Allied Bindery

Bound for Excellence

Printing Impressions Magazine Article on the History of PUR at Allied Bindery

Allied Bindery : Quality Creates Confidence

March 2012

While binding is only 10 to 15 percent of the cost to manufacture a book, its value is immeasurable. Allied Bindery, of Madison Heights, MI, has always endeavored to make receiving that full value effortless for its customers. Allied’s primary goal is to produce a high-quality book, and a close second is to allow for flexibility. Being an early embracer of hot melt polyurethane (PUR) adhesive for spine gluing has helped it achieve both.

A trade binder in business since 1989, about a decade ago Allied noted an increased variety of paper stock coming in from printers. While traditional ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) adhesives were capable of handling many stocks, Allied recognized that PUR adhesives could accommodate virtually any stock. Combining that adaptability with PUR’s tolerance for extreme temperatures and excellent layflat properties, the shop decided to make it the standard on one of its two Kolbus binders.

The Kolbus KM470 binder came with a wheel pot applicator. The wheel pot was adequate for PUR adhesive application, but the open system resulted in daily residual adhesive waste, as well as extensive maintenance. In addition to labor-intensive, daily startup and shutdown processes, wheel pots require regular maintenance and refurbishing to stay in good working order. And, the open wheels were susceptible to contamination and foaming of the PUR, both of which negatively impact adhesive binding properties. Additionally, application control isn’t very precise, requiring over application of adhesive to ensure minimum coverage.

After some thorough research, Allied realized it could improve production efficiency and reduce waste and maintenance by using an extrusion application system. Working with Henkel, their adhesive supplier, Allied identified the Nordson BetterBook solution to meet the need for a closed extrusion system. The Better- Book solution incorporates a Nordson bulk melter and hose with its EP48V slot applicator to protect the adhesive from air/moisture exposure, while providing maximum application control.

“Some customers were initially concerned that PUR use would significantly increase the cost of the bookbinding process,” says Ed Doyle, managing director of Allied Bindery. “But, while PURs are more expensive than EVAs, use of the PUR extrusion application solution allows a 50 percent reduction in the volume of adhesive needed for proper bonding. And, the low-maintenance system also helps to reduce some labor overhead costs. The net result of PUR use is less than pennies per piece for a longer-lasting, finished book.”

Since Nordson’s is a closed system, the adhesive is protected from premature curing that starts as soon as the moisture in air reaches the adhesive. This means optimum bonding properties are retained by the PUR adhesive and eliminates the adhesive waste of having to dispose of exposed, prematurely-cured adhesive daily. And as the EP48V applicator uses slot and sniffback technology to limit exposure to air, adhesive system shutdown and startup are reduced to a matter of minutes rather than up to an hour for each process.

A Leader of the Pack

Always striving to be a leader rather than a follower, Allied was the first trade bindery to introduce PUR in the Upper Midwest and the first bindery in North America to implement extrusion application technology.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for Allied has been educating its customers. PURs do not support the main critical in-process test of bookbinders—the page pull test. While PURs develop the initial strength to be trimmed and shipped immediately, the traditional page pull test can not accurately be performed for approximately 24 hours. So, Allied has in place numerous quality checks, both automated and manual, visual and mechanical, to confirm spine glue application consistency in real time.

“You need to partner with your customers and your customers’ clients at the beginning of a project so that everybody understands the desired outcome and what is needed to achieve it,” says Doyle. “Part of this is project-specific education, but we also proactively send bi-weekly technical tips to keep customers up-to-date on process and material trends.”

Allied also became ISO 9001 certified to ensure a continuous commitment to structured, successful processes. It employees understand exactly what is important to the binding of every book, and the potential results if these exacting standards are not consistently met.

Currently, the ability to accommodate the increasingly short runs and finicky raw materials has Allied expanding into the world of digital print finishing. This is the next logical step for the establishment to continue to be a full-service bindery that’s partnering with its customers. PI

Quality Creates Confidence

To Knock Out or Not To Knock Out

A common question asked of Allied Bindery is whether or not the spine area of a perfect bound book needs to be “knocked out”. For non-printers, this question revolves around whether a coating (varnish, aqueous, ink or UV) can be applied to the spine area of the book cover, without negatively impacting adhesion.

If the spine area of a book cover must be knocked out, the printer must cut away a portion of the printing blanket. This cut away portion will then prevent coating from being applied to the press sheet. By not applying a coating to the spine area of the book cover, the adhesive will do a better job of adhering text pages to the cover. However, the printer will be unable to use the printing blanket again, because it was customized for a specific job. This can be expensive and time consuming for the printer.

There are a couple of things to be considered when determining whether or not a “knock out” of the spine is required. When a book is to be bound with EVA adhesive, the spine area should be knocked out to achieve best results. Although EVA adhesives are a fine choice for many text sheets, they are not formulated to stick well to varnishes, aqueous coatings, heavy ink coverage, or UV Coatings that are often applied to book covers. Knocking out the spine and hinge score areas will result in the best overall adhesion.

