Allied Bindery

Bound for Excellence

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.

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.

Planning Tips for Die Cut Covers

Planning Tips for Die Cut Covers

A common approach to jazzing up the cover for your perfect bound, saddle stitch or mechanically bound project is to utilize a die cut cover. Designs may include die cut windows or even specifically die cut words. There are a number of things to remember when planning for the use of a die cut cover.

Don’t forget the spine grind allowance!  Often, a die cut cover on a perfect bound book is meant to align with text or graphics on the first page of the book. If the designer forgets to accommodate a spine grind off margin on the text, the die cut shape or window will not align as desired. Forgetting to accommodate the spine grind margin can throw off the alignment between cover and text by at least 1/8”.

Don’t forget to incorporate a “choke or spread”.  If the desire of the designer is to have the die cut window fully cover a graphic design on the first page of text, the graphic design must be planned larger than the die cut window. Since each production process will contain some level of register variation, the die cut window needs to be smaller than the design that it is meant to cover. If the window and the graphic are designed at the same size, a register variation as small as 1/64” will result in a visually displeasing effect.

Conversely, if the designer wants the die cut window to frame a graphic or word, the die cut window must be larger than the item that it is meant to frame. This will allow for some minor process variation, without creating a visually displeasing effect.

Be careful with the choice of die cut shapes when designing the cover. Long die cut slits or narrow die cut channels in a cover are a recipe for getting caught up in equipment and destroying the cover. Solicit the input of your trade bindery representative to help identify ways to make your project design successful.

Involving the Sales and Planning Professionals at Allied Bindery can help you avoid potential problems with the design of a die cut cover.

Planning Successfully for Two Page Forms and Flysheets in Perfect Bound Projects

Tell a Perfect Binder Operator that he needs to bind a project containing two page forms or synthetic flysheets and he is likely to run for the hills, babbling incoherently. If your perfect binding project design requires the use of either two page forms or synthetic fly sheets, here are a few tips to help the project go smoothly, while allowing Perfect Binder Operators to maintain their sanity.

A two page form of any material is less stable and more difficult to feed and collate, on nearly any stock weight. Stock type and basis weight can exacerbate this challenge. A 50# basis weight text is the minimum that should be considered when a two page form must be planned when using offset or coated stocks. Below a 50# basis weight, the mechanical calipers on the collator, designed to detect a mis-feed or double feed, simply will not work. Mechanical calipers are not sensitive enough to detect a form this thin. Two page forms on stock weights less than 50# basis weight could be missed during the feeding process and not discovered. This results in missing pages in the final product. If you must include a two page form(s) in your perfect bound project, consider increasing the basis weight of the stock to at least 60#. The additional paper cost will go a long way toward avoiding the production of a book with missing pages. An alternative planning option is to combine the two page form with other signature page count options. For example, combine the two-page and a four page into a six page signature. Or, redesign a two page and an eight page form to create six page and four page signatures. Allied Bindery can help you get creative in your planning approach, while helping to minimize potential production and quality problems.

Synthetic stocks, often used for flysheets, create additional challenges. A basis weight of 30# will not only be too thin to detect through the pocket feeder calipers, but the stock itself will have a tendency to curl into a cylinder shape. The curling of thin, synthetic stock generally takes place immediately after the flat cutting process. Curled stock simply will not feed through a collator pocket. The curling sequence can take place so rapidly that the synthetic sheet will often curl between the collator pocket and the binder. When this phenomenon occurs, the sheet will likely be bound crookedly into the spine of the book. Allied Bindery recommends synthetic stocks with a minimum basis weight of 32# to minimize the potential for curling.

 

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.