Technical Articles

Trouble Shooting And Problem Solving - Part Two: Binding Services

Published in New England Printer & Publisher

by Frank Shear

On time deliveries and reasonable product quality aren't enough to satisfy customer needs in today's rough and tumble business environment. As we discussed in this column two months ago, graphic arts professionals should function as the "eyes and ears" for their customers while working on their jobs.

Preflighting isn't just for printers. When binderies receive work and discover something wrong, they must quickly search for reasonable alternatives and immediately contact their customers. We live in a detail-oriented industry and sometimes the only thing standing between success and failure is the presentation of creative but reasonable choices. Dumping problems in customers' laps without offering possible solutions simply isn't a good way of doing business.

Today, we're going to continue our introspective look at specific examples of problematic mechanical binding, folding and other jobs that have happened in our shop. These examples aren't meant to imply that we're a bad company or that our customers supply us with bad work. Instead, we're passing them on for the benefit of New England Print & Publisher readers and our industry as a whole. As you read this, please keep in mind the spirit in which it was written.

Tales From The Crypt - Part II

Wire-O™: A common problem in manufacturing Wire-O books (or any mechanical binding job for that matter) is punching into text. We once were behind the eight ball on a high volume, poorly laid out Wire-O job that lacked adequate margin between the spine and text. Making matters worse was a very aggressive delivery schedule. As is typical for long run Wire-O work, we planned to gather, pad and trim the job on one of our three perfect binding machines. Although fast, this method requires the padded spine to be trimmed off prior to wire insertion, which reduces precious spine margin even further.

As an alternative manufacturing method, we suggested gathering the signatures without applying padding glue and trimming off the spines on a flatbed cutter, saving about 1/8" spine margin. Although this would prevent the punching problem, it would increase production time, causing a missed due date. Our customer rejected this higher quality option and instructed us to proceed with normal inline padding. Neither customer nor binder were thrilled with the final product quality, but at least we all knew what we were going to get in advance. They were able to manage their customer's expectations and turn this experience into a positive one, actually deepening the relationship between our companies.

Wire-O/Plastic Spiral: We once had another mechanical binding job with a different kind of problem. A long time loyal customer sent in a "Wire-O" job without getting a quote from us beforehand. When it showed up unannounced on our dock, we called to inform them of the price, as is our policy. At this point, they casually asked us if we could put each book in individual padded mailing envelopes. This raised a red flag and our alert customer service representative asked how the books were going to be distributed. Since the United States Postal Service was the delivery vehicle, we advised them that Wire-O binding elements can be crushed during normal postal handling, resulting in permanent damage. We suggested plastic coil binding instead of Wire-O because it is flexible and crush resistant. Our customer appreciated this suggestion, checked with their client, changed the binding style and averted a possible disaster.

Folding: One customer wanted us to fold a brochure with a triple-gatefold. Seaboard Bindery doesn't have equipment to accomplish this feat inline and told them so. To avoid stranding them, we mentioned that we could produce 95% of the job automatically with a series of inline barrel folds. Then, we could manually unfold one panel and refold another to complete the job. Since our customer had extra labor available at that time, we mutually decided that it would be best for us to automatically produce the job as far as we could and let them to do the handwork portion. An agreement was made and the job was produced without a hitch. The right solution to this production challenge wasn't initially obvious, but good communication and a creative approach paved the way to success.

Laminating: Recently, we were working on a high-end adhesive binding job that required both PUR glue and Otabind layflat technology. Unfortunately, the enamel cover stock had full dark ink coverage and fingerprinted like crazy. Compounding the problem was the fact that it was printed cross grain and cracked when folded. Although our customer wasn't keen on using a protective coating, once they saw these multiple problems, they knew corrective action had to be undertaken. Channel scoring would somewhat reduce the cracking problem but obviously do nothing for fingerprinting. UV coating would help with fingerprinting but not do much for cracking. Lamination would solve both problems but the cost was higher than their budget allowed. After we presented these options to them, they swallowed hard and had us laminate it. At least they didn't have an unhappy customer, or even worse, 30,000 rejected books.

Saddle Stitching: At the time of this writing, we have a saddle stitching job in house with customer-supplied folded signatures. The lap on one form is poorly designed and impossible to use. Within minutes of the job appearing on our loading dock, our preflighting process alerted us to the problem and we quickly presented two choices to our customer. Either we slow down the stitching machine to a crawl and drop the form on the saddle by hand or they reprint the problematic form. Since it was printed in four colors on expensive stock, they told us to slow the machine and avoid the reprint, even though it would increase their outsourced cost. Again, at least they had accurate information with which to make an informed decision.

Initiative And Serendipity: This past summer, we were asked to quote on a saddle stitching job with an extremely lightweight cover. Our original plan was to fold the cover offline and feed it from a regular saddle stitching pocket instead of the cover-feeder. The job was delivered to us late and we were extremely busy. Prior to telling the customer that we couldn't accommodate their scheduling needs, our heads-up operations manager showed the job to one of our stitching operators to see if there was anyway to get flat covers to feed from the cover-feeding unit. Our operator assessed the situation and quickly came up with a solution, negating the need to make an unpleasant phone call. Since we now were skipping offline folding, we knew we could make up the time. We ran the job and billed them less than they expected.

Coincidently, as this situation was happening, we received a panicked phone call from another customer who desperately needed time on the same folder that was previously reserved for the thin cover. Before accepting this new job, we made sure that our saddle stitching operator actually got the other job running. Due to a good combination of initiative and serendipity, we will be able to satisfy the production needs of both customers. Although most graphic arts professionals like to think we control everything that happens in our companies, a little luck and heads up attention-to-detail never hurts.

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As much as we try to get it right, there are so many details in our beloved industry that sometimes a few slip by. These are the times that we need to be able to count on our business partners. Choose your outsourcing relationships carefully. When things have the potential to go wrong, first identify alternatives, choose the best solution and take the right action - before assigning blame. This process will result in better communication, loyal customers and a more profitable future.

Frank Shear is President of Seaboard Bindery, a service-oriented trade bindery located in Woburn, Massachusetts. His company specializes in offering high quality perfect binding, PUR and layflat adhesive binding, saddle stitching, Wire-O, plastic spiral, and other bindery solutions. Call Frank at (781) 932-3908 or e-mail him at frank@seaboardbindery.com.