Finishing - Conventional

BY T.J. TEDESCO Different operating circumstances require different business strategies. For example, three trade binderies in three different states each have different plans and methods of doing business. Who's right? Maybe, they all are. In today's rough and tumble graphic arts world, excellent performance is not optional. To successfully compete over the long haul, companies must consistently say what they do, and do what they say. Yesterday's recipe for success—service, quality and fair prices—is just the starting point. Carefully evaluating business factors, such as geographic location, customer attitudes toward outsourcing, management strengths and weaknesses, and company core competencies, is essential. Then, implementing the

Paper cutters do not advance as quickly as press and prepress systems, but competition for the cutting-edge is heating up. BY ERIK CAGLE In an age when high-tech gizmos have proliferated the commercial printing landscape, the paper cutter stands as a testament to meat-and-potatoes machinery, joining such luminaries as the internal combustion engine, the hammer and the light bulb. Monitors and computer automation have managed to sneak their way onto the old school tool, but in the end the cutter remains what it was 25 years ago—a cutter. John Porter, division manager of LDR International, the distributor for Itoh in the United States,

With good help hard to find, the right tool for the job is the key to value-added finishing techniques. BY ERIK CAGLE There's no need to tell Joe Rigby that market demand for plastic coil binding jobs can be a finicky one. The owner of Delaware Valley Bindery in Trenton, NJ, may field four or five plastic coil jobs in one month, then nary a quote for three or four months. As job traffic goes, so does the number of added workers at Delaware Valley Bindery, who are temporary employees. "This kind of work goes hot and cold. We'll have a lot of jobs in a short

To provide customers with one-stop shopping, the decision was made to expand Intelligencer Printing's ink-jet imaging capabilities—a marketing concept whose time had come. Intelligencer Printing is proud to be known for its "exceptional character and capability." As a major printing business and employer in the mid-Atlantic market, Intell impresses clientele with its circumspect corporate culture, entrepreneurial spirit and team-building philosophy of involving employees at every level. Chartered in 1794 by a family of Morovian missionaries who emigrated to the Lancaster, PA, area, Intelligencer has been owned by the same family since 1866 and still follows its founders' commitment to continuously expand its technical and physical capabilities

BY ERIK CAGLE Once upon a time, a print buyer ran into a commercial printer's plant and screamed, "I want this job done, and I want it done yesterday." Aside from rattling off an unrealistic mantra, what the customer really wanted has become the genesis of the one-stop shop. The needs of the customer became immediate, and printers wishing to maintain a healthy clientele roster looked beyond their pressrooms and soon learned the necessity of incorporating extensive electronic prepress and postpress capabilites to meet these ever-shrinking deadlines. "In today's business, quick turnaround at a reasonable price is everything," says Haig Atamain, president and CEO

BY JACK RICKARD Until the 1990s, sheetfed printers had little opportunity to sell products with remoist glue. Today, short run remoist glue jobs are practical because the current crop of machines yield high quality jobs at good production rates. Both sheetfed and non-heatset web printers now can produce products with direct response reply devices and participate in profitable direct mail campaigns. There are primarily two ways of applying remoist glue. The older technology—cold application of water-soluble remoist glue—works by transferring glue to paper by either a wheel or a blanket. This process has two main advantages. First, heat by itself doesn't activate it, which means it's

BY ERIK CAGLE If you think it's not easy making a living in the postpress environment, consider the state of the equipment manufacturers. Finishing trends are causing manufacturers to respond almost as quickly as current turnaround demands. Issues abound: A lack of trained workers beget the call for increased automation. Value-added product enhancements are desired to help break away from a sea of finishing conformity. Commercial printers are being called upon to handle customers' projects in-house—from start to finish. When printers and trade finishers feel the pinch, they pass it on to the manufacturer, whose job it is to make life easier for them.

Top finishing pros reveal their secrets on selecting the right paper cutting tool for the right job. The cutter is often the last machine to touch the printed product before it goes to the customer, so it needs to cut cleanly, be easy to use and keep the work flowing. Though recent advancements in automation and computer control have made working on the machine easier, they've made choosing a cutter more difficult. That complexity can be simplified, however, by deciding on three basic factors right from the start: the size, the type of blade, and how many optional features and types of paper handling

According to the Quick Printing Industry Profile of 1997, 80.8 percent of quick printers broker out thermography work. Why? "Quick printers would need an awful lot of thermography on their plate to bring it in-house," answers Tim Rice, vice president of sales and marketing at Sunraise, a Lexington, MI-based manufacturer of thermography equipment. "For the most part, quick printers would be best off to send it to their local wholesaler." Does that mean quick printers shouldn't even consider investing in thermography equipment? Not exactly. Rice simply suggests that you consider the degree of demand before adding thermography capabilities. Rick Short agrees. Short makes his

"We glue things to other things." That's how Plant Superintendent Joe Carr describes the services offered at The Form House, a finishing house situated in Bedford Park, IL. Carr's description, while accurate, can be a tad misleading. True, The Form House specializes in affixing, but it's an affixer like no other. This company pushes its machinery—and people—to the hilt, coming up with solutions to seemingly impossible problems. "We're proud of our creativity," says Vice President Roger Crisman. Indeed, The Form House is stuck on creativity. The company's innovative approaches to tipping win it the jobs other finishers are afraid to touch. Often, these jobs