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!

Someone recently described the craft of printing as “putting dead dinosaurs on dead trees,” the idea being that dinosaurs decompose into crude oil, a key ink ingredient. This clever description is also troubling when you consider that some of the print production processes in wide use today may themselves be nearing extinction. The print economy appears to be on the rebound, but as export pressures, the Internet, digital workflow, and other disruptive technologies continue to transform the production landscape, it’s worth a look into the bindery to see what may lay ahead.

CIM, JDF, CIP4, and JAA (Just Another Acronym)
Industry forecasters predict the end of print as we know it unless we adopt computer–integrated workflows driven by job description format files that have been formally approved by the International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press, and Postpress (CIP4). But your short–term goals are probably more tangible: you’re just trying to improve makeready times on your saddlestitching or perfect binding lines so you can handle short–run work efficiently. Or you may need to finish variable pre–collated sheets from your new digital colour press without any trade–off in finish quality. You know you need automation, but you’re not sure to what extent.

There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is it’s probably short–sighted to invest in any postpress equipment that isn’t JDF–enabled. But the good news is you’re under no obligation to implement JDF today—it’s not an all–or–nothing proposition—and it shouldn’t cost you more. Most leading postpress equipment manufacturers have a CIP4 game plan that provides some level of step–wise JDF implementation. You should be able to achieve automated setups today, then plug into a fully integrated MIS workflow when, and if, you’re ready. Generally speaking, buying “JDF–ready” equipment shouldn’t carry a heavy surcharge, though you’ll probably have some added costs when you start integrating hardware and software.

Justify to Buy
Different printers’ approaches to bindery investment says a great deal about where the print market is heading.

It used to be fairly simple to justify a postpress investment. You could (maybe you did) do the math on the back of an envelope. N units of books/booklets finished per day/week/month, with a labour burden of y, with an average unit resale price of $x, an equation applied to both old and new processes. If you negotiate a good buy price, swing a reasonable lease rate, get a fair trade–in value on your old gear, and end up making more money over a reasonable timeframe, then you’d likely proceed.

A host of other factors come into the equation today. Setup/makeready time can be huge, depending on how many different jobs per day/week/month you have or expect to attract with the new equipment. And the mix keeps changing as overall run lengths decline.

Customers are also expecting ever–quicker turnarounds, so the new process needs to get products out the door or on the next process as rapidly as possible. Labour variables are changing too. You may be unable to count on (or afford) the same level of expertise to run the new equipment, or a different skill set may be needed. And as digital imaging becomes more common, you may need to support pre–collated output as well. The complex spreadsheets designed to consider such factors prefer eclipse envelopes as their justification tool.

A detailed review of investment decisions is a healthy trend, since printers need to understand their real cost on each job to stay profitable. Ideally, anything you can measure would roll–up into the equation—setup time, run time, downtime due to preventative maintenance or equipment failure, labour, waste, energy cost, and the list goes on. Only by keeping close tabs on bindery shop floor metrics can printers determine real job costs, and thus increase efficiency and address staffing or equipment issues.

Bindery metrics will be supported by systems like the Standard Horizon i2i Bindery Control System, which captures real–time job statistics and also provides JDF setups, job management, and production scheduling. Expect to see increasing levels of digital control in the binder, on–board automation with servo–motor control, networked systems that capture job statistics from several machines for cost review and analysis, and the ability to exchange data with MIS systems for enterprise–wide visibility and standardized, repeatable processes. Digital control will become the de facto standard in the bindery, just as it has in upstream print production processes, and just as it has in other industries where CIM (Computer–integrated manufacturing) has transformed business practices.

Adopting CIM
Speaking of CIM, one trusted industry expert has commented that many CTP users do not use ink fountain presets, despite their importance to CTP return on investment. To the extent this is true, how quickly are printers willing to adopt CIM as an industry–wide practice that extends into the bindery? Stories abound of operators resisting new technology, believing it invites management scrutiny or is a substitute for their specialized skill set. Whatever technical barriers to widespread CIM adoption there may be—interoperability may be the biggest, resulting in what have been dubbed “islands of automation”—cultural barriers are an equally daunting problem. Even so, CIM may be one of the most effective ways for printers to thrive amidst rising costs and declining margins.

One–Pass Convenience
Some forward–looking printers have original thoughts about their potential finishing investments. For example, one customer recently made a significant investment in production digital color printing (100+ pages per minute). They aim to capture a share of the highly variable short–run color market with a value–added product that requires a higher production skill set but also has higher margins and (they hope) encourages greater customer loyalty.

This printer wanted a saddle stitching system that would make their digitally imaged booklets indistinguishable from offset–printed jobs finished on their conventional long–run signature gathering and saddle binding line, and they wanted to minimize off–line production steps. The customer opted for a Standard Horizon system with an all–in–one near–line solution that fed the pre–collated sheets (with barcode integrity checking), scored the sets, stitched, folded, and finally three–knife–trimmed the booklets for edge–to–edge color. There are less–costly combinations that could produce the work, but the customer placed a very high value on the benefit of a one–pass process—especially useful with tight production windows for personalized printing. The system also supported short–run conventional offset work, since the same finisher was equipped with suction flat–sheet collator towers. This customer didn’t use lengthy analysis to justify the purchase. They simply responded to their customers’ key finishing requirements: highly automated setup, application flexibility, technical reliability, and no compromise in end–product quality when compared to output from their incumbent long–run systems.

Are You a Printer?
Some customers have stopped referring to themselves as “printers,” particularly the highly digital shops, even though their bindery equipment mix closely resembles what you’d find under the roof of a conventional graphic arts shop. It’s also true of businesses that receive most of their jobs through a web storefront (e.g., mimeo.com, colorcentriccorp.com) or provide on–demand publishing services (e.g., ipublish.com, lulu.com). For these companies, “dots on paper” is just one element in a string of supply chain and fulfillment services they provide for their clients, and this community’s needs may differ over time from those of traditional printers. As the print business model evolves, how and where finishing value is added may shift as well.

Industry Rebound Benefits All
PIA/GATF has reported that 2004 was a solid recovery year for the print industry—shipments were up U.S. $4.4 billion, despite continued fall–off in printing plants (down 1,538) and industry employment (down 18,000). At this writing, 2005 shipments were up another 3.4%, ink–on–paper up 2.4%, toner–based print up 5.4%, and most printers (56%) reported an increase in sales volume. These figures bode well for the strongest bindery equipment manufacturers who improve their businesses as they continue rolling out innovative, new finishing solutions that address the short–run, quick–turn, and digital print requirements of the market.

Reprinted with permission from the PIA/GATF 2006 Forecast: Technology, Trends, Tactics.  Copyright 2006 by the Printing Industries of America/Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (www.gain.net).  All rights reserved.