Print to product with finishing innovation

There’s an old adage that all printers can produce a flat sheet of paper with ink on it. But the truth is that a print provider’s core business is not enough to cement the bottom line. It is the sizzle as much as the steak that counts, and it is in finishing that printers can reduce their cost base and create the kind of product that will turn a marketer’s head.

Traditional finishing processes are being linked in automated sequences as never before, and this is nowhere more relevant than in book and booklet production, says Bernie Robinson, managing director of the Currie Group.

Robinson says that, for example, Horizon has now developed inline finishing with perfect binding from a roll of digitally printed material onto a Horizon folder into sections, followed by book blocking on the Horizon SB-09 perfect binder. After binding, the books move to a Horizon HT-1000V three-knife trimmer unit.

The SB-09, targeted at the short-to-medium volume POD and commercial book markets, features automatic operation and a user-friendly control console, for high-quality perfect binding. The nine-clamp binder is designed for a single operator to generate up to 4,000 books an hour, with complete changeover and set-up performed in under three minutes. There’s automatic air suction cover feeding that can load covers on-the-fly, as well as automated inline cover scoring and job programming, he says.

Meanwhile, the Horizon HT-1000V three-knife trimmer achieves zero makeready on book trim size and thickness changes, says Robinson. It is well suited for short-run production, while single-book production can also be achieved through a barcode driven set-up. The HT-1000V is set-up automatically on-the-fly by reading a barcode at the entrance of the trimmer. The system is also capable of automatic set-up from the operator panel for same size production runs.

What’s more, the HT-1000V can be connected with the Horizon pXnet JDF workflow for finishing production efficiency and management.

Importantly, says Robinson, the SB-09 perfect binder can be run as a standalone binder or as a complete binding system, with inline gathering and three-knife trimming. “Inline finishing is an innovative trend in the finishing of both offset and digital jobs.”

The ingathering of die cutting as a key process performed in a commercial print company’s bindery rather than a process to be outsourced to trade finishers, with all the uncertainty of deadlines that this might entail, has been a major change in recent years, reflects Tom Ralph, managing director of Graph-Pak.

He says one of the latest innovations from Graph-Pak’s supplier Thermotype is the introduction of the NSF series of foiler/die cutters which gives the end user the ability to perform tasks – at a moderate cost – that were traditionally outsourced.

“The biggest inquiry is for the NSF Elite, which is an A2 die cutter that can also score and crease, as well as foil stamp and foil fuse,” notes Ralph. “Foil fusing is the latest breakthrough. It works by fusing foil to digitally printed products. If the job happens to be offset, the hot stamping unit is used so the customer can have one machine to process both offset and digital work cheaply and efficiently.”

The NSF Elite has the ability to imprint/ die cut up to eight positions down the length of each sheet, he says. “This allows a single die and makeready to be used when processing multiple-up sheets through the press. Using this feature, tooling cost and makeready/set up time is dramatically reduced. This is very important when running very small quantity jobs that have been printed multiple-up on digital printers.”

Using dies, the NSF Elite can flat foil stamp, blind and foil emboss, and die cut at speeds up to 5,000 impressions per hour, he adds. The HSFF (High Speed Foil Fusing) process can fuse foil to toner to create a flat foil impression without dies, at speeds up to 4,000 impressions per hour. If dimensional toner is used, a thermo-embossed (foil embossed) image can be created, using the HSFF process.

 

Accurate Elite at Awards Plus

At Awards Plus, a family owned business at Unanderra, near Wollongong, which produces micro-runs of certificates, ribbons, cards and banners from its Xerox 700 machines, and offers foils on narrow media and sheetfed, the NSF Elite has earned its place in its first three months of operation, says general manager Ian Gillespie. “In fact, I wish I’d bought it three years ago,” he tells ProPrint. “It does thermo graphics, traditional hot-foil stamping and die cutting.”

