A top thoroughbred racehorse will likely cost a small fortune as a foal. It will have impeccable bloodlines and stature, plus the benefits of an experienced trainer and jockey. But if the animal can’t finish a race, it’s game over.
The same is true in the print industry. You can have the most expensive, high-end equipment, best pre-press technology and most experienced press operators produce a virtually flawless job. But if the work isn’t finished properly, well, that customer will soon be finished‚Ķwith you!
In recent years, the speed of digital printing has skyrocketed. Bindery and finishing equipment and technology is trying to keep pace, and for the most part, is succeeding.
GBC, for example, recently set a Guinness World Record at drupa for the fastest lamination speed. The manufacturer’s well-named Cyclone 8500 one-sided, ultra-high-speed laminator, with a top speed of 500 ft. (150 m) per minute and a 44” (112 cm) width, set the record by laminating 102.2 sq. meters of paper in just 40.53 seconds.
Pre-setting technologies such as touch-screen and JDF compatibility are also becoming the norm, as are other options for coating, laminating, foil stamping and so on. In fact, Heidelberg and Manroland are currently promoting their newest cold foiling technology. Many of the major press manufacturers have added inline finishing equipment, complete with training videos and related educational presentations. But when should inline be used and is it more cost-efficient than outsourcing, especially when you factor in operator training time and production turnaround?
Bottom line: The new technology is eliminating the frustrating bottleneck often associated with traditional bindery and finishing. Most printers now realize that they can’t modernize their in-shop post-press and still continue to operate with older, traditional equipment and technology. They’re also discovering that a modern bindery and finishing shop, whether in-house or not, can actually boost revenues.
One shop that’s seen it all is Toronto’s own Hume Imaging Inc. (www.humeimaging.com). Founded in 1988 by John Hume, the company has grown from a one-room copy shop to an award-winning, multi-million-dollar operation with three locations in the GTA. Today, Hume handles web design, web-to-print, graphic design, desktop publishing, short and long-run digital colour printing, high-speed duplication, mailing and distribution, and of course, is an industry leader in bindery and finishing.
“Choosing the right finishing touches can make or break the useable effectiveness of your product,” says Hume. “So, we leave nothing to chance while offering a variety of in-house bindery and finishing solutions, suited to almost any print requirement.”
The company is constantly updating its finishing equipment and services. These include cutting and trimming, drilling, collating, insertion, laminating, folding, scoring, perforating, numbering, padding, shrink wrapping, cerlox, plasticoil, wiro binding, saddle stitching, perfect binding and assembly.
“Short-run digital colour, in particular, is becoming more sophisticated and has lately become the norm when reaching specific one-to-one target markets,” Hume says. “Given this trend, from a modern bindery point of view, the vast majority of my clients are focusing on shorter print runs using off-line finishing done by experts.”
He notes that longer runs using a press’s inline finishing system are still practical, but more often they involve situations where one single product is being mass produced.
“If utilizing inline bindery, but producing a variety of substrates and finished sizes, the producer is spending more time changing over and setting up, losing valuable production time on that oh-so-expensive digital print gear and creating print quality issues,” says Hume.
“The popularity of combining short-run digital with offline high-end finishing is definitely gaining momentum from what I can see,” he adds.
PUR: (Polyurethane Reactive)
As the digital market moves forward, we’re seeing a strong need for cut sheet coated book blocks and C2S covers that EVA conventional glue will never hold. With high-speed print engines and toner-based covers entering the market, the need for PUR is only becoming stronger. Its resistance to a wide variety of inks, varnishes, oils and solvents that migrate into the glue line and can cause some EVA adhesives to fail on certain substrates (such as coated stocks, photographic papers, recycled stocks, cross-grain stocks, acetates and digitally imaged stock) is a huge benefit. PUR is also more resistant to temperature extremes, which provides benefits during shipping and storage of the finished book and gives it exceptional aging stability.
PUR is ideal for lay-flat applications, software, educational, photographic applications, high-quality publications and environmentally-sensitive applications such as owner’s manuals, particularly for the automotive, marine and heavy equipment industries.
Blair C. Wilson, Partner, B.C.W. Bindery Services Ltd. in Markham (www.bcwbindery.com), a full-service trade bindery offering cutting, folding (maps/mini/glues), stitching, wiro/plasticoil bindings and perfect binding, has been in the business for 15 years and employees 60 people over two shifts.
“We’ve been PUR perfect binding since January of 2006 as a result of requests from high-end printers that experienced problems with traditional perfect-bound jobs, as well as with production bottlenecks at existing binderies providing PUR binding,” Wilson says.
“Our business has developed and grown over the years as other printers and designers have requested PUR binding for their projects. We find that more and more annual reports and books that were Smythe-sewn in the past, catalogues with heavy usage, and high-end magazines, require PUR binding.
With the introduction of a “closed” glue pot, setup times have decreased, which in turn, has lowered costs. At B.C.W., we see PUR as a mature business line, and though demand has leveled off in the last year, it remains an integral service we’re pleased to offer to our clients.”
