2021 Nov/Dec

Association News: November/December 2021

PostPress

Amplify Print event off to flying start

FSEA, in partnership with the Association of Print Technologies (APTech), announced it would be creating a new event in 2022, Amplify Print, that will bring print finishing and embellishments to the forefront. The event will showcase the brands, products and processes that will raise the standard for metallic decorating and coatings, diecutting, folding and gluing, binding, direct mail and more. Amplify will take place June 14 – 16, 2022 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Preparation for the event is well underway and several sponsors and exhibitors already are committed.

“We have received a tremendous response to Amplify,” commented FSEA Executive Director Jeff Peterson. “We believe the timing and location are going to be perfect to launch this new event that will specifically target print finishing and postpress technologies, including embellishments, binding, direct mail and more.”

At the time that this issue of PostPress went to press, key sponsors included Sakurai USA, Kurz Transfer Products, Canon, Harris & Bruno, Universal Engraving, Inc., and Infinity Foils, Inc. Many others have reserved exhibit space or verbally committed to Amplify.

“The value of print is increasingly tied to the enhancement and finishing techniques that printers bring to the table,” stated APTech President, Thayer Long. “As important, automation is fundamentally changing the business of print and mail. We are excited to host this event with FSEA and focus on this rapidly growing area of the printing industry.”

Those interested in exhibiting or attending Amplify can visit www.amplifyprint.org.

FSEA promotes negligible amount of aluminum contained in decorative foils

The Foil & Specialty Effects Association (FSEA) and its Sustainability Committee have worked with FSEA-member foil manufacturers to determine the amount of aluminum that is used in the manufacturing of transfer foils, including hot, cold and digital transfer foil products. Through this investigation, FSEA has compiled data confirming the layer of aluminum that provides the metallic sheen in a metallic transfer foil is negligible. In fact, it is so thin that it is measured in nanometers, which is 1/10^th of an angstrom. “We believe it is important that those involved in the repulping and recycling processes understand the unbelievably small amount of aluminum that is contained in decorative transfer foils,” stated FSEA Executive Director Jeff Peterson.

The thickness of the aluminum layer in a transfer foil – which is a layer of aluminum that is vacuum metallized to a film carrier – has been found to be between 30 and 60 nanometers in thickness. For comparison purposes, a sheet of copy paper is approximately 100,000 nanometers thick, and a human hair is approximately 80,000 to 100,000 nanometers thick.

To further demonstrate the negligible amount of aluminum in transfer foils, one large roll of decorative foil (40″ x 35,000′), if unrolled, would cover nearly 2 ½ football fields. This one roll can be used to decorate as many as 120,000 cosmetic cartons containing 5% to 100% foil coverage. The actual amount of aluminum in this jumbo roll of foil would weigh barely more than one ounce, or less than .75 cubic inches in mass (about the size of the tip of a typical human thumb).

For further details and to receive the full press release and supporting data, contact Jeff Peterson direct at 785.271.5816 or email [email protected].

FSEA members on pace to save more than $350,000 on Grainger purchases in 2021

FSEA has announced that its members have saved more than $350,000 with the FSEA Grainger Discount Program in 2021. The cost-savings program recently has added several new products and categories, allowing member companies to receive significant discounts on products and shipping costs. “This program has helped many of our FSEA members, both large and small, save much more than the cost of their FSEA membershp on their Grainger purchases,” stated Assistant FSEA Director Dianna Brodine. For more details on the FSEA Grainger Discount Program, contact Brenda Schell at
[email protected].

FSEA welcomes new board member

FSEA has announced that Haley Hutchison-Quick, vice president of Infinity^® Foils, Inc. – a UEI^® Group Company, has been named to the FSEA Board of Directors as an Associate (Supplier) board member. Hutchison-Quick has been with Infinity Foils for over nine years and plays an instrumental role in the leadership and management of the company. Growing up in the industry, she has been immersed in the ever-changing world of foil stamping and embossing. She has a wealth of knowledge, from customer service and product performance to product innovation and how it applies to the many different industries represented by the Foil and Specialty Effects Association.

What’s Up with Inflation These Days?

By Chris Kuehl, managing director, Armada Corporate Intelligence

By now, every commodity category one can think of has been experiencing dramatic price hikes. Oil is trending above $80, natural gas prices surged by over 500%, steel was up by 216% and during the summer the price of lumber hit record levels. To some degree, this surge was anticipated but the extent of the price hike has been taking many user sectors by surprise.

The burning questions are how high do these prices go and how long does all this price inflation last? As any good economist would assert – it depends. There are three broad factors to consider when trying to forecast what happens next. The first is why these prices spiked so high to begin with. The second is how the consumers are responding to the higher costs, and the third is what would cause production and consumption to even out and allow prices to fall.

The root cause of the issue is not hard to determine. The pandemic-inspired shutdown of the entire world economy shattered demand for the better part of a quarter (Q2 and part of Q3 in 2020). This destruction of the global economy was made far worse by the fact that there was no way to prepare for it. This was a recession by edict and came as most companies were preparing for a pretty good growth year. The world had not dealt with a challenge like COVID-19 before and there were plenty of miscalculations. Few thought the lockdowns would last longer than a few weeks, but they dragged on for months. This left producers with billions of dollars of unwanted inventory.

