Are you eager to show off your postpress workshops when you are leading guests to visit the factory? Would you proudly introduce to your customers and visitors that your binding shop will soon be fully digital and networked? Will you soon use CIP3 to link post-press processing equipment such as folding machines, paper cutters, stackers, and staplers with printing processes and prepress processes? Does the most advanced binding system you use fascinate visitors? Will they be surprised to discuss your paper machine, pile elevators, paper feeders, etc., claiming that they have never seen a computerized and highly ergonomic finishing solution? Unfortunately, the above scenario is only a special case and no rules have been formed. Concept problems still plague the development of bookbinding technology and equipment. According to a survey conducted in 1997, 54% of printers believe that the development of postpress technology, such as binding, has not kept pace with the development of other aspects of the printing technology. Looking back at history, the introduction of computer technology in the bookbinding process began with programmable cutters developed in the 1970s. MBO first introduced its electronically controlled paper cutter in 1977, and microprocessor control technology was applied to the folder in 1987. Around 1982, Stahl VBF and Kolbus launched a computer-controlled "smart" hardcover production line. Computer-controlled production technology is gradually maturing - the Donnelley book printing plant in Virginia has adopted the CIP3 standard, and the CIP3 standard itself is also evolving. However, improving post-press processing capacity is not a top priority for many printing companies. After all, the printer will not spend a lot of money on it. The survey shows that among the list of equipment manufacturers wishing to purchase, the first is the stand-alone folding machine. In fact, only 11% of the manufacturers surveyed plan to purchase it; followed by inkjet printers and Others. Personalized equipment, 6% of the manufacturers plan to purchase. Why is the binding process not getting a lot of capital investment? Because many printers think that the binding process is not profitable, they would rather buy some used binding equipment. They would say: “We bought paper cutters that have been used for three or four decades. As long as it can cut paper, what does the old one have?†However, with the advent of CIP3, many printers and The prepress department has begun to use the system's workflow, that is, as long as the specific parameters are entered in the prepress process, the entire system will run in accordance with these parameters. In this case, you need to use modern, computer-controlled equipment. Some printers know that their bookbinding department is inefficient, so they can only commission external processing or spend more money on labor, because sometimes it takes a lot of manpower to solve problems rather than invest in technical equipment. But when the printing speed increases, what will they do? When a multi-million-dollar printer runs at 3,000 fpm, prints pile up at the bottleneck. The productivity of each workshop should be balanced, so a good bookbinding system is needed and automation is also very important. What should medium-sized, sheet-fed commercial printing companies do to ensure that the binding process becomes a profit center? The following are some opinions from some well-known equipment suppliers and some industrial experts on improving the production efficiency of the binding department: â— The main difference between the two printing processes and the post-printing process is: When the product reaches the binding process, A large part of the final value already exists in the product. If there is a problem in the printing process, only paper is wasted; but if there is a problem in the binding process, the loss will be too great. For a typical printing production method, the risk of loss in the printing process is only 30% of the value of the finished product; and the risk of loss in the binding process is 90% or more. Therefore, the risk return rate of the binding process is much lower than the risk return rate of the printing process. â— The rational layout (WIP) of each process in the workshop should be rationally laid out for each process. The staple process should be very close to the paper cutting process and the folding process. Moreover, if the production is a publication, it is also necessary to properly store the pallet containing the signature in order to facilitate the operation of the distribution. Some printers ignore the design of the above layout, but use the old method of “wherever there is time and where.†In this way, although the book was put down, the workers had to remove five or six unrelated pallets in order to take out the required pallets. This is a waste of time and severely reduces production efficiency. In addition, if a pallet cannot be found, it must be reprinted. After two days you found it again - it would be worse. â— Understand first-hand information When a printer designs a printing process, he or she usually does not seriously consider the binding process, and the prepress process is more important than anything else. In fact, the binding process should be considered before considering the prepress process. In smaller printing companies, it is usually up to the workers in the production line to decide on which machine they are working on, and their decisions are usually correct; in larger companies, this work It is done by a dedicated process designer. But craftsmen sometimes make erroneous arrangements because they are accustomed to talking on paper and cannot look at the problem from a broader perspective. Process designers should understand the company's various equipment and the people who use them. Obtaining some first-hand information from the workers will certainly benefit a lot. â— Responsible for the transfer of paper by others. About 40% of the jobs in bookbinding production are paper and paper stacking. Therefore, urging others to move paper and adopting mechanical paper transfer can significantly increase production efficiency. Some simple equipment can avoid manual paper feeding even if it is a paper stack elevator. In