2016 Nov/Dec

FSEA News

Co-Located Events Add Value at 2017 IADD•FSEA Odyssey

Brandtjen & Kluge, St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, and Sakurai USA, Schaumburg, Illinois, are providing yet another reason for industry leaders in the diecutting, diemaking, print finishing, folding carton, corrugated and specialty markets to Be Here – echoing the theme for the 2017 IADD·FSEA Odyssey. Co-located events will add additional value to attendees traveling to the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center, Schaumburg, Illinois, USA, for the tradeshow.

On Tuesday, May 16, attendees can attend events hosted by Brandtjen & Kluge and Sakurai, prior to the opening of the IADDFSEA Odyssey on Wednesday, May 17. Brandtjen & Kluge will host a day-long Kluge User Group meeting on Tuesday, May 16, in conjunction with the Odyssey. It will begin with a lunch buffet, followed by an afternoon of panel discussions, presentations and user group sessions. Sessions will include case studies of challenging projects, a technology update on laser cutting and the integration to a digital workflow, as well as other networking sessions.

Sakurai USA, Inc. has announced plans for its second Specialty Finishing Open House for IADD•FSEA Odyssey attendees, vendors and guests from 4-7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 16, at the Sakurai headquarters in Schaumburg, Illinois. Sakurai will showcase UV specialty finishing applications applied by its screen coaters. The demonstration also includes set up and operation of a Sakurai Maestro 295/8″x41½” MS102AII cylinder screen press and a Natgraph electronic UV drying/curing system.

Contact Details:
Brandtjen & Kluge User Group – Pamela Vlasnik, 785.483.3265.
Sakurai USA Specialty Finishing Open House – Brian Johnson, 847.490.9400, ext. 206.
2017 IADD·FSEA Odyssey – Contact the IADD at 800.828.IADD (local 815.455.7519) or the FSEA at 785.271.5816.

Seidl’s Bindery Hosts FSEA Young Alliance Meeting

Matt Seidl, vice president of Seidl’s Bindery and current Chairman of FSEA, hosted the first FSEA Young Alliance plant tour and meeting on Nov. 16. “We were very excited to host this kick-off event for the FSEA Young Alliance,” stated Seidl. “We came up with some great new ideas for the Alliance, and I believe those who attended enjoyed the tour of our facility.”

Attendees had the opportunity to see the entire Seidl’s Bindery operation, which included over 50 pieces of bindery and finishing equipment in its 100,000 square foot facility. “Seidl’s Bindery is one of the largest bindery/finishing operations in the country,” added Jeff Peterson, FSEA executive director. “It was a true treat to see the efficiency and magnitude of the operation.”

Peterson attended the event and spent time discussing some of the new projects the FSEA is involved in, including its new IMPACT Marketing Kit and the newest white paper on the impact of specialty effects on shelf presence. Future meetings are planned for the FSEA Young Alliance, including a meeting to be scheduled during the upcoming IADD•FSEA Odyssey next spring in Schaumburg, Illinois.

The FSEA Young Alliance is a group of industry peers – younger than 45 – looking to gain knowledge of their businesses, move forward with new technology in high-end finishing and explore opportunities in an ever-changing graphic arts environment. If you are interested in becoming involved with the FSEA Young Alliance, please contact Matt Seidl at [email protected] or Jeff Peterson at [email protected].

Call for Entries Open for FSEA Gold Leaf Awards

Start collecting your best work now and enter it in the 24th Annual Gold Leaf Awards Competition. Entries will be accepted up to Feb. 28, 2017 – no later.

Entries are judged on design, execution and level of difficulty in over 25 categories that include foil stamping, embossing, cold foil, special diecuts, laser cutting, specialty UV coatings, and digital UV and foil. “With the growth of decorating techniques, we continue to add categories to our Gold Leaf Awards,” stated FSEA Executive Director Jeff Peterson. “The pieces we get in each year for the competition are simply amazing work.”

Competition winners will be announced during a special reception at the IADD•FSEA Odyssey, May 16, in Schaumburg, Illinois. Winners will be highlighted in promotional campaigns, PostPress, Package Design and Folding Carton, just to name a few. Many of the winners also are proudly displayed at the Showcase of Packaging area during the Pack Expo show each year. To download the entry form (one entry form for each entry) and further information on the competition, visit www.fsea.com and click on the Awards link.

The Truth Unfolds: Specialty Folding is More than Meets the Eye

by Kevin Rickard, president, Rickard Bindery

Challenging fold angles, unusual paper stocks, large production runs: when it comes to specialty folding projects, skilled bindery professionals are able to accomplish extraordinary feats. Perhaps the most impressive feat is how professional binders are able to create complex folds that are visually stunning while appearing deceptively simple to produce.

Folding stock

Sometimes specialty folding is simply the ability to work with thick, thin or unusual paper stock. Some might ask, “Should a company’s ability to reduce or eliminate wrinkling qualify as specialty folding? What about holding brittle paper together as it travels though fold rollers and designing fold sequences that travel through machinery with the least amount of stress?” To this, specialty binders say, “Yes.” These capabilities solve customers’ difficult problems and are examples of specialty folding.

Specialty folding experts need to know what pieces of equipment are suitable for which jobs. For example, buckle folders don’t do well with stock 12pts or thicker, but plow and knife folders do. Knowing which resources to use prevents a lot of potential snags from becoming full-blown production problems. Some types of unusual miniature (at least one panel shorter than two inches) and oversized (large format) work qualifies as specialty folding, as does the inline application of EZ-release, permanent or removable glue.

Should a company’s ability to accept exceptionally large jobs qualify as specialty folding? As long as the work isn’t of commodity status, yes. Companies that claim to be specialty producers should be able to turnaround large jobs fast – and have redundant (multiple) machines allowing them to do this.

Tricky folds

Let’s turn our attention to “tricky” folds. Unfortunately, there are few universal rules about what’s possible in the interesting world of tricky folds. Projects with lots of panels, folds at unusual angles, diagonal folds, unusual diecut shapes and no obvious side guides are sometimes possible and sometimes not. Some printing sales representatives run and hide when asked to bid on work involving tricky folds. Rather than passing on these types of projects, and opening doors for your competitors, you owe it to yourself to seek expert advice. Printing sales representatives that figure out how to produce unusual projects are more valuable than those that prematurely say, “No.” Here is a short list of some “how did they do that?” folds that are realistic and image enhancing:

Iron cross folding
Pop-up folding
Multi-directional diecut folding
Paper-doll style folding
“Swinger” folding
Narrow gap, no gap and wide gap gate folding
No apparent side guide folding (ovals, circles, etc)
Miniature folding with panels as short as 7/16″
“Layflat” miniature folding (with or without using glue)
Folding sheets as large as 80″ long

Specialty folding companies should offer troubleshooting and design advice. To continue pulling rabbits out of their hats, some companies have staff machinists and engineers that design and customize bindery equipment. If your trade partner has a creative eye and a lot of real world experience, “how did they do that?” type folding projects are both possible and profitable.

