Do you ever wish you could get more done in a day? It’s a suitable topic for the frenetic world of post-press operations, where a multitude of things must be done with never enough time to do it.
Do you ever wish you could get more done in a day? It’s a suitable topic for the frenetic world of post-press operations, where a multitude of things must be done with never enough time to do it.
Have you ever tried to explain how a folding machine actually folds paper to someone with no knowledge of bindery equipment? Perhaps you’ve tried explaining how a saddle-stitched book is made. It’s one thing to absorb enough knowledge so that we can do our jobs. We know how to learn for ourselves. It’s quite another thing to teach what we’ve learned to someone else.
Have you ever made a purchase and immediately wished you had gone for a bigger or faster version with more features? It’s a universally recurring theme. We just upgraded to a new phone system and within one day we were asking ourselves why we didn’t get or weren’t offered a phone with slightly more capabilities. With bindery equipment purchases, this behavior usually is a result of underestimating either the actual volume of work or the time and effort required to complete it.
One of the best and most expensive lessons I ever learned was taught to me by an unprofitable saddle stitching job. I was reminded of it, and of the unchanging nature of humans, as I read a short article in a printing trade publication. It was written exactly one hundred years ago in 1914 yet it’s still timely. First the article, and then the story of a good idea gone bad.
In recent years digital printing has spread out into the world, with many small businesses taking on the role of mini in-plant printer. Designers, wedding invitation specialists, funeral homes, boutique printers, promotional item manufacturers, and realtors are just a few types of companies who have added printing to their operations.
The one unchangeable fact about print finishing is that there is always a need to find ways to be more productive with what you have on hand. Deadlines can change, workloads can overwhelm without notice, and new equipment can force changes to old operating habits. Whether your equipment is old or new, here are six areas for study that can yield some surprising improvements in productivity.
One frustrating aspect of a bindery supervisor’s job is that you often get a lot of responsibility yet have limited authority. You might be tasked each day with finishing dozens of jobs worth many thousands of dollars. Yet you have little or no say over how much time will be given your department to produce the work. Your bindery staff is probably limited, overtime spending or extra hiring requires painful authorizations, and buying additional equipment is nearly impossible.
Have you ever spent all night or all weekend working on a job because of a bindery equipment breakdown? If you’re like me, that’s probably the moment you took a keener interest in maintaining your equipment. It’s been my experience that a large number of printing companies have this type of ‘reactive maintenance’ program. When something breaks you fix it.
Aside from the usual variety of scoring, perforating and cutting tools that you can add to your folding machine, there are other productivity add-ons you might not have heard about. Or maybe your post-press operation has grown, and that long-forgotten accessory you didn’t need five years ago is exactly what you need today.
Imagine this: your customer comes to you with a special bookbinding project. There is only one copy, it’s 800 pages long, it’s entirely hand illustrated and hand written on hand-made paper. Your binding method must be very sturdy in order to withstand repeated heavy handling. It must be artistically pleasing to some of the most famous and demanding artists in the world. And oh yes, it took the author untold years to complete to his perfectionist satisfaction.