Miron Construction’s self-promo brochure incorporates the essential elements of fine printing and design to build an exquisite marketing structure. From the rich, color-saturated spreads to the varnishes and elegant foils, the reader is treated to elegance, excitement and innovation at every turn of the page.
While I didn’t have a whole lot of time to stroll around the show floor during last week’s GRAPH EXPO 2012 in Chicago, one technology caught my eye. Vision, as in machine vision. Such systems are another tool that can be used to ensure consistent, high-quality finished products.
I’ve detected a lot of interest in GRAPH EXPO 2012, and I think attendance will be very good. So what does that mean for finishing? Well, more focus on digital. Rightly so, as the choices of digital print technology continue to expand.
After 10 years (more, or less) of JDF, where does its adoption stand in the bindery? Well, not so large. There were lots of challenges in getting binders, stitchers, cutters, folders and more to operate seamlessly from downloaded instructions.
Very-short product runs may not generate enough revenue to cover the cost of the die for diecutting. We need a machine that doesn’t need a high-cost die, is fast enough for real production, and whose cost will not break the bank. Now that’s a real design challenge.
The bindery has had to become a very creative place as print evolves into an “on demand” service. One of the engineering marvels out there is the “book factory.” Almost all of the major bindery vendors have risen to this challenge to varying degrees.
As high-speed inkjet printers increasingly displace their offset cousins, roll-handling equipment manufacturers have realized that their units will have to acquire many more talents in order to maximize the digital production workflow. The newer systems can now convert the printed web into “bindery ready” work.
Traditional well-trained bindery craftsman are both hard to find and expensive. That is one of the reasons why equipment manufacturers have tried to apply as much automation as possible to their machinery. By and large, they have been successful.
It’s a reality that digital print has enabled very-short-run book production. In fact, the term “book-of-one” has entered the language as a descriptor of the short-run process. Designing a system for producing books of one is no easy task.
I spent a large part of my career in high-volume commercial binderies. These were truly “big iron” operations where perfect binders and saddlestitchers might stretch over a hundred feet of floor space and easily weigh more than 100,000 pounds.