Gatefolds

Running gatefolds multiple-up is fraught with danger. To avoid gatefold “pullout” (an unintended fold located approximately 1/8″ away from the intended fold), fold rollers should be loosely set. Although one-up work isn’t affected by running gatefold projects with loose fold rollers, multiple-up work certainly is. Since operators can’t get solid grips on gatefolds as they travel through the slitter shaft, slits are usually crooked, ragged or both. Since two-up formats don’t yield much more product than one-up production, designing multiple-up gatefolds projects rarely makes sense.

Gatefolds may have short gaps (less than ¼” total gap), no gaps and wide gaps (more than 2″ gap). Since most commercial gate folding plates don’t handle these types of projects well, make sure your bindery has the necessary specialty machinery for your job.

Folding speed and paper stress

The immutable laws of physics apply to the field of specialty folding. Buckle folding machines apply different amounts of stress to the front and back ends of sheets as they travel through fold rollers and into fold plates. Every fold has two sides – one heading into the plate and the other being pushed from the back by fold rollers. The side of the fold that’s being pushed forms a “buckle” when the front end of the sheet hits the stop at the backend of the plate. As the sheet buckles, tremendous stress occurs in the paper on one side of the fold but not the other. The side being pushed by the fold rollers gets a severe bend. Fracturing of the paper surface or fibers is likely to occur if the stock is over 10 pts.

Folding speed stresses paper at a geometric rate of progression. For example, if the stress on a sheet is “5” when the speed is “5” (these numbers are only meant to be relative), doubling the speed to “10” means the stress jumps from “5” to “25” (instead of the linear “10”). In this case, doubling production speed translates to a five-fold increase in stress, perhaps enough to ruin a project. Many jobs that appear to be improperly setup are simply being run too fast. To think of it another way, assume you’re in a car crossing a railroad track with six-inch-high rails. If you cross the rails at three miles an hour, your tire raises up over the rail and down the other side with on a small bump. However, at five miles an hour the wheel feels like it’s coming through the fender as the shock absorbers top out from the explosive force of the tire springing off the rail.

If not planned well, paper stress created during right angle folding can be a huge problem. The structure of paper is such that it is stronger under tension than under compression. When poorly designed folding sequences cause two panels to “fight,” the top one under tension always wins and the bottom one under compression always wrinkles. If a panel is “trapped” during right angle folding, wrinkling will result.

Every week, I receive phone calls from all over the country wanting our company to rescue jobs from unsightly cracking programs. In general, cracking usually occurs on the first fold. Why? As the buckle starts in the right angle section, the first fold bends around a very tight corner, greatly stressing the first fold. Unless preventative measures are undertaken, the result is poor quality.

For example, a customer contacted Rickard about a wrinkling problem they were experiencing while folding a 16-panel poster. Unbeknownst to them, the folding sequences they attempted doomed them to failure. First, they tried four sequential right angle folds, but as they soon discovered, this produced wrinkled paper (i.e., tension vs. compression). Next, they tried a two-parallel, two-right angle folding sequence and again failed. Finally, they called Rickard, which suggested a folding sequence that allows the outside and the inside panels of the piece to flex during the folding process. This simple solution solved the customer’s wrinkling problem.

Speed vs. quality

The fastest way to do something rarely results in the best quality. If a client has endured the expense of putting a beautiful six-color job on a 100lb, #1 enamel sheet, it’s a good bet that ragged or crooked edges won’t be tolerated. On the other hand, if a job is printed on groundwood stock, time- and cost-saving suggestions are valued, if not expected.

Specialty folding also means knowing when to employ which manufacturing processes. If product quality is essential on a right angle folding project, the job plan should allow for one-up bindery production. While split-side guides certainly permit faster production speeds, they cause out-of-balance roller tension and result in poor quality.

Feeding, delivery and downstream considerations

One of the trickiest things about folding diecut products is getting them to feed cleanly. When a diecut sheet is fed out of a feeding unit, its edges and corners may catch on a sheet below it. Feeding considerations should be carefully thought out during the planning stage because these types of errors happen a lot.

Similarly, getting product successfully delivered out of a machine and properly packed is important, especially when automated operations are required downstream. For example, pharmaceutical manufacturers need miniature folded paper products to be automatically inserted into boxes, bottles and other containers. This usually requires folded work to lie flat and be neatly packed. Even if a bindery’s miniature folding is produced on budget and looks beautiful, it’s still a failure if it jams up downstream pharmaceutical inserting machinery. In short, specialty binderies should look beyond their own processes and consider how their work impacts other operations, either before or after them in the manufacturing chain.

Conclusion

Clearly, specialty folding is much more than tricky folds. It’s participating in the design stage, choosing the right processes and equipment for each job, having large-volume capacity and offering creative solutions to formidable challenges. The bottom line? Put your knowledge of specialty folding in your briefcase and use it to win more printing business.

Kevin Rickard is president of Rickard Bindery. Rickard Bindery specializes in discovering solutions to challenging folding, saddlestitching, gluing and other bindery jobs. Rickard can be reached at 800.747.1389 or visit www.rickardbindery.com.

Rollem International’s Insignia 7 Diecutter

by Lara Copeland, assistant editor, PostPress

The Insignia 7 Diecutter from Rollem International, headquartered in Anaheim, California, is a sheet-fed, rotary, flexo-magnetic machine designed to meet the shorter to long run, on-demand needs of the packaging and label market segments of the printing industry. Susan Corwin, marketing manager for Rollem International, noted that the setup and changeover processes are simple and quick. “The processes do not require a high degree of skill, as called for by the larger flatbed style diecutting machines seen previously,” she said. This ease of setup fills a niche for customized, craft packaging, prototyping, limited-run products and more.

The Insignia functions on purely mechanical timing and movement throughout the machine, which ensures greater reliability than dependence on servo motor and electric timing. Sheet after sheet, the guide and gripper registration system ensures 100-percent cutting accuracy. This finishing solution is suitable for both commercial offset and digital printers. “The Insignia provides a tremendous amount of flexibility to owners of the system,” Corwin commented. The addition of the rotary diecutter allows for more avenues of income, such as short-run folded cartons, customized labels and pocket folders, door hangers, POP displays, shaped invitations and more. Corwin added, “The flexibility in setup and changeover translates into the ability to offer and fulfill many different SKUs and shapes for products.”

Built to meet the specific requirements of its customers, the Insignia system is semi-customizable; it is offered with single or dual magnetic cylinders. “The single magnetic system is recommended for pressure-sensitive label work or straight diecutting,” Corwin stated. These systems are commonly used for applications that do not involve folding, such as kisscutting and straight “crush cut” diecutting. The dual magnetic system utilizes a paired set of male/female dies used for turning packaging products, carton work or presentation folders. This paired male/female set of dies translates into no makeready, only requiring switching the sets of dies between jobs.