Not only were they shutting down operations due to the pandemic restrictions, but they also saw little demand for the product they had and saw no reason to produce more. This would have been bad enough but scarcely a year later there was another unexpected development. Consumers came out of the gate in early 2021 as if they were on fire. Growth in the second quarter started at a blistering 9.5% pace and ended up at 6.5% (over twice what is normally seen in terms of US GDP growth). The demand for nearly every commodity grew at the same pace. Producers have been struggling to catch up all year, but each process has been more complex than usual.

Demand has not been as consistent as would be preferred. Office building construction has been hampered by the fact that only about a third of employees have returned to their old patterns and that has meant less interest in this kind of construction. Given that construction is the single largest consumer of steel, there has been trepidation among those producers. Machinery, however, has seen substantial growth. Shortages that have plagued the automotive sector have had an impact on demand as well. The fact is that demand has grown but the potential for decline in that demand has been inhibiting producers. They do not trust the demand they have been seeing as the potential still exists for a consumer pullback if there are further outbreaks of the virus.

The second factor is how consumers are reacting. In normal years, the spike in the prices would have halted consumption in its tracks. Companies would be unwilling or unable to pay these costs or would be concerned about the ability of their consumers to absorb these hikes. National polls indicate that 40% of companies will raise their own prices to cope with the increased costs they face, guaranteeing inflation will continue building.

Inflation usually comes under control when these prices get so high that people can’t, or won’t, pay them. This time, however, there is another wrinkle. The 2020 recession provoked the usual response – throw money at consumers so that they spend the economy out of the doldrums. That didn’t really work this time as consumers were limited in terms of what they could spend. The stimulus essentially accumulated rather than making its way through the system. At the start of the summer, it was estimated there was over $7 trillion in excess savings in the world – meaning that people and businesses complained vigorously about the higher prices but had the ability to pay them anyway. Until this bubble in the supply of cash dwindles significantly there will be more tolerance for higher prices.

Four primary business sectors have all reacted somewhat differently. The construction sector has either stalled completely (office buildings) or roared ahead despite the high prices (warehousing, distribution centers and the like). The primary issue has been availability of commodities like steel – there have been waits as long as a year for the materials needed to complete these projects. The second most important market has been the vehicle manufacturers – everything from cars and trucks to farm equipment and heavy equipment. We all know the drill here – shortages of everything from chips to assemblies have forced plants to close for periods of time and reduced the demand for the other products that go into these sectors. The third area has been booming — machinery.

There has been a surge in capital spending in many sectors of manufacturing as companies make up for lost time and react to the new demand. Finally, there is the oil and gas business, and that growth pattern may start to reverse soon. The demand had been down as concerns regarding the new rules and regulations affecting fossil fuel have been proposed. Will the pursuit of green affect pipeline development? Several large projects have been abandoned already and others have been threatened. On the other hand, the surging price of oil and gas has spurred a renewed interest in developing these resources.

The bottom line is that there is demand from a variety of sectors but at the same time there are concerns regarding how long this demand will hold. Production could ramp up to address the current environment and leave the producers back in the same boat they were in the spring of 2020.

Consumers are now starting to see a real impact on their own budget as these prices work their way into the retail environment. Food and fuel prices reacted right away and there has been shock at the pump prices as well as the costs in the grocery store. The holiday spending season is expected to be solid as consumers come out of hibernation, but that growth will be tempered by the rise in prices. The shattered supply chain, combined with the higher commodity prices, will drive the real rate of inflation past 5.5%.

That brings us to the most important question of all: When does all this end? What will cause prices to fall and how far do they go when they start to? If one looks at the behavior of prices for the last decade, it becomes obvious that volatility has been the norm. There have been many episodes of higher prices followed by big plunges. The demand spikes and producers react with an attempt to meet that demand and invariably end up overproducing and prices react accordingly. So, what will make that demand start to flag? It already has as far as construction is concerned. Even though there has been a major improvement in the development of transportation-related construction, the expectation for office building is not encouraging. Only about 33% of people have returned to their offices and estimates hold that roughly half of employees will remain in a virtual environment for the next several years (at least).

It will take a combination of factors to ease the inflation threat. Demand will have to even out so that producers have an opportunity to catch up. The very existence of inflation will help do that as prices will become too high for many to pay, but with all the excess cash sloshing around in the system that point may not be reached as quickly as usual.

Producers will have to gear up to meet demand, but they face a lot of uncertainty. If demand doesn’t hold, they get stuck with inventory again. They are further inhibited by the supply chain breakdowns. Everyone sincerely hopes that 2022 will be the year that something approaching normal arrives but many thought that 2021 would be that year. The best guess at this stage is that price pressures begin to ease by the end of second quarter of 2022. That still means more than six months of higher prices and scarcity.

