Binding Finishing: News
Features
Saddle up & Stitch Right
Nov 1, 1999 12:00 AM, Katherine O'Brien
Why are so many sheetfed commercial printers' bindery operations woefully out-of-date? Well, for one thing, stitching, folding, perfect binding, drilling, etc., isn't very exciting to watch. People naturally prefer to invest in flashier prepress and press equipment. It's also possible some owners are secretly waiting for the appraisers from "Antiques Road Show" to come to town. We can only hope, of
BOOSTING BINDERY PRODUCTIVITY
Jul 1, 1999 12:00 AM, KATHERINE O'BRIEN
Are you so eager to show off your postpress area that you start plant tours there? Do you proudly inform customers and prospects that your bindery will soon be a completely digitally networked operation? Can you say you'll soon be CIP3 compliant-that everything from the folders to the cutters to the stackers to the stitchers will be tied back to the pressroom and prepress? Do your state-of-the-art
FINISHING OPERATIONS: BOUND TO DELIVER
Apr 1, 1999 12:00 AM, WERNER REBSAMEN
The changes and the requirements to stay competitive are coming so fast that it is almost impossible to keep up. In addition, the tools and systems used are becoming so sophisticated that it is difficult to judge their appropriateness for a particular manufacturing environment.Trade shows make us aware of general trends, but oftentimes areas of specialization are not covered in depth. This problem
FINISHING OPERATIONS: ADDRESSING PERSONALIZATION
Mar 1, 1999 12:00 AM, AMERICAN PRINTER STAFF
Few printers can claim the longevity or rich tradition found at Intelligencer Printing (Lancaster, PA). The firm traces its roots to the 1794 Lancaster Journal--the newspaper carried a notice beneath its nameplate stating it would accept all types of printing work. Produced by Journal proprietors William Hamilton and Henry Willcocks, jobs consisted mostly of broadsides and public notices. In 1839,
WINNING WAYS: FASTER SADDLESTITCHING
Jul 1, 1998 12:00 AM, American Printer Staff
Cedar Graphics, Inc., located in Ronkonkoma, NY, close to Long Island's busy MacArthur Airport, is a showroom printing facility with more than 250 employees and annual sales of $30 million. On highly industrialized Long Island, it is the area's 10th fastest growing private company. A winner of many local and national awards, Cedar also ranks high on the list of manufacturing companies headed by women.The
GREAT IMPRESSIONS
Mar 1, 1998 12:00 AM,
Everybody loves the French Impressionists-especially in Chicago, which is home to one of the world's finest collections of Monet, Degas, Renoir, et al. The delicate brushstroke of their dazzling work, however, features difficult-to-print colorations. So when the Art Institute of Chicago wanted posters for its Renoir exhibit, they sought a high-quality printer that could meet its exacting quality demands.Great
WHO'S MAKING VARIABLE PROFITABLE?
Jan 1, 1998 12:00 AM, Elias Crim
Charles Martin says he can imagine going on a Web site and picking out the elements of his dream house. "Everything -- the wall paper, the tile in the bathroom, the outside trim, even the house's geographical location." And then, the very next day, he receives in his mailbox a four-color brochure with lavish graphics of exactly the house he had in mind.Meanwhile, back on Planet Earth . . . Martin
PRINT BUYER PORTRAIT
Jan 1, 1998 12:00 AM, Katherine O'Brien
At American Printer, we do most of our research by talking to printers, equipment vendors and industry consultants. For this article, however, we sought out some seldom-heard-from experts: print buyers.We asked them to share their concerns and experiences with us. What's the key to building a lasting relationship? What extras do buyers expect? How do they deal with cold calls?Although our modest sampling
WEB MARKET OUTLOOK
Oct 1, 1997 12:00 AM, Jill Roth
Each year since 1983, the Web Offset Assn. (WOA) and the Non-Heatset Web Section (NWS) of Printing Industries of America (PIA) have conducted an industry survey, providing insights into the state of the web printing industry both today and into the future. The 1997-1998 Market Outlook for Web Offset Printers paints a picture of a stable industry segment, responding to the changing needs of its customers
A BREED APART
Jun 1, 1997 12:00 AM,
In-plant print shops are a breed apart from other printing organizations. Considering it's hard enough to make a profit when you can solicit the entire area, imagine having your potential customer pool limited to those only in your company. Further, in-plants often must compete with commercial printers during the bidding process.Two in-plant shops are, however, successfully growing under those conditions:
