Want to instantly look like a hero, make life easier at your print finishing job, and boost productivity all at the same time? Then take a minute to review these simple and very effective hands-on tips for bindery equipment operators. Included are suggestions for folding machines, guillotine cutters, scoring machines, and perforating machines. They cover the type of bindery equipment you find in both large and small shops.
It’s no surprise when newcomers to print finishing are thwarted by its hidden complexity. The simplest of folding jobs can generate all sorts of problems and questions. Heck, after 35 years working around bindery equipment I too am often surprised. When I encounter “simple” paper folding problems with no solution it reminds me what it was like to be an apprentice.
So why does it get so complicated and what can we do to simplify things? After all, most printers work with paper that varies just several thousandths of an inch in thickness.
Imagine a pressman from the 1940’s being transported to a modern digital printing department. He wouldn’t know where to start. Now imagine a bindery equipment operator from the same era dropped into a post-press department today. It probably wouldn’t take him or her long to find their way around the guillotine cutter, the folding machine, maybe a saddle stitcher, and start producing work. There would be questions, but the underlying technologies, despite being decades apart, are similar.
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.
It’s no surprise that letterpress printing seems to be on the rise. Paper still has power. There’s an undeniable appeal to the look, texture and feel of metal type and engravings imprinted on old fashioned or even homemade paper. Even the latest all-digital companies acknowledge that paper just might have its place. The online invitation company Evite recently began offering… gasp …paper invitations through Evite Ink.
Learning to run a folding machine can be a little overwhelming, especially if you’re thrust directly into a bindery department production environment without much training. I remember my first day on the job being shown the antique Baum folding machine and thinking, “Seriously now…that thing actually folds paper?”
Having trouble finding qualified, skilled help for your post-press department? You’re not alone. A recent article on piworld.com highlights a common lament in the printing industry. "Finding a qualified worker who has the special skill set, knowledge and ability to accomplish the assigned job is an ongoing challenge. This “skills gap” is growing more severe, forcing many manufacturers to scale back their growth plans."
He’s called Fearless Felix by friends and colleagues. This past week Felix Baumgartner set four world records including the highest skydive at 128,097 feet (24 miles), highest manned balloon flight, the first man to go supersonic in freefall, and longest vertical distance in freefall.