Chris Kuehl is managing director of Armada Corporate Intelligence. Founded by Keith Prather and Chris Kuehl in January 2000, Armada began as a competitive intelligence firm, grounding in the discipline of gathering, analyzing and disseminating intelligence. Today, Armada executives function as trusted strategic advisers to business executives, merging fundamental roots in corporate intelligence gathering, economic forecasting and strategy development. Armada focuses on the market forces bearing down on organizations. For more information, visit www.armada-intel.com.

Paper, Climate Change and Common Sense

By Kathi Rowzie, vice president of operations, Two Sides North America

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently released updated projections about the effects of human activity on the planet, warning that inaction to immediately address climate risk will yield dire consequences. The IPCC’s conclusions and recommendations will no doubt be the subject of continuing debate, but there are three things that most people agree on: the climate is warming, humans play a role and we need to do something about it.

However, without broad-based public understanding of how the environment works, there is an unfortunate tendency to believe that all manufacturing industries and processes must be part of the problem. This is a misconception that some in the Environmental Non-Governmental Organization (ENGO) community and the news media are only too happy to exploit. They push the thoroughly unscientific narrative that paper contributes massive amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂) to the atmosphere, a byproduct of tree harvesting, manufacturing processes and paper waste. Far from mitigating climate change, it’s a narrative that could stifle an industry that is, in reality, a part of the solution.

Mitigating climate change demands a common-sense approach that is grounded in sound science, embraces proven strategies and invests in driving continuous improvement. This approach, in a nutshell, is why the North America paper and paper-based packaging industry is a climate mitigation leader.

Paper’s carbon footprint

A look across the life cycle of paper shows that its carbon footprint can be divided into three basic elements: carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions and avoided emissions. Each of these elements is influenced by important characteristics that distinguish paper from other products: it’s made from a renewable resource that stores carbon, it’s manufactured using mostly renewable, carbon-neutral energy, and it’s easily recyclable.

Sustainable forestry and carbon sequestration

Sustainable forest management, the cornerstone of the North American paper and paper-based packaging industry, helps increase the ability of forests to sequester carbon while also protecting and conserving other forest values like soil, air and water quality; wildlife habitat and biodiversity. An infinitely renewable resource, healthy forests sequester carbon by capturing CO₂from the atmosphere and transforming it into biomass through photosynthesis. The carbon stored in forests helps to offset releases of CO₂ into the atmosphere from sources like the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation (the permanent loss of trees).

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that sustainable forest management practices resulted in net carbon sequestration each year between 1990 and 2018. As reported in the agency’s Inventory of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions and Sinks, US forests and wood products captured and stored roughly 12% of all carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) emissions in 2018. CO₂e is a measure of the global warming potential of all GHGs compared to CO₂. The Canadian government reported that forestlands captured and stored around 19% of the country’s total CO₂e emissions in 2018.

Planting new trees and improving forest health through thinning and prescribed burning are some of the ways to increase the uptake of forest carbon in the long run. According to the US Forest Service, the perpetual cycle of harvesting and regenerating forests can also result in net carbon sequestration in products made from wood and in new forest growth. In its 2020 Global Forest Resources Assessment, the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization reported that net forest area in the US increased by approximately 18 million acres between 1990 and 2020, while net forest area in Canada remained stable at around 857 million acres during those same years.

The paper industry and greenhouse gas emissions

The North American paper and paper-based packaging industry was among the first industries to take voluntary action to reduce GHG emissions. Between 2011 and 2019, the US industry reduced greenhouse gas emissions from 44.2 million metric tons to 35.2 million metric tons or 20%, according to the EPA. Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) reports that between 2007 and 2017 the Canadian industry reduced GHG emissions from 22 million metric tons to 13.1 million metric tons or 40%.

These reductions are attributed to the predominant use of carbon-neutral, wood-based biofuel (which accounts on average for around 60% of energy generation at North American mills), the switch from coal and oil to less carbon intensive fuels such as natural gas, and investment in equipment and process enhancements that improved overall energy efficiency. Contrary to the claim that the North America paper and paper-based packaging industry is a major contributor to GHG emissions, EPA and NRCan data show that US and Canadian producers account for only 0.5% of total GHGs in their respective countries. A continuing increase in the use of biomass energy at North American mills has the potential to reduce GHG emissions even further.

Some in the ENGO community argue that because biomass releases just as much CO₂in the atmosphere as fossil fuels, it isn’t really carbon neutral. But the US Department of Energy (DOE) and other experts disagree. As DOE explained, “Burning biomass releases about the same amount of carbon dioxide as burning fossil fuels. However, fossil fuels release carbon dioxide captured by photosynthesis millions of years ago – an essentially ‘new’ greenhouse gas. Biomass, on the other hand, releases carbon dioxide that is largely balanced by the carbon dioxide captured in its own growth.”

In other words, biomass contains carbon that was only recently removed from the atmosphere by photosynthesis, and that same carbon is returned to the atmosphere as part of the natural carbon cycle when it is burned to generate energy. This inherent property exists whether or not trees are regrown. Sustainable forest management practices help make sure that biofuel use does not outpace forest regrowth. The IPCC concluded that, “Regardless of how carbon neutrality is defined and calculated, the use of forest biomass produced under conditions where forest carbon stocks are stable or increasing always yields long-term mitigation benefits.”

