Helpful Tips

This Month's Topic: The Cost Advantage of PUR Binding
April 2004

Many projects call for a binding style that allows the product to lay flat for ease of use. While mechanical binding is the natural choice for these projects, it may be out of the reach of some budgets. PUR adhesive binding can be a viable alternative to mechanical binding, offering much of the same user-friendly characteristics at a lower cost.

All the Functionality, Less Cost
Products such as cookbooks, reference and instruction manuals, textbooks, children’s books and directories all benefit from the layflat capabilities of mechanical binding. However, the flexibility of PUR adhesive binding allows users to handle books much as they would if they were mechanically-bound.

A PUR-bound book will lay much flatter than a standard perfect-bound book. The strength of PUR binding also allows users to fold books cover to cover for single-hand use.

While mechanical binding offers the ultimate in layflat capabilities (top), Stay-Flat PUR adhesive-bound books (middle) will lay much flatter than standard perfect-bound books (bottom).

Stay-Flat PUR Binding
While a super-strong spine is the hallmark of PUR adhesive, its flexibility allows books to lay much flatter than those that are standard perfect-bound. For applications that require even greater layflat abilities, Allied Bindery offers Stay-Flat PUR binding.

This technique involves affixing the cover to the book block using side glue, which creates a "detached" spine. The book block is bound with PUR adhesive to give it even more flexibility. The result is a book that has the look of adhesive binding, but lays perfectly flat when opened. Stay-Flat PUR binding is also a cost-effective alternative to Wire-O binding for projects that must lay flat, but must also meet a tight budget.

Planning tip
Consider multiple-up layouts for even greater efficiencies - At Allied Bindery, we can handle multiple-up layouts for certain PUR adhesive binding applications. This not only reduces bindery costs and turnaround times, but also saves on printing plate and paper costs.

The Allied Advantage
At Allied Bindery, we offer a complete range of high-quality, cost-effective PUR adhesive binding capabilities. In addition to Stay-flat and multiple-up binding capabilities, we can also perform standard perfect binding, cutting, folding, saddle stitching, shrink wrapping and more. Let us help you plan your projects for efficient - and cost-effective - PUR adhesive binding.