Single magnetic machines have the option of being a bearer system or a non-bearer system, whereas dual magnetic machines always will come as a bearer system. With a non-bearer machine, the operator has the flexibility to use a die tool to kisscut varying thickness of adhesive liner as the operator physically adjusts the gap between the cylinders. On the other hand, a bearer configuration – available for thicker substrates – provides a floor for the cylinders to run against, creating a fixed gap between the cylinders. Corwin explained that this prevents an operator from accidentally crushing or damaging a die tool, while also providing stability in the cutting station. Bearer cylinders are at a fixed gap and cannot be adjusted. One die can be used to diecut across all thicknesses of material; however, different die tools are required for stock thickness changes and channel scoring.

Two optional delivery systems are available for the Insignia. A waste stripping unit removes the cut pieces from the matrix or skeleton of the cut sheet. “The ability to remove a hanger hole, or sombrero hole, from finished, cut pieces means eliminating a manual labor choke point in production lines,” Corwin said. She further explained that being able to batch count finished, stripped product on the back end of the system allows for a more streamlined collection and fulfillment of orders. The Insignia also can run inline with Rollem’s folding/gluing unit for any box or packaging work. The Insignia will cut product, strip the waste material and feed cut products directly into a folder/gluer unit for “printed sheet to folded/glued box” production utilizing a single operator.

“The Insignia7 has been well received by both existing packaging companies seeking quick changeovers and traditional printers and marketers seeking entry into the expanding consumer packaging market,” reported Corwin.

Technical Details:

The Insignia7 weighs 4,800lb and has a footprint of 79x58x55″ (200x147x140cm), not including delivery. It is offered in either a single upper magnetic cylinder configuration, lower hardened anvil cylinder configuration or a dual upper and lower magnetic configuration.

The Insignia7 has a feed capacity up to 40″ (101cm). It offers the largest sheet size available in the rotary diecutting class, featuring the B2 sheet capacity of 30×24″ and run speeds of up to 5,000 sheets per hour.

Sheet sizes range from a minimum of 8×8″ (20x20cm) to a maximum of 30×24″ (76x61cm). Material thickness ranges from a minimum 2pt (40-60gsm) to a maximum 24pt (430-450gsm) cardstock.

Spoilage Incentive: Raising the Bar on Lowering Spoilage Rates

by Jeff Peterson, editor-in-chief, PostPress

This section of PostPress examines common challenges readers may have on the shop floor and in day-to-day business operations. Professionals from leading print finishing and bindery companies share ideas and discuss solutions to those common challenges, demonstrating how specific companies work through these issues to improve throughput and the bottom line.

Spoilage Reduction Incentive Program

Anyone who has been involved with any type of lean manufacturing program (see article in this issue on page 60) probably knows the eight sources of waste. One of those eight sources is defects, more commonly referred to as spoilage.

For companies like Trade Print Finishing, Salt Lake City, Utah, spoilage had become a large problem. Owner and President Brad Van Leeuwen began to notice an increase in spoilage and re-runs for many of the jobs running through his print finishing plant. As a result, Van Leeuwen began looking for ways to combat increasing spoilage that also would encourage all employees to get involved. He started by looking at areas that were accumulating the most defects, including the following areas:

Products coming unglued on the folder-gluer
Registration/positioning issues
Missing or “plugged” areas of foil or coating
Creasing matrix falling out during diecutting
UV coating adhesion problems
Wrong die/foil used
Setup sheets mixed with good sheets

To help reduce costly errors and decrease the overall spoilage rate, Van Leeuwen decided to implement a Spoilage Reduction Bonus Program. “I was seeing a continued increase in mistakes and spoilage on a variety of the jobs running through the plant and decided it was time to try something different,” stated Van Leeuwen. “Even a small reduction in defects could make a large impact on our bottom line.”

Trade Print Finishing started by creating a bulletin board that included educational information on such things as “what spoilage really is” and ” causes of spoilage.” The bulletin board also was used to explain how the Spoilage Reduction Bonus Program worked and included monthly reporting of how overall spoilage was increasing or decreasing each month using actual numbers and graphs.

Van Leeuwen calculated that, historically, the company’s spoilage rate had averaged about two percent of gross sales per year. So, he set up the program to pay out bonuses on the money saved due to reduced spoilage to those responsible for reducing it. “We track spoilage on a monthly basis and provide small, on-going monthly incentives when spoilage is less than two percent of sales,” stated Van Leeuwen. “At the end of the year, if the annual spoilage is under two percent of sales, then the difference is paid out as year-end bonuses.”

Van Leewen went on to say that regular short-term rewards are critical in making the program work. “To celebrate a low-spoilage month, we provide incentives, such as a free lunch for the employees where we raffle off some type of gift certificate,” he explained.

For Trade Print Finishing, the Spoilage Reduction Incentive Program has proven to have many benefits. This includes forcing the action of measuring performance, creating awareness of what spoilage costs, as well as the seriousness of reducing it, and showing employees that management is willing to reward them for improved performance. “The program has really helped encourage our employees to learn from their mistakes,” stated Van Leeuwen. “It has created a type of ‘peer-review’ that has helped weed out incompetency.”

However, this type of program does create unique challenges. First, even one or two bad months can blow a year-end bonus, so if this happens early in the year, a “why even try” attitude can set in. Companies also must be conscious of animosity among employees or departments, especially if they perceive that others are reducing their bonus money. Additionally, it is important to monitor the program and be careful of unreported spoilage. This can be difficult because some of the reporting is “on your honor.”

It also should be pointed out that recording all the data and keeping it up-to-date takes dedicated time by someone within the company. According to Van Leeuwen, if finishers or binders are considering implementing a spoilage reduction incentive program of some type, they must be sure that it is being accurately recorded and kept current at all times. “If there is not a dedicated person or persons assigned to keep the data legitimate and current, employees will simply not buy in or stay motivated,” he asserted. “That is a huge key to the success of the program.”

Since starting the program in 2014, Trade Print Finishing has seen it continue to be successful. “The first year was kind of a ‘fine-tuning’ process with some trial-and-error experimentation,” concluded Van Leeuwen. “In 2015, we became more defined and consistent, and the program has now reduced our spoilage rates by about 50 percent and put more money in our employees’ pockets.” The program has proven to be a win-win for both the company and the employees.

Print Influencer: Alan Rosenspan

Alan Rosenspan started his own consulting firm, Alan Rosenspan & Associates, in 1994. As a direct marketing consultant, he has spent years educating companies on the value of direct mail campaigns.

Alan Rosenspan serves as president of Alan Rosenspan & Associates, a direct marketing creative and consulting firm based in Sharon, Massachusetts. Having developed the Creative Strategy course for the Direct Marketing Association and served as a direct marketing instructor at Bentley University, Rosenspan brings years of experience to the world of direct mailing. At a time when people often feel overwhelmed with – and, therefore, dismissive of – digital promotions and advertising, Rosenspan provides insight into how companies can use print mail more effectively in order to improve customer response.