Choosing PUR adhesive will help overcome several of the performance shortfalls of EVA adhesive. PUR will stick very well to varnish coatings, aqueous coatings and nearly all ink choices (metallic being an exception). If the printer is utilizing a UV coating on a book cover or the spine area of text sheets, it is still a good idea to knock out these areas. Although PUR may stick to a UV coating, the effectiveness of the adhesion is determined by the amount of silicone content and the resulting Dyne level of the coating. Since the silicone level in a UV coating is not controlled by the bindery, the risk of the PUR not sticking to UV coating is reasonably high. As a result, Allied Bindery recommends knocking out the spine and hinge score areas of a book cover when a UV coating is being used.

We encourage you to contact your Allied Bindery Representative to discuss project planning issues such as cover knock outs and coatings. Our experience and ideas will likely save you money or help avoid the creation of a production problem.

Spine Perforations – Great Advantage or Wasted Effort?

 Printers often incorporate spine perforations into the printed signature, whether folding a sheet fed form or delivering directly from a web press.  The perforation provides a distinct advantage to the folding process.  A spine perforation allows air to escape during the folding process, reducing the chances of wrinkling, bottling or shingling.  This, in turn, results in a better looking final product.

  A significant risk that is often overlooked by a folder operator or web press operator is the size of the perforation blade or wheel.  If a perforation is too aggressive, i.e., lots of perf, not much paper remaining; the spine of the signature may break apart during the collation/gathering process at the bindery.

 The amount of paper that is left intact on the spine provides the only strength to hold the spine together during the collation process.  The mechanical gathering process in the bindery requires that the spine of a signature be pulled down into the collator grippers using vacuum suckers.  If the perforation blade or wheel used at the folder or press was too aggressive, the paper will peel apart at the spine of the signature when the vacuum suckers begin to the pull the form into the grippers.

  Once this happens, there is often no alternative other than to hand feed the affected signatures.  Hand feeding or hand collation results in increased expense and decreased production speed on the binder.  This is a phone call that the bindery does not want to make and the printer doesn’t want to receive.

A quick way to check the strength of the perforation is to flex and jog a handful of signatures at the folder or web press.  If the perforations show any indication of splitting or breaking apart during the hand jogging routine, they will break and fail during the mechanical collating process.  If this is noticed, it is time to change to a less aggressive perforation wheel or blade, thus helping to avoid unanticipated problems and additional charges during the binding process.

 

Notch Binding – Key Planning Tips

Notch Binding – Key Planning Tips

Notch Binding has long been a preferred choice of printers when perfect binding coated stocks, cross grain stocks and multiple paper types within a book.  Notch binding has also provided an advantage of saving paper, since a spine grind margin is not required.  When considering or planning for a notch bind project, there are several things to keep in mind, so binding problems are not inadvertently created.

 It is imperative that a notch perforation wheel is used to perforate the spine when folding signatures for a notch bind project.  A notching perforation wheel is designed to remove more paper when perforating, leaving a larger, cleaner channel for adhesive to flow into when the book is being bound.  Trying to use a perforation wheel other than one designed specifically for a notch bind, will result in weak or non-existent adhesion strength in the final book.

Folding accuracy is crucial.  A spine fold that is slightly off center will narrow or close the notch channel in the folded signature.  This will create an impediment to the adhesive flowing up through the notch channel and reaching the innermost leaves of the signature.  The result will be inadequate binding strength of the inner leaves of the signature.  The folder operator should be able to look directly into the notches of a finished signature and see an open and clear channel for adhesive flow into the center of the signature.

The higher the signature page count; the more important the accuracy and cleanliness of the notch becomes.  Sharp perforation wheels and notching blocks must be used to insure that the final binding strength is adequate.

During the binding process, the Binder Operator should perform page pull tests on the innermost leaves of each signature.  Structurally, this will be the weakest point of adhesion.  Ensuring a strong page pull result on the inner most leaves will help guarantee a successful binding project.

The advent and success of PUR adhesives provides customers with other binding alternatives.  Allied Bindery’s Operations and Estimating Professionals will be pleased to explain the alternatives and recommend a binding solution that is best suited to your project.

 

 

Allied Bindery Wins Tweddle Group 2011 Supplier Excellence Award

What’s New:

 

 Allied  Wins Tweddle Group 2011 Supplier Excellence Award

for

Outside Bindery Services, Again!

The Allied team is grateful and honored to once again receive this prestigious award.  We are very pleased our quality and value proposition is recognized and valued by those who matter most, our customers.

The Supplier Excellence Award is given annually to recognize an outside bindery who achieves the highest performance in the Tweddle Group Vendor Rating System.  To promote supplier chain continuous improvement, Tweddle Group tracks the performance of bindery, outside print and paper vendors via a point-based system called the Vendor Rating System.  Vendors are rated on quality, delivery, service, use of a certified quality system and participation in a cost reduction program.

  Allied Bindery’s leadership and expertise is rooted in its core philosophy and company mission of “ Pursuing Excellence….Delivering Results!  For The Benefit of our Customers.”