This page shows how a job moves through Western Trade Printing, from first quote to final shipment. It’s for the print resellers who put their name on our work, including commercial printers, print brokers, quick copy shops, publishers, and ad agencies. The predictability you get from our process protects your customer relationships. At WTP you get no surprises and no production decisions made without you.
Table of Contents
Who We Work With
Three Ways to Work with Us
- Path 1. Online Orders Through the Portal
- Path 2. Custom Quote Request
- Path 3. Consultative Planning Session
The WTP Production Workflow from Quote to Ship
- Step 1. Quote
- Step 2. Place Your Order
- Step 3. File Submission and Prepress
- Step 4. Proofing and Approval
- Step 5. Production (Offset and Digital)
- Step 6. Bindery and Finishing
- Step 7. Mailing and Fulfillment – the WTP Bulk Mail Methodology
- Step 8. Quality Control and Packing
- Step 9. Ship or Drop-Ship
Turnaround Time and On-Time Performance
What Makes the WTP Workflow Reliable?
Ready to Start?
Who We Work With
Western Trade Printing (WTP) is wholesale-only. We never sell retail to end users, and we never compete with our reseller clients. Our customers are commercial printers, print brokers, quick copy printers, publishers, and ad agencies. WTP gives you overflow capacity when your schedule is full or when you don’t have the equipment or time to produce a job. That combination lets you say yes to more work from customers or new markets, without buying another press or hiring another shift.
See the Trade Printing Partnership page for more on how a true trade printing partnership can benefit print resellers.
Three Ways to Work with Us
Whether you’re a current client or new to WTP, you can work with us in three ways. Most clients use a mix of the three. The rigorous G7® production workflow behind all three is the same.
WTP also gives you personal human service no matter how you order. If there’s a question or an issue, a real human team member will work with you.
Path 1. Online Orders Through the Portal
Standard products are quoted and ordered through the web-to-print portal. That includes brochures, newsletters, booklets, catalogs, calendars, postcards, rack cards, stationery, notepads, presentation folders, door hangers, and menus.
You get an instant quote, a clear spec sheet, and a clean checkout without needing to call. Mailing and fulfillment can be added to most products at order time.
When you have a job that isn’t covered online, ask for a Custom Quote.
Get an Instant Quote
Use our WTP Product Cheat Sheet for direct links to the Standard products.
When you have a job that isn’t covered online, ask for a Custom Quote, described next.
Path 2. Custom Quote Request
Anything outside the standard menu goes through a custom quote. That covers odd sizes, unusual stocks, complex finishing, multi-component jobs, different turnaround times, mailing and fulfillment, or anything you feel needs a human to size up. Same-day quote turnaround is typical on quote requests that arrive with complete specs. Mailing and fulfillment are available on custom jobs the same way they are on standard ones.
To get a custom quote, email estimates@wtprints.com.
Once you get your Custom Quote, place your order online.
Path 3. Consultative Planning Session
A planning session is a deeper conversation about your business goals.
One scenario for such a call is when clients have an opportunity to start working with a major client, or they get a large job from an existing client. We look at the whole campaign, the recurring runs, the inventory you carry, and the deadlines you have to hit, and we build a customized production plan around it.
A second scenario is when a client needs to plan or revise their long-term business goals. For example, we’ve worked with clients during acquisitions. We’ve helped other clients transition from in-house print production to print brokerage.
Read the Case Studies Here
This path fits clients who want to make full use of WTP's resources, including offset, digital, bindery, mailing, fulfillment, and drop-ship logistics.
Our team has 250+ years of collective experience in the printing industry, and that experience is available for you to use, simply by asking.
Call us at 559-251-8595 if you want to set up a meeting to discuss your production needs.
The WTP Production Workflow from Quote to Ship
Every job we run lands on the same nine-step workflow, whether you priced it yourself in the portal, asked us for a custom quote, or built it with us in a planning session.
The path in is flexible. The production discipline behind it is not. Here is what happens once a job is in our hands.
Step 1. Quote
Get your quote using one of the three ways described above.
1. Online for instant quotes and orders on standard products
2. Custom quotes for anything outside the standard menu
3. Consultation for jobs that require discussion
Whichever route you take, accurate pricing depends on accurate inputs. Send us trim size, quantity, stock, ink coverage, finishing, and any mailing or fulfillment work.
Step 2. Place Your Order
Place your order via the WTP online portal. For custom quotes, you’ll need your Quote ID to place the order.
Step 3. File Submission and Prepress
We accept files from the Adobe suite (InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop) packaged and zipped, plus print-ready PDFs. One rule we hold firm is that when you send any revision, send a complete, new print-ready PDF for the whole job. Do not send a replacement page or two. Mid-stream page swaps cause the most common imposition errors we see. Use one file as the source of truth. Prepress always checks trim and bleed, color separations, fonts, and imposition before the job moves forward.
For more on file prep and submission, see File Preparation Tips, Prevent Print Workflow Errors, and Bleed Examples.
Step 4. Proofing and Approval
Every job gets a free instaProof™ soft proof for layout, content, and imposition review. For color-critical work, add a Contract Color Proof, an optional hard proof that includes a folded dummy and a color match print pulled to G7® standards. All print production runs to G7® standards, so the proof you approve matches what comes off press. Production does not start until you approve. The turnaround clock starts at approval, not at order placement. We treat approvals received after 8 AM as next-business-day starts, so timing the approval matters as much as timing the order.
Read more about proofing and preventing reprints at The Importance of Proofing.