What drew you to the direct marketing industry?

My first job was with Ogilvy & Mather – an advertising, marketing and public relations agency based in New York City. I spent 11 years in general advertising and won several major awards, but I never knew how well or how poorly – my work actually performed. For example, we did a TV campaign for Schaefer beer, and sales went up around $10 million. We had a huge party to celebrate. Several years later, I read that when the average summer temperature goes up a single degree, beer sales go up 15 percent. Was it the work or global warming?

I started my own direct marketing and creative consulting firm in 1994, and I was excited to have the opportunity to actually measure the effectiveness of my marketing campaigns. Not only could I keep score, I could work to improve on what was done before. This combination of art and science captivated me. Today, being able to prove exactly how your advertising performs, and how much it contributes to return on investment, is still one of the major advantages of direct marketing. As management guru Peter Drucker says, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.”

What trends have you seen lately with direct mail?

It’s ironic, but as our ability to create new and exciting formats has increased – and the costs have gone down – they don’t seem to work as well as they did before. What is working now falls into the three following categories:

Simple, easy to read copy. You can blame smartphones or email, but people don’t have the time or inclination to parse out long, complicated messaging. I have written 24-page letters that were unbeaten for years, and long copy used to be king. The king is dead.
Visual displays, icons and charts. Study after study has shown that people absorb more information and do so more quickly when it is presented in a visual format. I always look for better ways to display benefits and key features, rather than just better ways to describe them.
Relevance is everything. McGraw Hill wanted companies to advertise in its magazines. It ran a famous ad that read:
I don’t know your company.
I don’t know your company’s products.
I don’t know what your company stands for.
I don’t know your company’s customers.
I don’t know your company’s record.
I don’t know your company’s reputation.
Now, what was it you wanted to sell me?

Today, I think consumers care less about who you are and what you do. They want to know what you can do for them.

Internet advertising can be overwhelming for many potential customers. Do you think this has helped direct mail make a comeback?

Internet advertising originally boosted direct mail – because how else were you going to let people know you have a website? Then it began to get all the attention, along with social media and SMS. The result – there is just so much clutter on the web that response has gone way down.

When the internet first started, companies could send out an email and get a 50 percent response thanks to the novelty, the newness of it. Unfortunately, because it doesn’t cost anything to send an email, many people began to abuse it quite a bit. Response went way down as people began to look at those emails as junk or spam. Companies realized that internet marketing wasn’t working and they needed to return to print advertising.

There also was the fact that email was perceived as less and less credible. However, when customers receive a piece of direct mail, they are getting a piece of that company in their hands. It seems much more important and more trustworthy. The power of print is becoming more and more apparent to people.

How will direct mail affect the print industry in the next few years?

We’ve already seen a bit of a renaissance in the print industry, and I think it will continue to grow and evolve. For instance, I think magazines are going to change and become more targeted. We once believed that Newsweek would go out of business, and then all of a sudden it was back. The size of magazines has been dramatically reduced, so I think they will become more niche market – as will newspapers. We are seeing some of this already. Certain types of publications may not be reaching as many people as they reached before, but they will be increasingly reaching highly targeted groups for whom it may be impossible for advertisers to reach in any other way.

I think we’re also going to see more companies using direct mail than ever before due to all of its advantages. It’s real. It’s credible, and it’s real. It’s also intrusive but in the best possible way. Look at telemarketing, for example. Telemarketing can be very effective except that people dislike disruptive phone calls, and now there is a huge “Do Not Call” list. On the other hand, when people get direct mail that they dont necessarily want, they don’t seem to resent it as much. They can throw it away, and it is not an intrusion on their day in the way that telemarketing can be. When they receive internet or email promotions, however, they can send it away with a click without even thinking about it. That’s the biggest downfall of digital marketing. It’s incredibly vulnerable to not being paid attention to by the intended recipient. That’s why I see print mail continuing to grow and being used more intelligently and more creatively.

The New Classic: Neenah Revisits Old Typefaces

by Brittany Willes, editor, PostPress

Fresh Takes on Classic Type on CLASSIC® Papers from Neenah Papers, Alpharetta, Georgia, showcases six highly tactile, visually engaging and interactive spreads.

The word is out: Paper is in. In a world overrun with digital media, studies have shown that people crave the tactile sensations and experiences that only paper can provide. As a result, companies are striving to find new and exciting ways to entice customers with paper texture. Neenah Papers, Alpharetta, Georgia, has gone a step further with its newest promotional book, Fresh Takes on Classic Type on CLASSIC® Papers. Showcasing six highly tactile, visually engaging and interactive spreads, the Fresh Takes book is designed around six iconic typefaces.

In order to create the oversized, French-fold-style book, Neenah reached out to Willoughby Design. As a way to emphasize the flexibility of Neenah’s CLASSIC® series of papers, Willoughby gathered a selection of classic typefaces, such as typewriter type, to act as the “new classics” of typographic design. “The book merges contemporary typefaces and design with the textures of legendary CLASSIC® Papers by Neenah,” explained Senior Brand Manager Kathy Kemps. “The goal was to inspire designers and educate them on the incredible printability of CLASSIC Papers. The book’s content is designed to draw the reader in to both visually and physically experience the designs, the paper and the different print techniques,” Kemps stated.

Combining typography, graphic design, traditional offset and UV printing, four-color imagery and spot color, foil stamping, spot thick UV, embossing, debossing and intricate diecuts on a selection of CLASSIC® papers, each typeface is designed to keep viewers engaged with, and returning to, the page.

The book features six different spreads, each showcasing (mostly) 21st century typefaces. For instance, the first spread is titled “Retro Retirement,” designed by Jessica Hische using Buttermilk and Brioche typefaces on CLASSIC Linen and boasts a removable and reusable coffee sleeve. “Matthew Carter’s Big Caslon is used on a piece of wrapping paper tucked into a folder, and then there’s the Dingbat’s story that has tear-out cards designed for building paper structures,” Kemps enthused. “Each of the six stories has a tactile element, giving a sense of discovery and playfulness throughout the book.”

A desire to pay homage to typography’s importance in history and design is what first inspired Neenah to create the book. It would serve as a means to honor iconic type designers. Willoughby Design was asked to identify creative typefaces that would engage designers and to create a visually strong, graphic piece that told stories with those typefaces.

According to Kemps, the Willoughby team brought in the idea of featuring contemporary type designers along with renowned typographical masters and their new digital typefaces, yet typefaces that still evoked classic analog printing. “If you look through the book, you’ll see how these new typefaces provide a fresh way for designers to use type without the limitations of traditional typesetting,” asserted Kemps. The spreads are designed to be both visual and interactive, and the textural appeal of the CLASSIC Brands (CLASSIC CREST®, CLASSIC® Linen, CLASSIC® Laid, and CLASSIC COLUMNS® Papers) weaves added dimension into each story.