Avoided emissions: Paper’s recycling success story

When paper products are sent to landfills, they release GHGs as they decompose. When they are recycled, these GHG emissions are avoided. That’s a significant environmental benefit when considering that around two-thirds of all paper and paper-based packaging is recovered for recycling in the US and Canada, more than plastics, glass and metals combined. When singling out corrugated cardboard, the recovery rate jumps to nearly 90%. The EPA reported that the amount of paper and paper-based packaging that was recycled instead of going to landfills lowered US GHG emissions by 155 million metric tons of CO₂e in 2018, an amount equivalent to taking over 33 million cars off the road for an entire year.

The North American paper industry continues to invest billions of dollars in technology to increase the types of paper products that can be recycled as well as infrastructure investments that expand recycling capacity. For example, US producers have announced or planned $4.5 billion in manufacturing infrastructure investments by 2023, more than $2.5 million per day. The industry also is focused on “recyclable by design” innovations that help brands, retailers and other end users develop fully recyclable paper packaging by eliminating non-recyclable elements.

Paper producers’ commitment to sustainable forest management; the use of renewable, carbon neutral energy; and strong support and investment in recycling have transformed the circularity of paper products from vision to reality and will help to drive further GHG emission reductions.

Two Side North America is an independent, non-profit organization that promotes the sustainability of print, paper and paper-based packaging, and dispels common environmental misconceptions about paper products. It is part of the Two Sides global network, which operates across North America, South America, Europe, Australia and South Africa. For more information, visit www.twosidesna.org.

Special Effects Help Spur Greeting Card Sales

By Hallie Forcinio, writer, PostPress

Holiday greeting cards are flooding the mail despite supply chain difficulties, postage costs and the expectation that delivery times may not be much better than in 2020. About three-fourths of consumers who send holiday cards do so because they know how good it feels when they receive a holiday greeting, according to a fact sheet from the Greeting Card Association (GCA).

Sending greeting cards is particularly popular with Millennials, the second-largest demographic of greeting card purchasers. Although Baby Boomers buy more cards, Millenials spend more per card (an average of $6).

Electronic greetings haven’t supplanted printed cards and account for a small percentage of overall greeting card sales, according to the GCA. Its research indicates eight out of 10 people agree that greeting cards cannot be replaced by social media and 60% say that receiving cards and letters in the mail “means more to me” than an email. Mailed messages evoke positive feelings with 65% of consumers observing that receiving a card in the mail lifts their spirits. With the added element of surprise, an unexpected greeting “just because” is especially treasured.

Posty Cards, a specialist in B2B products, reports minimal impact from digital competition. “In our business greeting cards niche, we didn’t see big migration to email in the first place,” reported Jane Coats, director of marketing at Posty Cards. She added, “We have heard anecdotes from customers who tried replacing printed cards with email and found that they got poor results. Good old-fashioned greeting cards are proving to be even more effective for personal contact in this digital age, especially when more people are working remotely and email security concerns are high. Most would agree that it feels much more personal to find a greeting card in the mailbox vs. a birthday email that’s likely to get flagged as spam anyway. Studies have shown that a real card is much more memorable.”

Special effects have wide appeal. Foiled finishes are among the top five greeting card trends identified in a blog by Designer Becca James, posted on February 18, 2021, on Printed.com, a digital printer of customized and customer-designed greeting cards, invitations and other products.

Coats agreed, noting “Foil designs on our greeting cards continue to be very popular and account for a significant portion of our sales. Business users from real estate agents to financial planners often select foil designs as a way to portray success and make a great impression on the recipient.” In fact, she said, “We are seeing more customers choose our premium designs that feature multiple foil embellishments on premium paper, such as metallic.”

Sustainable products

Sustainability is another trend in the greeting card industry. “In the last few years, we have seen more and more customers include sustainability as a part of their buying decision,” reported Coats. “And, we have experienced increased sales in our Sustainable Sentiments^® line of recycled greeting cards, which includes environmentally inspired designs for users who want to portray concern for the environment. The company is FSC^® certified, and products are printed with soy ink on recycled or FSC paper. Cards are packaged with recycled, recyclable materials.”

The company’s commitment to the environment goes beyond its products, however. “We recognize that using green materials is only part of the picture,” said Coats. “Therefore, our entire facility is certified at the highest level of sustainability for building design and operation — LEED Platinum. We also strive to continually improve the sustainability of our processes. We were one of the first print facilities to achieve SGP certification for our operation, and we are the first printer in the United States certified as a platinum-level TRUE^® Zero Waste facility. In addition, 100% of our electricity is Green-e certified, with over 20% generated onsite via solar panels and the balance offset with renewable wind power.”

