Bindery - Finishing

In-plants are often called on to produce a variety of jobs in a short amount of time. Look for a collator that can meet your demanding needs. PRODUCTIVITY. RELIABILITY. Accuracy of set-up. Ease of changeover. Ease of use. Versatility. These are the key features in-plant managers should look for in a collator, according to Mark Hunt, marketing manager for Standard Finishing Systems. Since in-plants will need to use a collator for a variety of jobs, an easy-to-use and versatile system is crucial. "In an in-plant environment you may be asked to run a wide variety of stocks through the machine," Hunt explains. "You don't

Saddlestitching could be the reliable and inexpensive binding method you have been looking for. Producing booklets used to be a much tougher job for the employees at Northern Arizona University Creative Communications. They had to hand collate sheets, fold them on a Stahl folder, three-way trim them on another unit, and then use a Rosback 201 stitcher to finish them. The alternative was to outsource the work. That all changed when the in-plant purchased a new Duplo DC10000S collator with an inline DBM200 stitch/fold unit and a DC-48TW face trim unit. "Now that we have it in, we are finding so many uses

Safety and efficiency are the key factors to consider when trying to find the best cutter for your in-plant. by CHRIS BAUER THE SAFETY of your in-plant employees must be a priority for you as a manger. Especially vulnerable to injury are operators of paper cutting equipment. So to ensure that no injuries occur in your shop, make sure you bring in equipment that is safe. "Safety has always been number one with Polar," stresses Rob Kuehl, product manager for Heidelberg's Polar Cutting Systems division. He notes that all new Polar customers and operators must go through a safety training program put on

When shopping for a new folding machine, consider your volume, the types of jobs you'll need it for and the unit's ease of use. Speed doesn't always matter. FINISHING IS often the difference between a prize-winning piece and one that is thrown away. Nowhere was this more evident than at the judging for the In-Print 99 contest, where a number of entries were eliminated due to poor folds. If these jobs were not up to par for our judges, then your customers probably took notice too. When looking to bring a new folding machine into your in-plant, think about your volume and what types

In all the hoopla over print-on-demand, little attention is given to the bindery demands that help realize on-demand's potential. By Marie Ranoia Alonso Obviously, an on-demand printer that relies on digital printing technology must be able to assure customers that deadline-sensitive print jobs will be produced on time. After all, there's little advantage to digital color output if a job cannot be finished quickly. As a result, in-house finishing capabilities are necessary for an on-demand printing operation, which must decide if in-line or off-line finishing, or more commonly a combination of the two, will bolster its digital printing effort with enough postpress power. The

When purchasing a new collator, ask yourself what is best for your shop. is it time for you to start looking for a new collator for your in-plant? If it is, there are several important questions to ask yourself before making a decision. First off, can you afford to purchase the collator that you feel is best for your shop? If it's not in your budget right now, it may be better to wait until you can buy the equipment that you want. This is an investment that should last 10 to 15 years, so make sure you don't purchase an inferior device just

Automation and compatibility with digital printing equipment have revolutionized stitching equipment, making operator involvement almost obsolete. "Automation, automation, automation," declares Rick Trapilo, general manager and executive vice president of C.P. Bourg. This, he says, is the primary trend typifying today's stitching equipment. Since operator skill levels vary greatly, Trapilo says, stitching equipment companies are making significant changes to reduce operator involvement. "Threading a stitch head could be difficult for some operators," Trapilo explains. "We're virtually taking that setup issue out of the equation for an in-plant manager." Some automated features now include self-loading, self-threading and operator warning systems in the event of

Computerization is making cutters easier to use and helping in-plant managers deal with the steady decline in skilled operators. For cutting machines, technological innovation seems to have reached a point past which most further improvements and features seem superfluous. Indeed, today's machines operate about as quickly, efficiently and safely as anyone can reasonably expect. One factor, however, promises to influence the design of these machines for the foreseeable future: The lack of skilled operators to run them. "I haven't yet spoken to a single plant manager who hasn't said it's hard to find skilled help," says David Spiel, vice president of Spiel

Before picking a new folder, research your options. New capabilities are boosting productivity, putting workhorse equipment at your fingertips. Do you know what kind of folding equipment you want? You may think you know—but sometimes your equipment vendor knows even better. "I just had a customer that started out wanting a tabletop folder but wanted the capabilities of continuous feeding," says Mark Pellman, sales engineer for Baum USA. "He didn't realize he needed a floor-model because a tabletop is what he always used. He just didn't know." Not knowing could prove a problem for your shop. In order to combat that, know

What are you looking for in a collator? Find out what manufacturers suggest. WHEN YOU complete a printing job that meets your client's specifications, adding the finishing touches are like putting the icing on a cake. It adds oomph. But when an otherwise beautifully perfect-bound book is botched up with sloppy and seemingly careless stapling and stitching, elegance goes out the door and disappointment comes flying in. Nowhere was this more apparent than during the recent judging of In-Print® 98, the joint In-Plant Graphics/International Publishing Management Association printing contest. The judges, meticulous and discriminating in their approach, eliminated many otherwise beautifully printed