As mentioned previously, the first spread, Retro Refreshment designed by Jessica Hische, makes use of two inspired typefaces: Buttermilk and Brioche. Of the two-page spread, the first page makes bold use of the Buttermilk typeface, proclaiming to viewers in Solar White 100c text: “May your coffee be strong and your Monday be short.” The brilliantly white text stands out against a custom match Canyon Brown background interwoven with Arabian Gold API Foil. For this page, Neenah’s CLASSIC CREST® paper was selected to complement the design. For the opposite page, CLASSIC Linen® paper is used to complement the spread’s slogan, “Evoking a time, a place, a mood.” This page displays a coffee cup that has received multi-level registered emboss and diecut, allowing it to stand off the page. Complementing the previous pages color scheme, the removable cup sleeve was printed on CLASSIC COLUMNS® paper, in the same Canyon Brown color. The Brioche typeface across the sleeve, “Dotting my eyes and croissant my teas,” likewise stands out in bold white against the darker background.

The promotional book combines typography, graphic design, traditional offset and UV printing, four-color imagery and spot color, foil stamping, spot thick UV, embossing, debossing and intricate diecuts on a selection of CLASSIC® papers.

Following Retro Refreshment is Digital DIY Delight designed by Luke Lisi and featuring Homestead typeface. According to the book, Lisi is a “big believer in exploring the boundaries of technologies at hand. When [he] figured out how to break apart the letters H-O-M-E…it motivated him to develop a complete modular type system. The result is an 80c Patriot Blue, CLASSIC CREST® pocket laid over CLASSIC Linen® paper. The French-folded pocket also features a satin varnish, diecut, score, fold and glue tabs and contains three removable CLASSIC CREST® papers. Each of the different colored pocket inserts also displays diecuts and spot satin varnish. Each insert also makes use of different textures, including stipple, smooth and eggshell.

Also noteworthy is the Wood Typefaces Go Digital (A chip off the old block) spread from designer Erik Spiekermann. For this typeface spread, the left and right pages appear almost as mirror images of one another. It’s only by looking closer that the viewer realizes the two pages of text actually read differently. For instance, the text, composed of HWT Artz typeface, on the right page is done in Pantone gray and brown, displays registered deboss with pearlescent spot thick UV coating and reads, “Good Design is in all the Things You Notice.” The left page likewise is done on CLASSIC CREST® paper in Avon Brilliant White using 4-color process. The mirroring text reads “Great Design is in all the Things You Don’t.” Between the smooth texture of the paper and the UV coating, the blocky typeface effectively entices viewers to run a hand over the page.

“With the technologies we have today, digital and analog worlds are united in an unlimited possibility of expression,” stated Willoughby Founder and CCO Ann Willoughby. “It’s never been a better time to be a designer.” Expression possibilities may be unlimited, but Neenah has sought to provide a broad sample of themes and ideas. Each of the book’s spreads strives to tell the story of how new digital typefaces evoke classic analog printing technologies, while freeing designers from the limitations of traditional typesetting. Perhaps one of the best examples of this is the Typing Without a Typewriter spread, which evokes a distinct feeling of nostalgia.

Neenah’s goal with the book was to inspire designers with information, color, touch, typography and design.

Each page is done on CLASSIC CREST®. The left page features an Avalanche White background causing the black and red text to practically jump off the page. The typeface itself, “Qwerty for the digerati” as the page reads, perfectly imitates typewriter type giving the page a personal, even intimate, feel. The opposite right page is a stark contrast with an image of a solid black, old-fashioned typewriter against a brilliant red background. The page was printed using UV 4-color process with UV Black text for the appearance of classic typewriter typeface. The page also makes use of diecutting and spot thick UV coating. Like the Digital DIY spread, this spread contains removable inserts displaying varying colors and textures.

“Each spread contains a pull out, pop-up or put-it-together piece to help tell the story,” said Kemps. With all the different pieces and materials, “finding the balance of keeping it authentic while showcasing the papers became a bit of a challenge,” she admitted. Perhaps the largest challenge was selecting the right finish and color that felt natural for each story and then making it work to include as many colors and finishes as possible.

Despite the challenges, Neenah managed to include an array of colors, textures and finishes and not just in the spreads themselves. Even the front and back covers enter into the spirit of things. The individual pages are joined together with pewter wire-o binding and encased in CLASSIC CREST® double thick cover. Pantone orange, green, light blue, teal, gray and metallic silver splash across the cover, complementing the Neenah name, embossed with satin silver API foil and spot satin varnish. Further scoring, debossing and folding of the cover combine to create a unique tactile experience for viewers and all but demands the turning of the page to explore further.

According to Kemps, “Success with an intricate piece like this is achieved by doing your homework up front and working closely with your printer. Proofing, proofing and proofing again, as well as having paper dummies made to make sure everything will flow and fit properly. Also, working closely with the pressman was crucial for getting the perfect look and feel that we were after.”

As Kemps noted, the goal of the book was to inspire designers with information, color, touch, typography and design. “Designers love to play with paper and to learn about all of the specialty techniques that work so well with premium papers, and this book gives them that opportunity,” she affirmed. “We’re happy to say that the feedback we’ve been receiving tells us that this book has achieved the goal!”

Letterpress: Old is New Again

by Melissa Larson, contributing writer, PostPress

Fey Printing wanted to create a holiday card with a simple message as a way of showcasing the print shop’s own capabilities. Courtesy of Paper Specs.

On a quiet side street in Belvidere, Illinois, in a building that once housed a social club, is Locust Street Press. This letterpress printing shop – which once seemed to be a fading business – is riding the wave of popularity for a variety of applications, including wedding invitations, baby announcements, business cards, greeting cards and stationery.

Shop manager Heather Steines explained that her business straddles the old and the very modern. The shop features some 15 presses – the oldest was built in 1890 – and also houses machines for diecutting, embossing/debossing, scoring and foil stamping.

But the process of obtaining orders from graphic designers, or directly from consumer clients, is strictly up-to-date. “We work mainly with graphic designers who have their own clients,” said Steines. “Most of our orders come in online.” Usually the graphic designer already has created the design for the invitation when Locust Street Press gets involved. The rest of the communication with the customer is via the LSP website (www.locuststreetpress.com) where old meets modern.

Allure of the tactile

Locust Street Press further promotes letterpress by using the technique to decorate its shipping boxes.In much the same way that baby boomers are rediscovering the joys of vinyl record albums, graphic designers and printers are coming to a new appreciation of the strengths of letterpress. When combined with thick cotton papers and finishing effects, such as foil stamping, letterpress printing lends an Old World touch to social communications.

“In an age of hurried, digital communication, the intimate, deliberate feel of letterpress printing is a personal touch that won’t be overlooked or forgotten,” read a statement on LSP’s website.

“In a digital, one-dimensional world, consumers are discovering and loving the look and tactile feel of hand-crafted finishes. They add beauty, dimension, feel and pizzazz,” said Tom Otto of Otto Printing.

