Bindery - Finishing

Are your blade's a little worn? The newest cutters on the market will bring some sharp features into your bindery. (The online version of this story features information not included in the print version.) by MARK SMITH Cut. Knife. Blade. Guillotine. The terminology alone shows why safety is a must when it comes to paper cutters. Two-handed cut activation, non-repeat knife cycles and auto-stop infrared light curtains are just some of the safety features that have been mandated by law and market demand. Because manufacturers are not willing to compromise much in this area, all the latest cutters are endowed with

Today's folding equipment must do more than simply fold paper. In-plants want additional features to help them keep pace. by ERIK CAGLE ACCESSORIES ARE to folding machines what cherries are to cheesecake—sweet. Printers still want folders that are easy to operate, with short setup times, but auxiliary equipment for scoring, slitting, perforating, gluing and plow folding can greatly augment the humble folder. The aforementioned features are among the most requested by customers, according to Wayne Pagel, president and owner of KEPES. He believes a vacuum table that allows product sampling, and plow folds with gluing to close the product are also sought after.

As customers clamor for faster turnaround, in-plants are relying on their collators for relief. Upgrading to newer models, managers say, has helped most of all. TEN YEARS ago, Jason Seto's shop sent out any collating job over 5,000 copies. Twenty years ago, it was still collating by hand. Today, Seto's shop can turn jobs around in as little as 24 hours, thanks to its in-line collator/stitcher/trimmer. Although Seto's shop at the State of Hawaii's Department of Education has had a collator for the last 20 years, only recently did the shop strengthen itself by replacing its 11-year-old collator with a new Standard Horizon

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

Programmable cutters put the bindery in-line with the rest of your equipment, boosting productivity. Automation fever—catch it. Better than the flu and more important to your well being than the office coffee pot, automation in paper cutting is fast becoming the next big thing. "Say you got some little 3-1⁄2x7˝ job," proposes Roland Stroud, production manager at the Mays Mission For The Handicapped in-plant, in Heber Springs, Ark. "You can program it so you only have to hit the button once. That way one person can be sitting there boxing while the machine is cutting by itself." And that, in a nutshell, is

Automation in setup and changeover make today's folding machines easier to use than ever. Learn how your in-plant can benefit. NICHOLAS MONELLO has been in printing for 40 years. He knows what to look for in a folder. "A state-of-the-art folder, with computerized and electronic input controls," he says. "Also, very important is having quick changeover capabilities to different sizes or features." As print shop director for the New York City Department of Health Graphic Services, it's Monello's job to know the industry. His supervisor, Graphic Services Director Bruce Krueger, says the in-plant uses an MBO B-18, an MBO T-49 and a Baum Ultrafold

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