Gillespie says the Elite’s contribution to productivity at Awards Plus lies in its acccurate registration, “so accurate you can re-feed your makeready — there’s not many foilers that will do that. It also allows downstream processing because the die can be mounted square. Without odd angles, you don’t have to guillotine things down, so we’re feeding directly into our Duplo DocuCutter slitter-creaser. The Elite is accurate and predictable. We’re able to predict exactly what we need to cut for when we’re doing multiple-up. It also does multiple-strike, so you can use the same die multiple times, striking the same substrate – which again, if it wasn’t square, would be a problem”.

Rayne Simpson, Ferrostaal Australia’s gm and national service manager, print finishing, points to automated solutions in cutting, folding and binding. In guillotining, he notes a trend away from JDF/inline programming direct from the CTP imposition format to materials handling itself. For example, preparing stacks to be cut can mean extra time, labour and OH&S issues.

A recent installation of a Baumann cutting system with fully automated stack preparation means all the operator needs to do is load a stack received from the press and a jogger will count, aerate and jog the stock, then automatically feed the guillotine. “Productivity can improve up to 80 per cent, as the operator would concentrate on cutting rather than stack preparation.”

With folding, developer MBO has focused heavily on the digital online sector, with unwinders/rewinders, sheeters, and the many folding/mailing stacking options on offer, says Simpson. “Ferrostaal recently installed in Melbourne and Sydney, partnering with a global industry-leading print engine manufacturer, a complete inline folding and stacking option.” And the modular configuration of MBO’s new M80 folder creates even more flexibility, he says.

In binding, where Ferrostaal represents Kolbus and Wohlenberg perfect binders, Osako saddlestitchers and peripheral equipment, Simpson says there has been much focus on adding peripheral equipment such as automatic hopper loaders, stackers, strappers, bundle wrappers, palletisers, and inserting lines.

 

Workflow binds the bindery

A growing ratio of today’s automation in finishing has its wellsprings in the information mined from the job and thousands others like it, long before it reaches the bindery. But capturing this intelligence depends on the capabilities of your branded workflow, for example Kodak’s Prinergy, Heidelberg’s Prinect, Fujifilm’s XMF or Agfa’s Apogee.

The latter, which incorporates Apogee Manage and Apogee Integrate, can now generate page and cutting information which can be consumed by JDF/JMF-capable finishing equipment, says Mark Brindley, managing director, Agfa Graphics Oceania.

“Cutting blocks are transferred through JDF to the cutting machines. We anticipate that all JMF-capable devices should be able to consume the setup information. Beside the reduction of setup time, this enhancer will eliminate human errors, since the operator interventions are now reduced to the minimum.

“Apogee Prepress can also dynamically generate barcodes which can be used to prevent errors during collation and folding of printed sheets. These barcodes, which contain valuable production information of the printing project, ensure the seamless integration of prepress, press and post-press equipment by adding reliability, control and automation, and allow smooth printing and finishing (cutting and folding),” says Brindley.

 

Comprehensive finishing at the coalface

 Whirlwind Print at Knoxfield in Melbourne’s southeast is a hybrid offset/digital enterprise printing for the trade and large retail. The 16-year-old company with 135 staff has a comprehensive finishing department which adds to the self-sufficiency and speed to market, says Whirlwind’s CEO Andrew Cester. Alongside guillotining, stitching and perfect binding, there is a recently added Rigo Megabinder PUR line from Australian supplier Fab Equipment. Add to that B1/B2 folding, laminating, forme cutting, die cutting, die punching, round cornering and shrinkwrapping.

Some of the digital print can be finished on the analogue kit, but there is also some dedicated digital bindery gear. Cester says integrated folding, cutting or bookletmaking on the iGen does not suit his workflow, as digital work at Whirlwind Print is simply too varied.

Print from Whirlwind’s Xerox iGen press is finished offline in the bindery. Cester is a firm believer in offline finishing. “Unless you’re producing the same print, day in, day out, and you’ve got volumes that justify it, I don’t think inline is the best option. It’s suitable to the right application, but not to our application.”

A new guillotine, a stitcher and a perfect binder, not necessarily for digital but for short-run work, have been commissioned.

Whirlwind produces much promotional campaign work in its bindery, Cester tells ProPrint. “Whatever we finish offset we can also finish digitally. We often are asked for jobs like a burst-bound book, where the customer only wants say 50 copies in a couple of days, with a massive run to follow on. We believe we’re a trade service supplier and we can help a customer out of a sticky situation, make them heroes – and that will go a long way for us.”