In the United Kingdom, UK Greetings (UKG), a part of the American Greetings family, is taking similar actions. It recently announced all its cards will be offset through the World Land Trust’s Carbon Balanced Paper program. The move will offset nearly 10,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents associated with the production of the board it uses for the 200 million cards it produces each year.

“UKG is committed to reducing our impacts in every aspect of our business,” said Chris Shaw, head of sustainability at UKG. He explained, “Since 2019, we have removed over 250 metric tons of single-use plastic from our cards and reduced our carbon footprint by 400 metric tons simply by improving our energy efficiency. With paper being our primary raw material, we work closely with our suppliers to help ensure that every single card and paper product can be physically traced back to sustainably managed forests. Choosing Carbon Balanced Paper was, therefore, a natural next step in our sustainability journey.”

By choosing Carbon Balanced Paper, UK Greetings will fund the protection of 635 acres of threatened habitat in the Khe Nuoc Trong region of Vietnam, a remnant of biodiverse tropical forest in a land blighted by deforestation. The area provides a sanctuary for a rich array of threatened wildlife, including one of the world’s rarest large mammals, a bovine, known as a saola, or “Asian unicorn,” as well as Critically Endangered species like the Sunda pangolin (a scaled anteater) and the red-shanked douc langur, a species of monkey. “We are thrilled to support World Land Trust in their efforts to protect the world’s most biologically significant and threatened habitats,” concluded Shaw.

Supply chain challenges

Although Posty Cards expects business to return to pre-pandemic levels this year, Coats admitted that staying ahead of supply chain issues has been a challenge. Lead times on paper have increased dramatically, and material and delivery costs are rising. “So far,” she said, “delivery of our products has not been impacted.” However, even if deliveries can be made on time, rising costs “could force future price increases.”

Working Through the Bindery – From the Pandemic and Supply Chain to Paper Stocks and Adhesives

By Liz Stevens, writer, PostPress

PostPress recently spoke with four experts to catch up on recent events and developments in the binding and adhesive areas of the industry. We asked Chris Eckhart, Eckhart & Co. Inc.; Mitch Holsborg, C&C Bindery & Packaging; Matt Cassidy, BC Adhesives; and Paul Steinke, Standard Finishing, to share how their businesses have changed throughout the pandemic; to offer advice on what to ask when looking for a perfect binder; to give suggestions for choosing the right adhesives and for dealing with various paper stocks; for thoughts on training or finding operators; and for key takeaways from dealing with supply chain shortage challenges.

Pandemic pivots

It seems that a lot of trade binders have had to really look at their businesses and figure out the best niches in which to survive and prosper in today’s marketplace. How have business models changed due to COVID-19, and how have business operations adjusted to working during a pandemic?

Chris Eckhart, whose Indianapolis, Indiana, company Eckhart & Co., Inc. specializes in mechanical bookbinding, all forms of softcover (adhesive) bookbinding and tangential binding and finishing services, felt that emerging opportunities rather than corporate plans have led to many recent business changes. “I’m not so sure that these changes and new niches are driven by strategic decisions made by management teams,” he said. Eckhart pointed out that there now is more automation and technology in bookbinding and finishing equipment to maximize efficiency and reduce labor requirements. But the equipment is expensive and capital resources are finite, so businesses are selective about the equipment and technology they invest in, and that investment then drives a company’s focus and niche. “Bottom line,” he said, “these niches have been driven by the equipment, automation and technology that are available. The reality of it is either you have this automation and technology, and you can compete, or you don’t have it and you can’t compete.”

Mitch Holsborg, president of C&C Bindery and Packaging of Farmingdale, New York, echoed Eckhart’s assessment. “Technology has been one of the most important parts of pivoting,” said Holsborg. C&C has diecutting, mounting, coating services and foil stamping in addition to bookbinding, and the company leaned on those parts of its business model while the demand for commercial work was weak. “Then we pivoted once again and used a lot of our capabilities to make bookbinding more profitable through value-adds,” he said. C&C began specializing in perfect binding and Wire-O during the pandemic instead of saddlestitching, folding and cutting. “We tried to use a value-add to attract more work,” Holsborg continued. With our ability to foil stamp on covers and to do film lamination, spot UV on covers and inside pages, we began doing something that nobody else was doing at the time.”

From his perspective at BC Adhesives, an adhesive distributor in Franklin, Wisconsin, Matt Cassidy, territory manager, saw the same kind of change in his customers’ businesses and believes smaller runs of digital print work make sense to keep in-house: “I think they are realizing that this technology is out there and that they need to jump in and be competitive with it.” He also has seen expansion in the adhesive-specific work done by customers. “My binders that used to only do EVA,” he said, “are starting to invest in some PUR capability. Some customers are starting to specialize but they are also expanding into more types of work.”

Paul Steinke, director of sales, Standard Finishing, Andover, Massachusetts, a North American distributor of print finishing and paper handling solutions, agreed that automation has been a key component in how customers have adjusted their businesses. “Automation has been important to some of the prospects looking at our equipment, and some of our trade binder customers are changing their business into quick turnaround service organizations,” he said. He noted that some customers could not make capital investments during the pandemic and that they therefore had to rely on trade binders for quick finishing to keep customers satisfied. “Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he went on, “perfect binding was relatively strong, but in the last 12 months, we were surprised at how much the book publishing market grew. Some said, ‘Oh, everybody is staying at home and reading,’ but it still is amazing how much demand has gone up. Overall, addressing labor challenges and automation are important factors since they can make businesses more efficient.”

