Allied Bindery

Bound for Excellence

Allied Bindery Featured in The Binding Edge Magazine

Allied Bindery: Bound for Excellence

by Jen Clark

Like most trade binderies, Allied Bindery has observed trends in smaller run quantities, quicker turn-around time requirements, changing raw materials and an overall reduction in marketplace demand as the digital world continues to expand. To place the company apart from the competition, Allied Bindery set a high standard of customer satisfaction, added service capabilities and provided customers with the opportunity for one-stop shopping for virtually all their finishing needs. (Read the full story at http://www.thebindingedge.com/stories/082113/allied-bindery.shtml.)

Effective Communication

A core value of Allied Bindery is to communicate on an on-going basis with our industry friends.  Our objective is to share insight and observations considered valuable and helpful for our customers, helping them to provide an ever-increasing value proposition to their customers.

Effective Communication

Previous editions of this e-newsletter have discussed quality attribute information we solicit during the quote process in order to provide the highest quality and most cost efficient method of production for your project.  By working together and spending a little more time in the planning stages of a project, this element of “effective communication” has repeatedly equated to superior value for our customers.  At Allied, it is a process we take very seriously and one we are continually striving to improve upon.

In today’s increasingly Just in Time-Real Time world, we understand the critical role we play in successfully finishing our customers’ print projects within expected time frames, oftentimes “making up” time that was lost earlier in the project.  This desired result is strongly facilitated when customers partner in the “effective communication” process.  What does this mean?  It means obtaining a mutual understanding about the following:

  •   Once you have made a decision to partner with Allied on a specific project, let us know as soon as possible.  This allows us to incorporate this information into our production planning process.

 

  • Confirm this intent with your purchase order, detailed job instructions, critical quality characteristic identification and delivery dates (even if they are subject to further change) as soon as possible.  This facilitates our job evaluation process, often times serving to eliminate or minimize potential problems before they negatively impact project timing.

 

  • Provide us with the timing of your production plans and an expected delivery date of printed material into our facility; continuously update us as soon as changes are known.  This advances your job from production planning into our tentative job queue, helping to facilitate the quickest job turnaround time possible.

 

How does this benefit you, our customer?  Invariably, it positions Allied as a partner in an integrated supply chain, resulting in project success.  For customers participating effectively with us in this process, it means job turn around time in hours and days as opposed to weeks.

Key Planning Tips for Successful Roll Fold Projects

Roll fold designs are often used for advertising pieces and are meant to catch the eye of the consumer with the unique product design.  There are several items to consider when planning for a roll fold product to ensure accurate registration and crisp folding results.

A good guideline to follow when planning for roll folds, is to realize that the outer two panels of the product should be the same size as the final required size of the piece, while the interior panels should be successively smaller in width by 3/32”, ending with the innermost panel 1/16” smaller in width that the panel immediately preceding it.  This guideline will vary somewhat based upon the paper stock being used, with heavier basis weight stocks requiring slightly larger panel size reductions.  If panel size decisions are not carefully planned, the end product may display wrap around registration issues and/or push-out problems.

Scoring of the panels is also a critical element toward achieving a crisp and registered folding result, particularly on basis weight stocks heavier than 80 lb.  If a project requires scoring, verify the width of your folder, or your trade bindery’s folder, in comparison to the length of the sheet to be scored.  If the material to be scored is longer (wider) than the folders capability, the printer must plan for die scoring of the flat press sheets.  Failure to incorporate scores on heavier basis weight stocks can result in cracking and fold variation or skew in the final product.

Involving the Sales and Planning Professionals at Allied Bindery can help you with planning requirements for roll fold projects.  Review of project trim size, number of panels, paper basis weight and design will result in a superior end product for your customer.

Spruce Up Your Perfect Bound Books with a Pocket Folder Cover

Incorporating a pocket folder as the cover for your perfect bound project adds a visual pizzazz that can impress your customer.  Keep in mind that there are several key planning steps that must be considered to ensure that the pocket folder cover design is successful.

A pocket folder cover project must be designed and prepared to allow for pre-binding of the text block, prior to inclusion of the cover.  The purpose of a pre-bind of the text is to allow the face and foot edge of the book block to be trimmed smooth prior to being aligned with the face and foot edge of the pocket folder.

Once the book block has been pre-trimmed at the face and foot edge, the book block can be combined with the pocket folder cover, using the foot edge as the primary collating guide.  The Binder Operator will then adjust the amount of spine grind to allow the face edge of the book to align with the face edge of the pocket folder.  Once the book block is glued into the pocket folder cover, a head trim is performed, resulting in text that is nearly perfectly fitted to the pocket folder cover.

Remember, the face and foot edge of the pocket folder cannot be trimmed without destroying the pocket.  Fitting of the text to the pocket folder cover during two binding passes, as described, leaves the pocket folder intact, providing smoothly trimmed text and a pleasing product to your customer.

Involving the Sales and Planning Professionals at Allied Bindery will help you avoid problems during the planning and design stages for pocket folder covers.  Give us a call and let us help you achieve your customer’s expectations

A core value of Allied Bindery is to communicate on an on-going basis with our industry friends.  Our objective is to share insight and observations considered valuable and helpful for our customers, helping you to provide an ever-increasing value proposition to your customers.

Allied Bindery is a premier trade bindery located inMadison Heights,Michigan, celebrating 20+ years of servicing your bindery requirements.

 

Loop Stitching Success Tips

Have you ever printed and saddle stitched a brochure that was to become part of a master binder?   You need to have the brochure three-hole drilled to allow it to be added to a ring or post binder, only to discover that you did not plan correctly for the drill holes to avoid important text such as part numbers or pricing.  Now what?   Reprint?  Or, hope that your customer doesn’t complain?   There is a better way!

The incorporation of a loop stitch design into a saddle stitch product effectively expands the functionality of a saddle stitch catalog, parts list, price list or marketing brochure.   A loop stitched product may be used as a free standing piece, however, the true concept of the loop design is to allow the finished piece to be incorporated into a ring or post binder.   The use of loop stitches allows the booklet to be added to a master binder without the requirement of drilling any holes, thus eliminating any potential for drilling through the text.

The creation of a loop stitch requires a specialized stitching head.   A standard loop stitch head will create a six millimeter loop (approximately ¼” wide).   An eight millimeter loop stitch head can also be purchased.   Generally, a six millimeter loop is used when the finished piece will be included in a ring binder.  The eight millimeter loop option is primarily used when the finished piece will be included in a post binder.

When considering or planning for a loop stitch project, it is important to realize that book thickness must not exceed ¼”.  This is the maximum book thickness that can be accommodated and still allow for a tight closure of the stitch “legs” onto the spine.   Attempting to produce a book thicker than ¼” will result in the “legs” of the stitches closing further apart, resulting in less wire actually holding the pages together in the book and generating a high risk potential that pages will come loose from the spine.

It is important for the printer to communicate the required dimension from the head of the book to the placement of the first loop stitch.  When the finished loop stitch piece is included in a master binder with other products, this specific dimension requirement must be achieved in order that the finished piece aligns with other pieces in the master binder.