Eastern Press, in Melbourne’s Mulgrave, runs a versatile, well equipped finishing department., stocked with two Heidelberg Cylinders and a Platen and a gloss/matt laminator, shrinkwrapping and polybagging, saddle-stitching, perfect, burst and wire binding. UV and embossing is in most cases sent out to the trade – with companies such as The Bindery and Avon Graphics located handily to its Mulgrave facility, says Eastern’s managing director Frank Hilliard.

Down the years, Hilliard has walked a fine line between broad-based general printing and carving out specialist niches. “Nowadays we tend to specialise more,” he says of the 31-year-old, 34-staff business. Yet while the strategy is to find additional customers for its specialties, he believes in remaining diverse enough to provide a full service to valued customers, even if that is business cards with little margin attached. That philosophy, of course, is reflected in the versatility of the finishing offered at Eastern.

“We do a lot of printed, laminated, die cut work, all inhouse, shelf wobblers, short-run POS for agencies, small packaging, sheetfed labels,” says Hilliard.

At McKellar Renown Press in Carnegie, in Melbourne’s inner southeast, the sheer diversity of the prestige offset and digital work requires complex logistics in the company’s bindery.

The 68-year-old business with around 40 staff, where the focus is on high-end speciality printing and DM campaigns, has a Xerox 800/1000 press and a C700, which complement the output from its two Heidelberg Speedmasters (a full-sheet and a half-sheet press), and two Heidelberg Cylinders and a Platen.

Offset and digital print are integrated in a Heidelberg Prinect workflow, with the finishing department handling offline finishing from all three print technologies. The 800/1000 has inline finishing, but, says co-general manager Chris Norgate, more often than not, the high-end, specialised finishing work, with differing formats and substrates in a single job, such as holography with three different foils, lends itself to manual handling. Some jobs involve up to ten different processes, including letterpress, creasing, forme cutting and slitting.

A single job produced at McKellar can involve diverse processes such as guillotining, hand finishing, laminating and hand foil-stamping, packaging, boxes, sleeves, foldouts involving die cutting of full-cut shapes, and hand cutting.

Highlighting this complexity Norgate says, “Some of our work can incorporate almost ten separate finishing processes.”

 

Hannanprint automation

Automation can boost finishing, binding and despatch productivity in large and small operations. At the jumbo end, magazines and catalogues giant Hannanprint has recently added a number of hardware and process changes at its Warwick Farm facility in Sydney’s west that have enabled more to be achieved with less manual input in binding, insertion, cross-strapping, shrinkwrapping and palletising.

The new Hannanprint production centre ago is the biggest print factory to be opened in recent times, with the facility beginning operations just 18 months ago, and using four double deck manroland presses to pump out product 24 hours a day.

“We do a lot of product that’s despatch-ready from the machine,” Hannanprint’s NSW bindery & mailing manager Brett Hill tells ProPrint. “It cuts out some of the labour in despatch and means we can put the product straight onto the trucks.”

A new Ferag Unidrum at Warwick Farm has a camera assisted system which recognises signatures on the feeders and halts the machine if a wrong section has been placed in a feeder, cutting out costly errors. The single-drum trimming process also does away with the two-drum system of the older Ferag equipment which has two drums, one for the fore-edge and another for the head and tail. “It means fewer parts and less equipment to maintain,” notes Hill, and is ideal for shorter-run titles.

Similarly a Muller Martini Optima stitcher with an ASIR (Automatic Signature Image Recognition) system outpaces an older Muller Martini 335 used mainly as a backup. And a Kolbus perfect binder further adds to productivity at Warwick Farm. “We’re definitely saving on labour,” says Hill.

In the pressroom, three manroland Lithomans and a Rotoman are shouldering a significant chunk of traffic that used to tie up the finishing department. With a Ferag trimming line integrated, the Lithomans are capable of generating a 96-page glued section, trimmed, palletised and despatch-ready off the press, whereas previously any sections above 48 pages had to be fed onto the binding line.