Binding equipment, adhesives and paper stocks

What questions should one ask when looking for a new or used perfect binder?

Paul Steinke advised that the first consideration should be the type of work to be produced, whether it will be very short-run, quick turnaround work or longer-run jobs with a longer timetable. “That’s very important to look at,” Steinke said, “because the decision to go with full automation or semi-full automation is affected by your type of work. Secondly, it is important to look at the types of paper stocks and substrates you use; those affect the type of binder as well as the type of adhesives you should use.” Steinke also recommended taking a close look at the binder’s construction. “In perfect binding, the milling process for spine preparation can be very rugged,” he said, “so you have to make sure that the equipment is very well built, and that the maker has a good reputation for reliability and construction.”

Chris Eckhart seconded Steinke’s advice, based on a recent binder purchase for his own company. “We understood what kind of jobs we planned to run,” he said, “knowing that if you run 500 books, then you want one binder, but if you consistently run 5,000 or 10,000 or more, then you want another kind of binder.” Eckhart’s market was book manufacturing and so he chose a binder with gathering pockets and a high feed volume suitable for large book runs.

What factors are important in choosing the correct adhesives?

“This is a pretty in-depth question,” said Cassidy. “There are a lot of different glues out there in the bookbinding world. It’s not just ‘here’s our one spine glue and here’s our one side glue.’ To start, you need to look at what type of books you are making – hardcover, soft cover, lay-flat books – and second, what type of equipment you have.” The type of equipment can dictate which adhesive is required. “Then,” said Cassidy, “it is crucial to consider what types of stocks will be run most of the time, and the likely run speeds. Those are probably the two most critical things for us as we talk to prospective customers.” And, said Cassidy, the quality of the books influences the adhesive choice. A provider of low-cost books will choose different adhesives than a maker of specialty or other high-end books.

Cassidy also weighed in on working with recycled stocks. “It can be difficult to get good adhesion with recycled papers,” he said. “There’s just not a lot of fiber in those papers. The remedy is not necessarily the glue to use; a lot of the solution lies in doing good spine prep – how you are building that book. That’s really where all your quality begins.”

“From the equipment standpoint,” said Steinke, “we primarily look at two different types of adhesives; it’s either EVA, which is multi-purpose for most substrates that have good paper fiber, or it’s PUR – polyurethane-reactive adhesive – for the stocks that have a little more challenge, a little less paper fiber.” He explained that with recycled stocks, high clay content stocks and enamel stocks, PUR adhesive is more adaptable for producing binding strength. “Over the past few years,” he said, “we have seen an increase in PUR requirements in the smaller binding systems whereas, traditionally, PUR has been popular in the large systems for long runs.” Now, even single-clamp binders at an entry-level price point are offering PUR. “Some of that is being driven by case binding,” Steinke said, “Case binding traditionally has been sewn book lots and then going into a casing-in process. I think with digital printing and the ‘I need it now’ environment, some of the migration to PUR is because it is less labor-intensive than sewing.”

While these may be the main things causing a switch to PUR adhesive, Steinke noted that it is important to understand the different types of jobs that customers run and their turnaround times, because PUR adhesive requires more curing time to build a strong bond. “You can’t PUR-bind a perfect bound book and then immediately put it in a shrink wrap,” he said, “It must have access to the air to fully cure. Another thing to take into consideration is that PUR relies on moisture in the paper and moisture in the environment to cure, and this affects the manufacturing process as well. PUR is a more challenging in drier parts of the country and less challenging in humid areas. Though all these things must be taken into account, we are seeing an uptick in the PUR requirements in our perfect binders.”

Holsborg added a caveat on choosing and using adhesives. “All of the recent trucking issues – trucks held up in depots and delayed in travel – can lead to problems, especially on quick turnaround jobs,” he said. “If you don’t allow books to cure long enough and you put them in a truck that travels in a cold environment or goes to an unheated warehouse, books can develop adhesion issues. It could be due to the recycled fiber in the stock or it may be a combination of things, but we have seen a rise in these types of problems.”

Cassidy offered estimates on curing time requirements. “In a perfect world,” he said, “you would have a 24-hour wait before you send out a job, and your books would be fully cured. But that is not the world we are living in.” He has seen, however, new formulations of PUR adhesives that can set up faster. “Some will start to have a good 50-60% cure after eight hours; others are not getting to that point until 12-14 hours,” he noted, while saying PUR is not a panacea. “Some people think PUR is this magic glue that can stick to anything out there,” he said. “We see people who are having trouble with EVA who seem to think, ‘Okay, I am going to go out and buy a PUR unit and solve all of my problems.’ That is not necessarily the case. You still need to do good spine prep; that is the building block for creating the fiber content that allows PUR to create good adhesion.”