Paper chase

In describing working with clients online to process letterpress orders, Steines summarized it this way: “It is actually pretty straightforward. They simply email us. We can suggest stocks for clients: however, many times they know exactly what stock they would like. We work with each client on an individual basis and individual quotation.”

According to Steines, the three main components of a letterpress wedding invitation order, for example, are deciding what paper to use, creating plates for the invitation design and determining the printing schedule. LSP stocks Crane Lettra papers in several thicknesses.

Made especially for letterpress, Crane’s Lettra 100-percent cotton papers have the feel of fabric and the look of handmade art paper. According to the Crane website, Lettra papers are engineered to stand up to the great pressures of letterpress printing and have the complex structure and strength of cotton papers, allowing them to withstand multiple press operations with correct registration.

Yet, the fact that Crane’s Lettra® Papers are unsized and uncalendered leaves the fibers relatively uncompacted, giving the sheet an extra bulky, even fluffy feeling that absorbs ink while remaining soft to the touch. These “softer” sheets accept the heavy pressure and accentuate the type impression without cracking the paper’s surface.

In a letterpress project, typography is king. Without the dot patterns needed to reproduce photography, the basic typography can truly be an art form. The strengths of a letterpress design are crisp, sharp lines; pattern or grid work; and of course, typography.

Since letterpress printing is very much a manual process, that hand must be experienced. Rusty Prentice, pressman at Locust Street Press, has been running letterpress machines and finishing equipment, “for oh, about 50 years,” he chuckled. Although LSP does not make its own dies, Prentice does just about everything else in the shop, with unhurried, methodical care. He mixes inks by hand using the Pantone book, runs the presses, guides the foil stamping operation and even sets type in a pinch. In a typical day, he may set up and run several different jobs, typically from one to 85 pieces each.

Online warehouse

A nautical themed letterpress design makes extensive use of holographic foil. Courtesy of Paper Specs.

Print designers have a vital resource in an online paper warehouse called Paper Specs (www.paperspecs.com). Started by print designer Sabine Lenz, it includes lots of up-to-date information about choosing and working with paper for print projects. Even more resources are available to professional paid members, including a searchable online paper database; extensive Binding, Printing and Paper Facts sections where designers can learn the latest techniques; on-demand webinars; and even a live concierge for out-of-the-box questions.

Two striking examples of letterpress projects – a wedding invitation and a holiday card appear on the Paper Specs website. A nautical themed design makes extensive use of holographic foil. Said designer Justin Kowalczuk, “With the foil and nautical theme in mind, the front of the invite draws inspiration from classic compass elements with a modern mono-line aesthetic. As a designer with a focus on custom typography, I also was able to create a custom ‘sailor jerry-esque’ typeface and paired it with Niveau Grotesk.”

Project Details
Title: Brittany & Tony Wedding Invitation
Design: Justin Kowalczuk (www.justinkowalchuk.com)
Print Shop: Mama’s Sauce, Orlando, Florida
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest Smooth Patriot Blue 130lb. Cover, Neenah Classic Crest Smooth Solar White 130lb. Cover

Production Details
Dimensions: 5″x5″
Print Quantity: 100
Production Cost: $665
Printing Method: Letterpress, holographic foil
Number of Colors: One (Letterpress ink to match Patriot Blue)
Finishing and Binding: Duplexing

To close out 2015, Fey Printing (www.feyprinting.com) wanted to create a holiday card with a simple message on a single, unfolded card. It would be a way of showcasing the print shop’s own capabilities while sending its clients some holiday cheer.

Fey Printing’s Paul Siekert created a stylishly sweet design, which the company letterpress printed onto 5×7″ Neenah Cranes Lettra Pearl White 220lb. Cover, using three PMS colors. The design also incorporated a silver foil stamp for the company logo, a blind debossed background pattern, diecut round corners, plus a bonus item. “The blind debossed pattern doesn’t leave room on the card for a signature, so we diecut a hangtag and hand attached it with string to provide a place for a personal message,” Siekert said.

Project Details
Title: Fey Printing 2016 Holiday Card
Client: Fey Printing
Date: December 2015
Design: Fey Printing, Paul Siekert
Print: Fey Printing, Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin
Paper: Neenah Crane’s Lettra Pearl White 220lb. Cover

Production Details
Dimensions of card: 5″x7″, hang tag: 1.5″x2.875″
Print Quantity: 400
Production Time: Eight days
Printing Method: Letterpress, blind deboss
Number of Colors: Three PMS colors, soy inks
Finishing and Binding: Silver foil stamp, diecut round corners, diecut hang tag, hand-attached with string

Where does letterpress go from here?

Prentice of Locust Street Press started his print career via a graphic arts course at his junior high school in Rockford, Illinois. The question of where the next generation of letterpress operators will learn this craft keeps some practitioners up at night, along with such issues as the suitability of photopolymer plates, possible supply line disruptions, the future of letterpress inks and keeping the aging machines themselves running. As a recent poster to a letterpress discussion board put it: The real question is, how sustainable is letterpress?

As long as designers and end customers want the particular look that letterpress provides, it will continue to endure and grow. It provides a type of classy look and feel that cannot be duplicated by the latest digital printing process. It is unique and personal.

The finishing touch

Letterpress is not the only technique experiencing a re-emergence for customized printed pieces. Harry Otto Printing Company, Elburn, Illinois (www.ottoprinting.com), started in business as a letterpress print shop in 1941, specializing in fine stationery and announcements. It still is family-owned and -operated and still dedicated to letterpress.

According to Tom Otto, owner, his company offers a range of postpress decorating techniques that even further enhance the look of invitations and other social products. These include beveling, foil gilding, deckling, glittering, hand bordering, edge coloring and even a technique called Parchtiquing, which lends a “burned” antiqued edge to the paper. Exclusive Bordering Co. was established as a division of the original company to offer these techniques.

“The beauty of these hand-crafted finishes is they can be incorporated with almost any graphic process,” said Otto. “We are seeing everything from photos to digital, to offset printed pieces that are embellished with sheet pasting, beveling, letterpress, gilding, even laser diecutting.”

Otto is sanguine about the future. “We have had steady growth the last five years, and I only see continued growth, as people will always want their product to stand out above the others,” he concluded.

Lean Manufacturing and Continuous Improvement: What, Who and Why?

by Dianna Brodine, managing editor, PostPress

Ford’s early assembly line system of production was one of the examples of lean manufacturing.

Henry Ford may have been the first in US manufacturing to implement lean production when he simplified processes on the assembly line by creating an assembly line in 1913. Driven by a desire to make the automobile affordable for everyone, the workers laboring on the Ford Model T were divided by tasks into separate locations in an effort to reduce unnecessary movement. Rather than hauling parts and tools to an area where the vehicle would be built, Ford implemented a system of pulleys to move the car from one work station to another.

Ford realized stunning time savings with this production change. Cost savings followed as labor was utilized more efficiently, and Ford soon was selling more cars than ever before.

The principles of the assembly line – elimination of waste, specialization of tasks and increased production – evolved into the modern day “lean manufacturing.”

