Finishing - Conventional

Once part of a merger-induced consolidated firm, Specialties Bindery has broken out of that industry stronghold and is out on its own. Business is now booming and the future looks bright. BY T.J. TEDESCO Specialties Bindery has a history of bucking business fads. The suburban Washington, DC-based company was acquisition prey in 1988, long before merger mania swept through the printing industry. Then, after nine years of being a cog in the Quebecor empire, three former owners bought the company back in mid-1997. Now the company is looking to the future. In 1971, Ron Ridgeway and Bill Schroder founded Specialties Bindery to provide postpress

BY ERIK CAGLE Quad/Graphics has installed the latest design in Ferag gathering/stitching/ trimming systems at its plant in Lomira, WI, marking the third such system installation for Quad. The new system includes six log-fed feeders, which transport signatures to a rotary gathering drum, then to a shear-cut trimmer. According to Frank Arndorfer, Quad/Graphics' vice president of finishing operations, adding the third Ferag unit bolsters the company in a number of ways. The Ferags are the workhorses on the shop floor. "We lean toward Ferag because we have an application for production that requires more of a Gatlin gun approach—high volume and relative ease of use," Arndorfer says.

BY ERIK CAGLE Is it possible for a gluing system to be all things to all printers and finishers? The answer to that question is a wholehearted yes. Let's be honest, the days of "Type A personality" gluing systems are long gone. Competition on the manufacturer level has prevented one-dimensional systems from becoming prevalent. Gluing systems must play nice with the presses, or they'll find themselves taking an extended time out on a dusty shelf in a second-hand shop. Not only must they be easy to use, setup and maintain, but application must be uniform. By the same token, not every system will be

Turnaround times are collapsing. Customers demand the hottest new printing techniques. Technology changes daily. Electronic information, files and disks come at you from every direction. And, amid the whirlwind, you need to maintain the quality standards that differentiate your company. What's a printer to do? George Rice & Sons, a Quebecor World company, tackles the challenges by utilizing the latest technology. "To compete in this industry today and tomorrow," confides Randy Ginsberg, president of George Rice & Sons, "you must have the latest technology and you must also have the people who understand it." George Rice & Sons was started in 1879

Finishing gear filled a few halls at DRUPA, with computerized integration more prevalent than ever before. BY BOB NEUBAUER Computers have integrated themselves into the postpress world more than ever. From monitoring machine functions to linking with digital workflows, the latest bindery equipment is smarter than ever. Take Heidelberg's Stitchmaster ST 400, shown in its immense finishing area at DRUPA. Data generated at the impositioning stage of the prepress process can be loaded into the ST 400's press-setting program. Also, feeding, gathering, stitching and cutting are all monitored to prevent time-consuming jams. Here are some of the highlights from the show. MBO demonstrated the new Navigator Control-Touch and

Folding machines are advancing by leaps and bounds, as many companies will prove this month at DRUPA 2000, in Dusseldorf, Germany. BY CHERYL A. ADAMS "A new breed of folder . . . " dreams the printer who dozes off on his flight to DRUPA. "Smaller . . . Cheaper . . . Faster . . . Easy to set up . . . Easy to operate . . . Rugged enough to handle whatever jobs I throw at it . . ." In his dream, the printer is en route across the DRUPA fairgrounds complex, pushing past crowds, catching quick glimpses of

BY CHERYL A. ADAMS There are two sides to every story. And, likewise, the pros and cons, the pluses and minuses, the advantages and drawbacks. Whatever you call them, where there is one, there is the other. Good and bad have coexisted since the beginning of time. And so it is with the story of in-line and off-line finishing: There are advantages and drawbacks to using each technology and trade offs—speed vs. specialty finishing, high-volume price break vs. value-added extras—that ultimately go with the business...the business of web press finishing, either in- or off-line. But the finishing business is good these days—booming, in

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,

BY CHERYL A. ADAMS Printer, printer . . . How does your bindery grow? Certainly not with cockleshells all in a row—but with the same careful cultivation, operational dedication and savvy business sense that commercial printers are using to grow their prepress and pressroom areas. But forget all the bells and whistles of prepress and press for a moment. Instead, take a behind-the-scenes look at how three very different commercial printers—two with extensive bindery operations and one with limited finishing services—are growing their overall businesses by investing in their back ends. Blue Ocean PressAbsolute AutomationYou never want to have to print a job over