How does the type of paper stock affect gluing, folding and binding in general, and how can problems be resolved?

When it comes to different paper stocks, said Steinke, spine preparation is a key aspect for perfect binding. “You also have to be aware of ink coverage,” he said, “because that can affect the actual characteristics of different paper stocks as well.” The inkjet printing process can lay down a lot of water-based ink to produce good quality images; this must be considered along with the stocks that are being used. “For perfect binding and some paper stocks, having flexibility to use both types of adhesives is a plus,” he added.

Eckhart said about flexibility with EVA and PUR adhesives for variations in paper stock: “My suggestion is to be prepared to deal with it; have equipment that can use different types of glue and have relationships with glue companies that can supply various types of glue.”

Holsborg added input about problems with scoring for various paper stocks. “When you have stock with no grain or mixed grain or the wrong grain,” Holsborg said, “I find that you really need to die score a lot more covers in order to reduce the amount of cracking.” He stated that he also is laminating covers now to solve the cracking problems on the outside on newer stocks and uncoated stocks. “The uncoated stocks are especially a challenge,” he said, “because the grain, especially in the past couple of years, seems to pop off the paper. It is not traditional cracking; it is actually flaking, and we end up having to put a matte film on covers in order to solve the issue.”

How about some tips for dealing with glues and adhesives on uncoated and coated papers?

When using adhesives on uncoated paper, Cassidy advised running the adhesive a little bit cooler. “This will make it slightly thicker,” he said, “and you won’t get so much wetting out into the uncoated stocks.” And, as opposed to roughing up some stocks to create more fiber, with uncoated papers Cassidy’s advice is to not beat the paper up as much. “As far as the type of adhesive to use,” said Cassidy, “if you are running uncoated stocks, and you have the flexibility to use either PUR or EVA, people generally use EVA. That’s not to say that you can’t use PUR, but if you are running more coated stocks, PUR comes in handy because it creates a much stronger bond.” For recycled paper stocks, it’s back to spine prep, including notching, micro-notching and different tooling in the milling station to expose more fibers.

Holsborg stated that for dealing with adhesion problems on different types of paper stock, his company uses a trial-and-error approach. “We round up all the talent we have here to address the problem; then we take it one step at a time and try different things,” he said. “We have developed a system where we will come up with a plan and we will try one thing at a time until something works.”

The supply chain quagmire

How has the supply chain meltdown affected binders and finishers? How have they adapted to the situation or even found new business opportunities?

Eckhart shared his experiences as a bookbinder: “We saw books that may have been produced overseas not being printed or bound overseas because of the disruptions in getting materials or books back to the US.” He noted that the problems abroad and in the states are likely to continue for quite some time. “Stateside trucking, for instance,” he said, “that’s just not going to get any better. We’ve got a high demand for goods, but a shortage of drivers combined with production capacity that is diminishing. These are things that we are just going to have to deal with.” Eckhart advised a closer focus on aspects that are within a binder or finisher’s control, saying, “We have to become more attuned to our inventory. We have to make sure that we have good, strong relationships with vendors and that our suppliers understand our needs. We are going to have to make sure that we understand our needs and what our usage is over the course of a quarter or a half a year.”

“We learned a very important lesson during the beginning of COVID-19,” said Holsborg. “We pivoted and made face shields for a couple of months in order to have our factories stay open as essential manufacturers. What I found as a solution to supply chain issues was to buy in scale with other vendors and other customers.” Holsborg teamed up with four other similar companies; rather than competing with one another and bidding up prices, they joined forces to buy materials – plastics, foam, elastic – in volume.

Steinke described the supply chain challenges from the perspective of an equipment manufacturer. “We have seen more manufacturing being kept in country,” he said. “I think that is a reaction to the increase in demand for binding that we have seen since the pandemic began. Shipping out of the Asia Pacific region is a challenge (Standard Finishing’s Horizon equipment is from a Japanese manufacturer), and we saw that impact as early as the third and fourth quarter of 2020 with limited container availability and shipping delays.” Steinke’s company has had to stretch out its forecasting and be prepared for more delays in receiving inventory. “We typically shift inventory and make sure to supply everything to customers at the very end of our calendar year; I have already been doing that since February of this year,” he said. “Those are the kind of things we have been working through, but the silver lining, I think, is that there is more business staying in our country and that is working out for the good of everyone.”

Cassidy weighed in as an adhesive distributor. “We have been hit hard from several different aspects,” he said, “including the port problems on the West Coast and the extreme weather down in Texas shutting down polymer refineries. I have spent my time making sure we are keeping customers running.” Cassidy pointed out that, in this situation, it is beneficial to have a relationship with a distributor. “We can offer a shelf of products that individual manufacturers cannot, offering products from some manufacturers that have remained strong in certain technologies and others that have remained strong in different ones.” Cassidy helped some customers test secondary products or test new products to use as alternates. “As Chris Eckhart said, you have got to keep track of your inventories and your usage. With adhesives, that means making sure you are not over-applying and that you don’t have any broken seals that are leaking glue. There are lots of moving parts, but this is why you partner with suppliers and why suppliers partner with their customers. When times get difficult, you work together to find the best solutions to keep you going.”