What?

Ford’s production model worked well when the exact same product was produced each time, but when variety was needed the system fell into chaos. Lean manufacturing evolved from the assembly line to address product complexity. At its most simple level, lean is about finding waste in a production environment and removing it. The Japanese word “Kaizen” also is commonly heard in discussions about lean – meaning “change for better” or continuous improvement. Taken together, the lean manufacturing process encourages those in a production environment to find waste and work to improve or eliminate it.

Waste can take a variety of forms, including wasted steps in a production process, wasted labor hours or wasted movement of materials. Poor quality and excess inventory also are forms of waste. In view of managing that waste, the process has been distilled to five steps, namely the following:

Specify the value. Find what creates value in the product/process from the customer’s viewpoint.
Map the process. List each step in the process of creation.
Flow the product. Simplify the steps so the product flows through production.
Pull the product. Produce only what is required when the customer needs it, also known as just-in-time production.
Work toward perfection. Continually evaluate the process to find other examples of waste that can be removed.

Who?

Toyota may be the most widely known implementer of lean manufacturing, having modified the reduction of waste mantra into the Toyota Production System (TPS) that has been adopted across the world. However, manufacturing facilities across a wide range of industries and serving a range of end markets have added lean manufacturing concepts.

From the big names – Caterpillar, John Deere and Nike – to the small, lean manufacturing can positively impact any company involved in a physical product creation process. Developing a culture of continuous improvement, however, involves more than a management-level understanding of lean principles.

Kelly Goodsel is the owner and CEO of Viking Plastics, a Corry, Pennsylvania injection molding company serving the automotive and HVAC industries. “As an automotive supplier, I’ve been involved in the Toyota Production System, which emphasizes lean production, for about 15 years,” said Goodsel. “However, I’ve realized the tools employed with the Toyota Production System are only part of the toolbox. Without also building a team that searches for continuous improvement opportunities, it’s like teaching somebody how to use a hammer or a saw without then teaching them how to build a house.”

Goodsel heard Paul Akers, a lean expert and author of 2-Second Lean, speak at a conference in 2012. Revolving around recognizing and eliminating eight forms of waste, 2-Second Lean gives employees the tools to recognize opportunities for improvement and implement solutions immediately. However, empowerment can’t occur without education, and Goodsel understood what was missing from his company.

He took the information shared by Akers to his team and started asking his employees to make improvements to the things in their areas that were causing daily frustrations. “We started with teaching the eight forms of waste to our employees, because knowing and seeing the forms of waste is the first of three pillars in our 2-Second Lean process,” he explained. “The second pillar asks employees to fix what bugs them, and the third asks them to share what they fixed.”

Viking began holding what it refers to as “daily drumbeat meetings” during each shift change. At each meeting, the oncoming shift meets with the outgoing shift to discuss how things are running and any troubles the previous shift might have come across. Additionally, data is reviewed on the prior day’s sales volume, on-time delivery statistics, customer complaints and safety points/regulations.

In keeping with its culture of continuous improvements, Viking employees seek to accomplish three things every day: identify waste, fix/improve the waste and share those improvements. Daily drumbeats offer the perfect opportunity for employees to explore and share ideas for improvement. “Just as machines require maintenance, setup, inspections and upgrades, so do people,” explained Goodsel. “Spending 20 minutes communicating between shifts provides employees with the information needed to better prepare them for the workday ahead.”

The results have been so stunning that Goodsel has become a bit of a spokesman for 2-Second Lean. In 2016, Goodsel and Engineering Manager Shawn Gross spoke at the Printing Industries of America (PIA) Continuous Improvement Conference to evangelize to a new group of converts.

“The level of interaction, employee engagement and relationships that are built in a 15- to 20-minute daily meeting is incredible,” noted Goodsel. “It breaks down barriers between employees and management, between departments, even between shifts – and that makes people more comfortable doing their job on a daily basis.”

Why?

In addition to the cultural changes resulting from implementing a continuous improvement mindset, removing waste from the manufacturing process saves time, money and resources. One of the key benefits is an improvement in quality. When processes are standardized and unnecessary steps eliminated from a production environment, the product created typically has fewer errors – reducing defects and rework. Improvements also can be found in employee satisfaction as those repetitive tasks that cause job frustration are eliminated.

Less space often is required as unnecessary steps – and sometimes equipment – are eliminated on the production floor and just-in-time production reduces the amount of excess inventory on-site. This can allow for expansion of services or future growth – or facility reduction, if that step makes more financial sense. Most importantly, the implementation of lean manufacturing and its related continuous improvement efforts often lead to increased profit levels and higher customer satisfaction, which can lead to additional business.

Adding lean manufacturing and continuous improvement concepts to any production environment isnt an instant cure-all, and the process itself can be messy and frustrating. It requires a culture shift and a team effort that starts at the top, but the rewards can be great.

“Management needs to approach it from a position of respect for the individual, respect for the people. Part of the challenge occurs when people ask ‘why’ – and we don’t always have an easy answer,” Goodsel acknowledged. “It’s important to let people know that this is a journey. We don’t have an exact map, and we’re going to make some wrong turns. When we do make those wrong turns, everyone has to contribute to getting us all going in the right direction.”

Viking Plastics is on a steep upward trajectory marked by record profits, and culture has played an important role. “Clearly, the 2-Second Lean culture has led to significant change for our company,” said Goodsel, “and it’s driven improvements that have meant the world to our employees, our management team and our customers.”

Labor Reduction Technologies: New Software Solution for Guillotine Cutting

by Zeenath Haniff, Farheap Solutions

Using touchscreen technology, Scissor Hands software allows for reduction in errors and improved function.

It is commonly believed that bottlenecks in print production most often occur in the bindery. But, to reach the finish line, let’s look back at the start. While the finishing may be the most time-consuming stage, what other factors consequently affect the time it takes for print jobs to reach the bindery where the cutter operator is forced to make up for any lost time?

Many print service providers invest in the latest prepress and cutting machines to produce high-quality products at record speeds, yet fail to consider how to pass the baton to finishing. Even the most advanced equipment requires a skilled journeyman who can fluidly manage the production timeline. Implementing an efficient workflow between prepress and press can vastly improve post-press production times and quality of the finished product.

Bottlenecks eliminated at OvernightPrints.com

As the founder of OvernightPrints.com, a leading e-commerce printer of business cards, postcards, brochures and other printed materials, Brett Heap originally founded Opensoft Inc. to directly solve his own printing issues. The drive to maximize the efficiency of guillotine cutters at his production facilities in the US and Germany led to development of software that would improve function and reduce errors.

“In the beginning, (Overnight Prints) wasted a lot of paper. Run sheets would have empty positions because they needed to get printed and out the door,” said Paul Barnum, COO, OvernightPrints.com. “Brett (Heap) has always driven everything toward eliminating waste and reducing the cost.”