If you want to see a good example of PUR technology, Robert E. Thistle Ltd. (distributor for C.P Bourg in Canada) will feature the C.P. Bourg BB3002 automated perfect binder released in a fully integrated PUR version at Graph Expo 2008. The PUR version allows the binding of more challenging, digitally produced jobs and difficult-to-bind stocks. The technology allows more precise gluing and better adherence while using less energy and glue. The system’s unique features include tool-less, automatic setup using an icon-driven touch screen.
The machine also measures book block thickness automatically and calculates the centerline of the cover to fasten the spine-to bind books of the same size and different thickness one after another, automatically, without operator intervention. The perfect binder is available with either the traditional EVA or the newest Nordson PUR glue system.
Intelligent post-press automation
Whether it’s a folder, saddle stitcher or a perfect binder, intelligent automation use an intuitive, icon-based colour touch screen that prompts the operator for sheet size and desired function. Using only this data, the operator can calculate all necessary setups and can perform fully automated changeovers in under 30 minutes. The CCD camera options verification reading from top to bottom, or both, ensures 100% integrity inside and out. Any double-pulls off the press that slip into the bindery can be caught during the run. This eliminates the possibility that sheets printed on one side only, end up as blank book pages. This level of quality check also assures ISO compliance.
Printers are looking for three features here: fast turnaround, quick changeover and the latest computer technology. More and more printers, offset and digital, are looking for simple-to-use automation, as highly skilled operators are not always an option in today’s environment. Easily programmed, computer driven products, eliminate the need for highly skilled labour and provide the printer with on-site bindery solutions, which can save money and time.
Variable data: saddle stitch books
Today’s saddle stitchers offer high-speed, offline feeding and flexibility for digital print environments. Sheet feeders are capable of handling mis-feeds and detecting page order from a mark sensor on the sheet, thus avoiding collation issues. Further, an optional cover feeder specifically eliminates the need for a collating tower, which is used for the purpose of feeding a hard cover. All soft-cover work can be produced in the high-speed feeder. Therefore, the optional cover feed tray can serve as a sheet feeder to perform side stitching and corner stitching. Given this additional flexibility, this eliminates the need for collation towers.
Variable data: perfect bound
As with saddle stitching, variable data in perfect bound books or anything short-run that requires 100% set security (as in a one-off book), readers are located at the feed end and in the book block clamp. The cover has to match the book block or there’s no book, which eliminates the possibility of someone else receiving your personal information-100% secure.
In-house versus outsourcing
Nothing new here! There has always been automated offset, which provided the in-house users the flexibility of producing work when and how they want it, very economically. However, cost is not the only thing that needs to be addressed. Turnaround, back-and-forth deliveries, gas and the limited supply of highly-skilled operators are also considerations. These factors have forced the printers to look for products (saddle stitch, perfect bound, creasers, numbering units and cutters) that provide automation and ease of use. Yes, the “technology” has become “skilled labour” because the machine operator functions more like a “computer operator” these days. So, knowledge of computer use is usurping the old must-have skills of old-style, non-programmable bindery equipment.
A glimpse of what’s out there
The list seems endless: binders, staplers, stitchers, collators, padders, inserters, trimmers, bookletmakers, kiss-and-die cutters, cornerounders, drills, hole punchers, folders, tabbers, joggers, tabletop, punch-and-bind equipment (plastic coil, comb, wire and velo), shrink wrap and packaging systems, perforators, scorers, slitters and numbering systems. Have I left anything out?
It would take just about every page of this magazine, and then some, to write about these products and choose a manufacturer to highlight. However, there are a few industry names that are leading the way.
During Graph Expo 2008 in Chicago, Muller Martini will showcase its fully automated Primera E140, a new generation of saddle stitcher, says the company, with revolutionary new feeders that will boost a printer’s bottom line, especially if you’re trying to cope with such things as smaller sizes, lightweight stocks and perforations.
The machine’s Magic Wheel feeder technology will hold signature tolerances better and provide inline adjustments that eliminate expensive stops. Large-size kits are built into the feeder to accommodate broader sizes. Job preparation is made even more efficient with enhanced Human Machine Interface (HMI) technology engineered into the stitchers, including controls at each pocket. New touch screens and an intuitive setup help guide the operator step-by-step through the phases of production preparation.
At drupa, Heidelberg promoted its stitching, binding, folding and cutting equipment, including the new Dymatrix 106 Pro CSB (cutting, stripping and blanking) die cutter that can be connected to the Preset Plus Feeder of Heidelberg’s Speedmaster XL105. It also boasts automatic format pre-setting, production stability at high speeds and can be integrated into the Prinect workflow.
C.P. Bourg has hailed BSTe, its new collator line planned for 2009, as the “future generation of collators.” The machines will provide the largest sheet size and the biggest bin capacity at previously unequalled production rates, says the company. Each machine is controlled by a single user-friendly Graphical User Interface to avoid programming the same data twice. It can be used as a sheet feeder for sequential feeding, or for programmed picking.
The future
When it comes to the pressroom and pre-press, most of today’s printers won’t hesitate to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in new, automated technology. But they’re also realizing that bindery and finishing operations that used to be mere afterthoughts, are just as important and worthy of a major financial investment. Other printers feel more comfortable outsourcing bindery and finishing to established shops that have both the expertise and the latest equipment. Whatever you choose, always remember our magnificent racehorse. The animal could be in front by a dozen lengths, looking unbeatable, but if it falls apart before the finish line, you’ve lost!