there was a large sigh of relief when everything ran like clockwork and the book launched to high praise! Everyone involved has enjoyed the challenges working on such a high profile project can bring.