Under Heap’s direction, the production facility programmed prerecorded cutting routines into several Itotech guillotine cutters. Manual adjustments by cutter operators, however, would inadvertently change the cut courses and naming conventions of the cutting routines, resulting in inaccurate cuts.

To eliminate errors and reduce waste, Heap moved to connect the machines and automate the process. After consulting the manufacturer, the machines were rewired to enable broadcast signals between them. Engineers then were hired to write programs for the cutters, and that software would eventually become Scissor Hands.

“We had to reverse engineer the signaling of the cutters to figure out how to tell the machine the next cutting course,” Barnum explained.

Software adds cutting efficiency

Scissor Hands demonstrates how a single software solution can effectively reduce production and labor costs on gang runs. Created to optimize guillotine cutting and maximize overall print production, the cutting automation software was conceptualized for internal use in 2012 at Overnight Prints, but the technology had implications for the print industry as a whole.

The enhanced JDF automation works by creating efficient cut sequencing based on a run’s prepress JDF data, sheet count, substrate coatings and packaging intent. Barcodes are added to the press sheet from which the software reads the job. Once scanned, the software displays the live image of the job, calculates the most efficient sequence of cuts and loads that sequence into the cutting machine in fractions of seconds.

Unlike previous methods, the automatic job loader also saves a tremendous amount of time by eliminating the need for the operator to search for a specific cutting routine. Instead of storing hundreds of cutting courses, Scissor Hands customizes each print job.

“Every time a new press sheet is built, the information goes to the machine, and it’s specific to that job. We could save the routine, but we don’t need to anymore because it acts like a new job every time,” said Barnum.

The software adds artificial intelligence (AI) to guillotine cutters. These AI-created cut programs share cuts across lifts to reduce the total number of cuts needed to finish an entire run. Shorter, smarter cut programs reduce blade wear and extend the longevity of the cutting equipment, ultimately saving time and money on maintenance and upkeep.

Job runs simplified for operators

Labor costs are another demonstrable cost savings for production facilities that implement the print cutting automation into their workflow. While some manufacturers of similar systems display cut measurements as line drawings, Scissor Hands shows the actual product image onscreen with step-by-step animation of cutting each step from start to finish without having to calculate, enter dimensions or adjust by numbers or visual observation. Operators just follow the presentation for how to load and rotate the lift.

The efficiency of the provided algorithm, combined with guided animation, allow for entry-level labor to complete print jobs, which significantly reduces the need for experienced journeyman. Additionally, operator training time can be condensed.

Some of the most experienced cutters at Overnight Prints shared that the software would save 20 minutes of every hour in cutting time alone. Operators no longer need to waste significant time calculating, doing decimal conversions or planning cut courses before they begin cutting.

An integrated MIS system provides real-time reporting. It can track the name of the employee completing the print job, start and stop times, blade drops and other relevant data.

The Scissor Hands technology was on display at the recent GRAPH EXPO 16 in Orlando, Florida.

Awarded a 2015 Must See ‘Ems Award, Scissor Hands was named a leading innovation in cutting edge automation by a panel of industry experts at GRAPH EXPO 15.

Zeenath Haniff is the content writer for Farheap Solutions, Las Vegas, Nevada. Scissor Hands uses artificial intelligence to augment a cutter’s behavior. The cloud-based auxiliary system only requires the installation of a mounted touchscreen, barcode scanner and model-specific connector to enjoy the benefits of newer imposition software on older equipment that are not fully computerized. Scissor Hands can work with any cutter that has a programmable back gauge. For more information, visit www.scissorhands.net.

BIA News

Continuing Education Opportunities

Are you looking for opportunities for continuing education in the industry? How about for your employees? At Printing Industries’ iLearning Center, you have an array of online courses at your fingertips. Some of the courses include the following:

Seven Basic Tools for Process Improvement presented by John Compton
Makeready Reduction presented by Malcolm Keif and Kevin Cooper
Power Selling Program presented by Leslie Groene
Vertical Marketing – A Guide to Profits presented by Thaddeus Kubis
Hazard Communication: Train the Trainer presented by Gary Jones and Caitlin Seiler

New for 2017 will be a postpress and finishing orientation course. This course will highlight key areas of the bindery, such as safety, cutters, folds, binding options and finishing options. This course will be geared toward new postpress employees.

Suppliers, we need your support! We are looking for companies interested in sponsoring this course, so you can have the opportunity to demo your product in a video in the training course. If interested, contact Mike Packard at 412.259.1704 or [email protected].

Financial Benchmarking for Postpress Companies

The Ratios have long been a compilation of accurate financial information from hundreds of printing and related graphic arts firms. They allow companies to gain access to financial and productivity benchmarks that can help your company become more efficient, productive, confident, focused and profitable. Printing Industries of America Ratios, 2015-16 Edition Volume 10: Binders organizes operating and sales information by sales size and product specialty (pamphlet, loose leaf, etc.). The 2016-2017 edition will be available at the beginning of 2017. BIA member price is $129 and the non-member price is $499. Contact Mike Packard at 412.259.1704 or [email protected] for more details.

BIA Member Benefits

Don’t forget to take advantage of the benefits you receive as a BIA member …

Members receive:

Exclusive discounts on products, as well as networking and educational events
Access to professional peer-networking forums
Free economic reports focusing on postpress companies (participation in the survey required)
An informational monthly e-newsletter
Discounted online learning at the iLearning Center (www.printing.org/iLearning)
Free technical support
Quarterly magazine focusing on postpress
Access to the BIA member-only listserv

Benefits for your business:

Learn about cutting-edge trends in finishing equipment and technology and how to apply them to your operation
Discover ways to expand your offerings and product lines
Branch into hot, growing markets, such as packaging, with the necessary skills, equipment and other resources
Increase on-time order delivery and meet customer demands
Become more competitive in your market

By joining BIA, you belong to an organization dedicated to supporting and enhancing our industry. We are your advocate, helping you increase growth and profitability every day. BIA is your postpress resource. Joining BIA helps your organization with numerous benefits you cannot get anywhere else. Members gain access to an abundance of resources that deliver results to enhance your success today and in the future.

For more information about membership in BIA, contact Mike Packard at 412.259.1704 or by email at [email protected].

Looking for a Bindery or a Supplier to Help with an Upcoming Project?

Are you looking for a trusted company to bind your project? Need a new piece of equipment or do you just need to buy supplies? Make sure to visit and bookmark www.printing.org/BIA and check out the FindABindery feature to locate a qualified binder. Additionally, there is a BIA Supplier link containing a list and description of manufacturers. With valuable listings of BIA members on both the manufacturer and supplier end, it’s easy to find excellent partners to deliver the high-quality work your customers demand.

We are continually updating this information, but if your company is not listed or you need your information changed/updated, contact Mike Packard at 412.259.1704 or [email protected].

Find BIA on Social Media

Don’t forget to connect with BIA on Social Media. Find us on Twitter (@BindingInd) and on LinkedIn at BIA (Binding Industries Association).