FOCUS ON DIGITAL
May 1, 1997 12:00 AM, Katherine O'Brien
Fred Ropkey is making history. Not only is his Indianapolis-based shop one of the few places you can rent a Sherman tank, it is also on the cutting edge of digital photography.If you want to rent a tank or armored vehicle, Fred's son Rick will be happy to oblige. The Ropkey Armor Museum, an impressive collection of rolling military vehicles, is well known in Hollywood. You can see some of the Ropkey's
Business Management
Mar 1, 1997 12:00 AM,
BOOK MARKETS ANALYZED Book publishing and printing are expected to enjoy good growth with only a slight slowdown toward the end of the century. So says a new study analyzing the market for end-use products for book printing. The study was completed by Clayton/Curtis/Cottrell, a management services firm in Louisville, CO.The explosion of computers, the Internet and interactive communications is providing
SPINNING A WEB
Jan 1, 1997 12:00 AM, Noel Jeffrey
As the virtual gold rush plays out on the Internet's World Wide Web, printers are among the most recent prospectors. These cyberspace adventurers have their own Web sites, primarily as marketing tools, communication links to customers or both. Still others are also building and servicing sites for clients.According to the latest Printing Industries of America (PIA) Technology Benchmark Survey, approximately
Color sells!
Oct 1, 1996 12:00 AM, Ferris, Fred
Quick printers are accustomed to adjusting and reinventing the way they run their businesses. Indeed, these smaller firms actually are better positioned to forge company-wide change than their larger graphic arts counterparts.That's why quick printers making the move into color work have few excuses for not refining the way they market and sell. Although old methods may have sufficed in the good ol'
Keeping up on immigration laws.
Sep 1, 1996 12:00 AM, Gill, Brian W.
In the wake of major legislative efforts to crack down on immigration and increased enforcement by the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service), employers should be aware of the laws and consequences associated with hiring foreign workers.The most recent measure taken to tighten immigration occurred with the March 20 INS announcement of the new "fraud-resistant" Alien Registration Receipt Card.
Understanding conductivity
Sep 1, 1996 12:00 AM, Scarlett, Terry
Conductivity, one of the most misunderstood terms in lithographic printing, continues to confuse printers trying to use this control tool.To help ease the confusion, the recent Web Offset Assn. conference provided a series of informal roundtables titled Printers Tech Talk. These popular sessions offered a forum in which printers could discuss problems with or ask questions of other execs or suppliers.
Sealed with a thread
Mar 1, 1996 12:00 AM,
In spite of its name, perfect binding is not always the perfect way to bind the pages of a book. The main drawback with this finishing procedure can be found at the signature stage. Unless the pages of each signature are sewn together, a process that for many projects is prohibitively expensive, the strength and durability of a perfect bound book often leaves much to be desired.Twenty years ago, the
Planning jobs back to front
Sep 1, 1995 12:00 AM, Merit, Don
In many instances, estimators plan jobs based on the most economical way to strip, make plates and print, but this does not always lead to the best production method. Let's look at the following problem:What is the best way to run 100,000 12-page self-cover booklets with a page size of 8 1/2 x 11 inches, one color black, two sides, on 70-lb. uncoated offset with no image printing within 1/2 inch of
Saddle up!
Jul 1, 1995 12:00 AM, Rebsamen, Werner
A new generation of saddlestitching equipment will help binders meet ever-increasing client delivery demands"It takes only 12 hours to print Time magazine, yet binders require 24 to 30 hours to bind it," pointed out James Flannery of Time, Inc. as a challenge to the audience of a Research and Engineering Council bindery seminar in 1993. "If we close the book on a Saturday, the earliest we can reach
Cutting to the chase
Apr 1, 1995 12:00 AM,
Highly automated finishing eases fulfillment house's move into printingVectra Marketing was founded 13 years ago as a fulfillment house in Columbus, OH. The company has grown and prospered, and now handles high-volume fulfillment work for numerous high-profile national accounts.Until recently, Vectra contracted out the printing portion of its services. In mid-1992. however, management decided bringing
