The Flat Sheet Alternative

In-plants want a better way to profitably produce low-volume saddle-stitched jobs. Collators with in-line stitching, folding and trimming may be the answer.

Traditionally, in-plant printers have produced their saddle-stitched products using the time-honored method of printing multiple-up on a large-format press, taking the product off-line for perforating and signature folding, then loading the eight-, 16- or 32-page signatures into a saddle-gathering machine, where they are gathered and stitched. The final step—three-side trimming—is completed in-line or off-line.

This approach works fine for longer run lengths, where you can amortize the cost for longer setup time over tens of thousands of units.

But run lengths continue to decline as marketers look to print fewer (and sometimes customized) pieces to avoid the high costs of inventory, storage and obsolete literature. Today, printers are wrestling with the challenge of how to profitably produce low-volume (5,000 to 20,000) saddle-stitched jobs with the quick turnaround this work often requires.

One widely-adopted solution to this challenge is to impose the job multiple-up in four-page flat signatures, then run it on a small-format press (33˝ or smaller). The sheets are cut to flat-sheet, four-page signatures that are loaded into a high-speed vacuum collator equipped with in-line stitching, folding and face-trimming accessories (see photo).

More and more printers are realizing significant advantages to the vacuum collator/saddle stitiching approach:

• First, there are fewer off-line bindery steps and less material transport between the steps. With flat sheet collating, you print, cut and load the collator, and the stitching, folding and face trimming are quickly completed in-line. With the traditional method, you print, perforate/fold, then load the signatures into an in-line system that gathers them onto a saddle and stitches them. In-line or off-line three-side trimming completes the process.

• Another plus to this method is less spoilage. State-of-the-art collator and bookletmaking accessories designed for heavy-duty use come with digital controls, and stepper motors drive all guides and stops to the proper position for changeovers. This results in first-book-off quality, which is more important on shorter runs: Wasting 100 units setting up a saddle-gathering line is insignificant on a run-length of 50,000, but that same 100 units is 2 percent of the total job on a 5,000-piece run.

• Most importantly, the off-line vacuum collator/saddlestitching system can be set up and changed over between formats in just minutes. This represents considerable labor cost savings compared to changing over saddle-gathering and three-knife trimming lines. Changeover speed is critical, because shorter run lengths don't afford the luxury of amortizing setup costs over many units.

The same customers who are driving the business toward shorter run lengths are also pushing for faster delivery. They want next-day or same-day service. Using the cut-collate-stitch-fold-trim method, the printed sheets are ready to ship much faster than with the traditional process.

An added bonus is that you can offer customers partial delivery of the finished job as soon as the first booklet exits the trimmer. You needn't wait until all sheets are printed and signature folded before you can begin producing the finished saddle-stitched product.

A high-speed vacuum collator equipped with in-line stitching, folding and face-trimming accessories can bring in-plants numerous benefits, among them less material transport between steps and less spoilage.

—by Mark Hunt

Mark Hunt is Director of Marketing of Standard Finishing Systems, a division of Standard Duplicating Machines Corp. in Andover, Mass. Standard distributes Horizon print finishing equipment, and a range of print-on-demand feeding and finishing solutions.