Step 5. Production (Offset and Digital)
We pick the right press for the job, not the other way around. Offset wins on volume. Digital wins on short runs, variable data, and personalization. On the offset side, we run 40" Heidelberg and Komori perfectors with in-line aqueous coating. On the digital side, the Ricoh 7500 paired with a Plockmatic 350 booklet maker handles short-run books and personalized work. We manage color to G7® methodology across all presses and prepress, and our house stocks carry FSC® Chain of Custody certification.
See Wholesale Digital Printing Services, Variable Data Printing, and Gang Runs.
Step 6. Bindery and Finishing
Most finishing and bindery happens in-house, which removes the hand-offs that cause most of the errors and delays you see at other shops. This covers folding (including automatic map and gate folds), saddle stitching, perfect binding, coil, comb, and Wire-O binding, die cutting, scoring, perforating, drilling, round cornering, shrink wrap, and paper banding. One building gives you one chain of custody and one team accountable to the proof you approved.
Our equipment includes 26” MBO and Stahl folders, Polar 137XT cutting, Muller-Martini saddle stitching, short-run perfect binding, plus cylinder and letterpress die cutting.
We’ve also partnered with a select group of trusted vendors to handle any bindery job that requires specialty equipment other than what’s on the floor at WTP.
For more details on bindery and finishing and WTP, see Trade Bindery Services, Paper Folding Methods, and Binding Methods.
Step 7. Mailing and Fulfillment – the WTP Bulk Mail Methodology
When a job mails, list hygiene comes first. We run NCOA, ACS, address element correction, and computerized delivery sequence. Then we work the postage side, including walk sequence rates, SCF entry discounts, and bulk-mail estimating, to find the lowest landed cost for the drop you are actually doing. Our philosophy is simple. We quote the postage as ordered, then show you the discount alternatives side-by-side so you decide what fits the schedule and budget. The WTP Bulk Mail Methodology saves our clients, on average, about $2,000 at a cost of only $350.
See Wholesale Mailing Services and Postage Discounts for more information.
Step 8. Quality Control and Packing
Quality control is part of our G7® methodology throughout printing, binding, and packing.
Our 4-Point WTP! Shipping Checklist means that the best-size cartons are used for the piece. Skids are packed and wrapped to ship without shifting. Paper banding and shrink wrapping are also available when need to reduce dimensional weight and mitigate potential damage. The goal is simple. The box lands at your customer in the same condition it left our floor.
Step 9. Ship or Drop-Ship
You choose the destination. Ship to your dock or blind ship to your end customer. The WTP name never appears on shipments to your client. We work with your carrier accounts or ours. You can also drop-ship to multiple locations or SCF entry points for mail jobs.
For planning around carrier issues and freight, see How to Deal with Shipping Delays, Reduce Shipping Costs, and the Freight Class Calculator.
Turnaround Time and On-Time Performance
Turnaround is counted in business days, excluding weekends and federal holidays. The clock starts at proof approval, not at order placement, so an order placed Monday with the proof approved Wednesday is a Wednesday start. Transit time is separate and depends on the carrier and the destination. Standard and rush options are available on most products, and rush availability is shown in the portal at quote time so you can price both before you commit.
We are honest about what can move a date. Carrier delays, severe weather, equipment service, and acts of nature can all affect timing. When something shifts, we tell you the same day we know, with the new date and the options you have. We never go quiet when issues appear.
For full schedules and the on-time policy, see Turnaround Times. For more on prevention of late deliveries see On-Time Completion of Printing Jobs.
What Makes the WTP Workflow Reliable
Seven things separate this workflow from many of the shops that try to be, or claim to be, trade printers.
1 – You get a real human to help whenever needed, no matter what size your order or how it was placed. You are not a number in a faceless, automated process. Plus, you get to take advantage of our 250+ years of collective printing industry experience and knowledge.
2 - Single source of truth on files. One print-ready PDF per revision, never replacement pages, so the imposition and other elements are always correct.
3 - Two ways to proof. Free instaProof™ soft proof for layout and content, optional Contract Color Proof for color-critical work, both pulled to the same G7® standards.
4 - G7® color consistency across offset and digital, so the proof you approve is the sheet you receive and the next reorder matches the last one.
5 - In-house bindery and mailing, which means fewer hand-offs, fewer trucks between vendors, and fewer points where a job can stall.
6 - Wholesale-only focus. We never sell retail and we do not call your customers, ever. The name on the box is yours.
7 - From our trade printing production facility based in Fresno, California, Western Trade Printing offers wholesale printing, bindery, and bulk mailing services to clients throughout the United States. We use FedEx and UPS for parcels. LTL and truckload shipments are also available.
WTP’s local service and delivery area includes all the major metropolitan areas in California including Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento, Long Beach, Oakland, Bakersfield, Anaheim, as well as the surrounding regions.
Predictability is what protects your customer relationships. Your customer judges you on the date you promised and the quality you showed on the proof. This workflow is built so both of those hold up, job after job.
Ready to Start?
Pick the path that fits the job in front of you. Each link drops you straight into the right starting point.
• Standard product. Get an Instant Quote through the web-to-print portal.
• Non-standard job. Email estimates@wtprints.com to request a quote and fastest response.
• Want a production plan built around your work? Call 559-251-8595 and we’ll collaborate.
If you’re new to WTP, Create an Account so you are ready before the next deadline hits.
If you prefer to talk it through any of this with a person, call 559-251-8595 ext. 1 to reach the estimating department directly during business hours.