Additionally all presses produce logged product, typically 1,000-1,500 copies to a log, which is strapped, then lifted by crane into a stream feeder to the bindery, so there is no need to handle loose product.

And there is inline cross-strapping and shrinkwrapping into bundles for newsagencies. Says Hill: “If you’re running the Ferag at 30,000 copies an hour, you don’t have to take bundles off and cross-strap manually.”

For the past ten months, a fully automated MIS from Technique, a developer now acquired by EFI, monitors how much product has gone through each stage, he says. “There’s information we can gather now that we couldn’t gather in our old system. It pretty much tells you anything and everything you need to know.”

Ian Martin, Ferag Australia’s general manager trade, says the company is continuing to chase new avenues to automation in inserting, stitching, trimming and delivery. “Our latest offering is the entry-level MiniSert which allows a customer to move from labour intensive manual inserting to automatic inserting. It offers ease of operation, supports from two to six hoppers/ feeders, and can operate at speeds up to 20,000cph, with quick and simple installation and commissioning.”

Martin believes inline integration is making its impact felt. “It allows for increased production capabilities and the ability to offer a more diverse range of work, without the need for additional employees.”

Automation can boost finishing, binding and despatch productivity in large and small operations. At the jumbo end, magazines and catalogues giant Hannanprint has recently added a number of hardware and process changes at its Warwick Farm facility in Sydney’s west that have enabled more to be achieved with less manual input in binding, insertion, cross-strapping, shrinkwrapping and palletising.

The new Hannanprint production centre ago is the biggest print factory to be opened in recent times, with the facility beginning operations just 18 months ago, and using four double deck manroland presses to pump out product 24 hours a day.

“We do a lot of product that’s despatch-ready from the machine,” Hannanprint’s NSW bindery & mailing manager Brett Hill tells ProPrint. “It cuts out some of the labour in despatch and means we can put the product straight onto the trucks.”

A new Ferag Unidrum at Warwick Farm has a camera assisted system which recognises signatures on the feeders and halts the machine if a wrong section has been placed in a feeder, cutting out costly errors. The single-drum trimming process also does away with the two-drum system of the older Ferag equipment which has two drums, one for the fore-edge and another for the head and tail. “It means fewer parts and less equipment to maintain,” notes Hill, and is ideal for shorter-run titles.

Similarly a Muller Martini Optima stitcher with an ASIR (Automatic Signature Image Recognition) system outpaces an older Muller Martini 335 used mainly as a backup. And a Kolbus perfect binder further adds to productivity at Warwick Farm. “We’re definitely saving on labour,” says Hill.

In the pressroom, three manroland Lithomans and a Rotoman are shouldering a significant chunk of traffic that used to tie up the finishing department. With a Ferag trimming line integrated, the Lithomans are capable of generating a 96-page glued section, trimmed, palletised and despatch-ready off the press, whereas previously any sections above 48 pages had to be fed onto the binding line.

Additionally all presses produce logged product, typically 1,000-1,500 copies to a log, which is strapped, then lifted by crane into a stream feeder to the bindery, so there is no need to handle loose product.

And there is inline cross-strapping and shrinkwrapping into bundles for newsagencies. Says Hill: “If you’re running the Ferag at 30,000 copies an hour, you don’t have to take bundles off and cross-strap manually.”

For the past ten months, a fully automated MIS from Technique, a developer now acquired by EFI, monitors how much product has gone through each stage, he says. “There’s information we can gather now that we couldn’t gather in our old system. It pretty much tells you anything and everything you need to know.”

Ian Martin, Ferag Australia’s general manager trade, says the company is continuing to chase new avenues to automation in inserting, stitching, trimming and delivery. “Our latest offering is the entry-level MiniSert which allows a customer to move from labour intensive manual inserting to automatic inserting. It offers ease of operation, supports from two to six hoppers/ feeders, and can operate at speeds up to 20,000cph, with quick and simple installation and commissioning.”

Martin believes inline integration is making its impact felt. “It allows for increased production capabilities and the ability to offer a more diverse range of work, without the need for additional employees.”

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