addition, the automatic crepe machine can also remove the air in the paper to ensure better cutting quality. At the same time, it can also facilitate the handling of paper and improve the throughput of the cutting process. In the United States, each ordinary job requires no more than 15 knives, and most of the time is spent moving the paper up and down the paper cutter and moving the paper back and forth on the machine. The automation of production also enables more people to become qualified workers. In the past, the binding process required someone to move the paper stack up and down. If the lift table and the winding machine were introduced, the requirements for the personnel were not so strict. Even a small person could do the work. In the past, workers who had to move between 20 and 40 pounds of paper were counted as qualified workers. (1 pound is approximately equal to 0.4536 kilograms) Some readers may recall the binding war between men and women workers held at Print97 in Heidelberg. Both workers have to deal with 750 70-pound paper. This quadruped job has to cut 8 knives and it needs to be sided. The first worker was a strong man using a Polar ED115 paper cutter; the other worker was a petite woman who used the same paper cutter but also used a paper stack lifter. Taiwan, automatic paper creels, waste paper conveyors, and an automatic paper-laying machine, she ended up working in just 3 minutes and a few seconds. It took 5 minutes and 49 seconds for the man who only used the paper cutter to do the same job. The reduction in operator physical exertion and injury opportunities shortens the time and money spent on work injury and insurance handling. The use of automatic paper handling equipment completely eliminates the possibility of worker back injuries occurring at work. Manual handling of paper is the most stupid work in the world. It is not only inefficient but also extremely dangerous. A bookbinding workshop director said that after the paper cutter was equipped with an automatic paper mover, the production efficiency was increased by 50%. â— Don't just care about speed Increasing production speed is not the only way to increase productivity. Some people may say that their machines have been operating at speeds up from 7000 inches to 8,000 inches per unit time. However, for some papers with a top speed of only 6,000 inches, there are other ways to increase productivity. The Perfection barrier-folding machine launched by MBO at Print97 is equipped with a line controllable double sheet conveying system with a vacuum paper feeding device and a vacuum calibrating device (VIVAS), also equipped with a large-diameter conical wheel High-speed paper guide device. By adopting the above mechanism, the folding machine can increase productivity by at least 20%. Using a paper electronic management system, hybrid flaps, antistatic plates, and a computer-controlled power-on readiness system, high-speed settings can be achieved. â— Keeping work flowing The paper transport section is the weakest link in any folding system. The product must be removed and placed without reducing the speed of the machine for subsequent page operations. When processing small prints such as loose-leaf prints and postcards, it is best to attach an automatic wrapping machine to the folding machine to automatically perform the stacking and bundling operations. Another paper transport solution is the introduction of an automatic strapping machine that collects and wraps signatures or folded brochures at 10,000 copies/hour. This system can perform all tasks, including checking the wrong pages and inserting laminates between each turn. â— Do not waste time on the transport of waste paper Waste paper waste should be handled with vacuum scrap collection devices. If you send someone to handle and ship these scraps, the efficiency will be too low. Various brands of paper cutters, such as Polar, have a cutting table that can be opened and closed. This eliminates the need to manually remove the waste on the table. Another solution is to install a suction pipe with a sweeper on the paper cutter so that the worker does not need to push the waste into the waste paper car, but simply pushes the waste material to the sweeper, which can automatically suck the waste material. Start, collect and package. â— Concerning external processing It is puzzling that printers prefer to send some very simple jobs to external processing instead of spending 5,000 to 20,000 dollars to buy a device that can accomplish the corresponding task. In fact, the turnaround time for external machining jobs is very long. â— Dimensional issues One of the most common mistakes people make when buying a binding device is not planning for the future, not carefully considering the format of the device, and only paying for the device at a cheaper price. There is no additional money to buy a more suitable device. . For the format of the equipment, sometimes the difference of a few inches will make the situation very different. Manroland recently had a customer buy a 45-inch paper cutter for his 40-inch press. But Manroland suggested that he buy a 50-inch paper cutter so that the operator can rotate the paper stack in the center of the paper cutter to speed up the cutting; but if a 45-inch paper cutter is used, it must be The stack exits and rotates to cut a knife. Of course, it does not mean that the bigger the format, the better. Sometimes using two smaller machines is better than using a larger machine. If the majority of the printing jobs in the printing house are small, two staplers can be purchased. In this way, both staplers can be stopped and replaced with new ones without having to back up all the jobs on one machine. â—Effective combination of devices Like the Swiss Army Knife, most of today's binding devices are surprisingly versatile. Vijuk's 920 Fenimore Sidewinder stapler can collate flat-bound books, staple, fold, and spine trims for saddle-stitched books, as well as collation of glue-bound signatures. Die-cut indentation, punching, and on-line trimming can be performed in one step with the TR Die-Score die-cutting indentator from Rollem (Orange, California). Put the system with a folder or online
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