By Jenny Callison
Enquirer contributor

Gary Reller, William Reller Jr. and Kenneth Rellar (left to right in foreground) stand near a Hewlett-Package Indigo Press 3000, operated by Jay Sunderman (background), that can print 2,000 different images in a hour. (Photos by Tony Jones/The Cincinnati Enquirer)

The growing RPI Graphic Data Solutions on Radcliff Drive with its new 22,000 square foot building going up in back.

EAST PRICE HILL - It might be an accounting term, but FIFO (first in, first out) is a pretty good description of RPI Graphic Data Solution's approach to technology.

RPI started as Rite-Way Photocolor in 1969, specializing in color separation and other prepress work. Founder William Rellar Sr. was a believer in utilizing the best equipment available, often incorporating new technology long before his competition. In 1978, for example, Rellar was using what might have been the area's first laser scanner with electronic screening.

"We really believe in 'first in, first out' where technology is concerned," said his son Gary, now the firm's vice president of sales. "If you buy equipment as soon as it becomes available, it generates income, so you have the money to pay for the next thing."

"We do work for large corporations," added his brother Ken, RPI's president. "If you're not bringing new technology to them, you're out."

As computers have made the whole printing process seamless - gradually streamlining the tasks of typesetting, layout, and image preparation - RPI has developed broader capabilities.

MAKING IMPRESSIONS AS A FAMILY

When William Rellar Sr. founded Rite-Way Photocolor in 1969, his shop occupied a storefront in Prout's Corner on Glenway Avenue. After a major manufacturer contracted for its services in the early 1980s, the firm relocated to its own facility in East Price Hill. It has expanded steadily since. Sons Ken and Gary joined their father in business in the mid-1980s; several years later their younger brother, William Jr., came aboard. He serves as the company's treasurer. William Rellar Sr. retired four years ago. RPI's customers include Cintas Corp., U.S. Bank, Sara Lee Corp. and Frisch's Restaurants, Inc. RPI Graphic Data Solutions, Inc. is at 1950 Radcliff Drive. Information: 471-4040 or www.rpigraphic.com.

"We bought our first press in 1989," Gary said. "We're now on our fourth press."

Ken said a typical press has a life of 10 to 15 years. "However, the press we just replaced with a new $2.5 million, six-color Komori is a 1997 press. Although it's not that old, it is not capable of taking data from web to press."

And helping customers create print materials electronically is RPI's objective. It's currently investing $4.5 million to develop what it calls its "Web Welcome Mat," a project that combines building, equipment and high-tech expansion. The capital project is funded partly with a $3 million package from U.S. Bancorp Equipment Finance.

Last summer the firm broke ground on a $1 million, 22,000-square-foot building adjacent to its Knob Hill headquarters. The facility will serve as warehouse and distribution center for customers' printed promotional materials. It's expected to welcome its first skids in early summer.

The Komori press, a computer-controlled workhorse, is the only one of its kind in Greater Cincinnati, according to the Rellar brothers. Its partner in the web-to-print campaign is a $500,000 Hewlett-Packard Indigo Press 3000.

"It's a combination of a color copier and offset press," press operator Jay Sunderman said as he demonstrated the machine's ability to spit out 2,000 different high-quality color images per hour.

To give it the data management capacity necessary to support web-to-press processes, RPI is upgrading its computer capabilities, starting with an ongoing, $100,000 upgrade of the company's server system. Expanded Web commerce has resulted in a 25-fold increase in server traffic within the past year. Keeping up will require a more than 100 percent boost in server capacity.

Enhanced server capacity also supports RPI's cyber-library of images, a service to customers that Ken Rellar believes is much more efficient than storing images on removable media .

"We manage our customers' images for them, which makes the issue of who owns the data a moot point," he said.

When a company's images are stored in RPI's virtual library, any authorized employee or ad agency staffer can be provided access to them. If RPI is not printing a particular job, it can send the image data to whoever is.

"It works across platforms," Ken Rellar said. "All you need is a Web browser."

"RPI has provided our marketing department with a digital asset management system that simply makes our day, and our lives, easier," said Chuck Helms, director of marketing for Cintas Corp. "Before, things were kind of scattered, and not effectively maintained. With RPI's image library, it's significantly easier to compose designs."

The welcome mat makes entry into RPI's systems easier for corporate design departments or agencies, and increases the company's appeal to customers.

Said Ken Rellar, "A typical printer goes into a company at the purchasing level, where they'll try to get individual projects. With our Web tools, however, we're right in the middle of our customers' business. We're not going to replace the agency or the marketing department, we're going to enhance it."

While RPI might rely on technology, its most vital asset is a staff that makes the most of the sophisticated equipment and drives the company's sales growth of about 20 percent annually. Even as computers have automated many tasks, the company has maintained its workforce of 65.

"It's one of the things we're happiest about - we have long-term employees," Ken Rellar said. "We're doing more with the same people."

"One-third of our workforce has been here more than 10 years," Gary added. "They are making the transition from doing mechanical work into managing automated work. Fundamentally, our jobs haven't changed; our tools have."

E-mail jcallison@zoomtown.com