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We
are taking some further steps to help our customers furnish the right
information to us so that we can proceed with our work without delays. Following your notification to us that
a job is coming, we will email or fax a confirmation page with a list
of requirements so that we have all pertinent information. Hopefully you can use this as a checklist.
If you have any suggestions at all about how we can further help you please let us know. It is in all our interests to have all information complete so that we can do our job for you without delay.
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I grew up in the 60's
learning that word in the context of the space program and about how
all the systems needed to have backup in case one failed in flight.
Well, we have it here at Seaboard, too. All our major machines have backups in case one machine goes down. Now,
it doesn't necessarily mean that nothing will be delayed, but it does
mean that with a minor delay your job will still happen close to when
originally promised.
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Get a Fully Loaded
Dunkin Donuts Card |
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THIN IS IN! 
At the recent New England Antiquarian Book Fair in Boston, on display was the smallest book ever published (so they say). It was about 1mm square and was totally unusable. And it sold for thousands of dollars!
It
got me to thinking about how thin perfect bound books are getting these
days, where we are routinely asked to bind books that approach 1/16"
thick.
Traditionally the machine manufacturers tell us 1/8" is the minimum, but we have been able to overcome that limitation. And the books have been pretty darn good looking!
Now there are limitations, some of them being that you can't have spine print because the spine can be rounded with subsequent chipping at the head and foot. Grain direction becomes very important as with the little body that exists, waviness can become vary apparent and the books get very tight if the pages can't flex. So grain must be parallel to the spine.
The dividing line between what should be saddle stitched and what should be perfect bound is very fuzzy. Saddle stitching is nearly always less costly because running speeds are higher, equipment is less expensive and you need fewer people. If forced to I'd say 16 pages would be the minimum that could be perfect bound. But we have done that, too!
Call us next time you want to bind a book that is under 1/8" and we'll work with you in designing something that your customer will be pleased with and you will find easy to work with.
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MASSACHUSETTS WORKFORCE TRAINING FUND GRANTS
These days you simply cannot afford to be running inefficiently. We're all pinching pennies trying to eke out profits. We are taking advantage of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Workforce Training Fund to finance our Lean Manufacturing training program for all our employees. Generally speaking, the state contributes half the funding for the program in the form of a grant.
We have broken down our business into six major areas and are studying each area in order to increase efficiency. The whole concept of Lean Manufacturing was developed by Toyota many years ago and adapted to different industries. We
are reducing set up times, establishing operational "best practices",
eliminating clutter, and improving communication plant wide. Each member of our staff is involved in his or her area(s) and has an ownership in the improvement.
We
would be delighted to talk with you about our experience so far (we're
still in process) in case you are considering a training of your own.
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WEBINAR RECAP
Everyone
receiving this newsletter had an opportunity to participate in our
first perfect binding webinar earlier in November, and we hope that
those of you that did found it worthwhile. The entire webinar is available at our website (you
needWindows Media Player to run it) along with a checklist
of items to review before submitting a perfect bound book for us to
bind. We're aiming to be a complete informational resource. We want you to have the information available at the click of a mouse.
We enjoyed putting the webinar together and we plan to do more in the future. They will involve different aspects of our binding services. If you have specific requests we will definitely respond to them.
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