The Lightweight Paper Challenge

Printers have had to contend with an entire universe of substrates since Gutenberg. One of the major challenges has been the very lightweight papers used for financial, pharmaceutical, and legal printed pieces. Printing on these is no joy, as they don't have the tensile strength or body of heavier grades. As for the finishing end, work destined for either saddle-stitching or perfect binding is folded into signatures. Either at the back end of an offset web press, or using a buckle folder for sheetfed presses. This gives additional body to light papers so that they can be better handled by both operators and machinery.