Embellishing with EB

By Sage M. Schissel, Ph.D., PCT Ebeam and Integration, LLC

From glitz and glam to texture and realism, embellishment can provide an added layer of pizzaz to any package. When competition for the consumer’s attention has never been so fierce, embellishment can be the differentiator that makes a package fly off the shelf – figuratively speaking, that is. Embellishment has not quite yet risen to the level of magic, though what some producers have created is nothing short of remarkable!¹ Whether it be Cast and Cure™, cold foil transfer or spot embellishments, often these techniques are achieved with UV, but did you know that they also can be accomplished with electron beam (EB)?

A popular embellishment, Cast and Cure™, uses a specialty film to emboss a pattern into an overprint varnish (OPV).² The film is temporarily laminated to the OPV while still wet, allowing the surface of the OPV to conform to the features of the film. Then, the OPV is polymerized with EB, freezing the pattern into the coating. Finally, the film is removed and rewound separately for future use. Using Cast and Cure™ in combination with EB brings a holographic ‘wow’ to photoinitiator-free, indirect-food-contact-safe, EB-curable OPVs. According to Tim Cain, president of Breit Technologies LLC, “We think there are significant opportunities to expand Cast and Cure™ within the EB market. We have had success with the food markets, and this is an area that could see a great deal of expansion.”

Need a metallic finish? Cold foil transfer is the process of transferring a metallic foil from a carrier web to the packaging substrate.³ A laminating adhesive is applied to the substrate and the foil nipped to the adhesive. The system is exposed to the beam, polymerizing the adhesive and adhering the foil, and finally, the carrier web (with any remaining foil) is removed and rewound separately. Since EB has no trouble penetrating through the opaque foil, the adhesive does not need to be activated prior to being nipped to the foil. The location of both Cast and Cure™ and cold foil transfer embellishments can be controlled by selective placement of the OPV or laminating adhesive, respectively.

The equipment requirements for both types of embellishment are identical. Both require a secondary unwind and rewind for the addition and removal of the embossing film or foil carrier web. Moreover, a laminating nip is required before the beam entrance, and another adjustable web-guiding roll is needed after exiting the beam to ensure the proper release angle of the secondary web. Any ebeam line with these capabilities is, by default, also capable of laminating and curing coatings (or inks), and thus considered a 4-in-1 line. To accommodate the thickness of the secondary web, the maximum accelerating voltage of the EB is generally 150 kV.⁴ Since nitrogen inerting is only required for coatings, the beam also can be set up for both inerting and ozone exhaust.⁵

Want an embellishment that can be both visual and tactile? Spot embellishment might be the solution. This broad term encompasses multiple methods to achieve the selective placement of coating or ink. The embellishment can be applied with a patterned flexo plate, or digital inkjet heads can be used so that the embellishment can be changed frame by frame to match a digital print. Figure 1 shows an example of the latter method; indirect gravure was used to flood coat the HP Indigo-printed substrate with a matte OPV, then clear gloss inkjet ink was patterned over top in a wet-on-wet process.

Figure 1. (A) Web path for wet-on-wet spot embellishment using an indirect gravure coater and digital inkjet. (B) Examples of EB-cured spot embellishment on HP Indigo-printed substrate (left/middle, natural light and right, blacklight). Samples were flood coated with Ashland matte and embellished with Kao Collins clear gloss inkjet ink.

The contrast of the gloss between the embellishment and the flood coat is visually appealing, but also it resulted in a tactile effect from the contrasting coefficients of friction and the additional coat weight of the embellishment. Furthermore, the ink used in this example naturally fluoresces under blacklight, providing more creative opportunities. Voltage requirements vary depending on the thickness of the embellishment but most often fall between 100 and 125 kV for packaging applications.

When considering whether to use UV or EB for an embellishment application, it is helpful to review a few key aspects of the two technologies. Both UV and EB can be used to apply embellishments on a variety of substrates for a variety of different applications; however, the fact that EB doesn’t need an initiator gives the technology an advantage when used in sensitive applications, such as pharmaceutical or food packaging. No photoinitiator in the formulation eliminates any worry of photoinitiator-fragment migration.

Elizabeth Leeper, technical developer at Daybreak Technologies, said, “The photoinitiator (PI) package has to be carefully curated around the application. Different PIs absorb light at different wavelengths, and certain films, like those used for cold foil, can block portions of the UV spectrum. Also, by weight, PIs typically are the costliest component of any UV or UV-LED formulation.”

Another difference between EB and UV is the mechanism that governs depth of cure.⁴“In UV, the bulb’s spectral output coupled with the PI’s screening of the light makes for cure gradients. This can result in poor adhesion properties,” according to Leeper. Attention must be given to UV lamps as the bulbs decay over time and reflectors become dirty, since these factors influence the spectral output.

In contrast, the filaments that produce the electrons for EB equipment either function or don’t; there is no degradation in the interim. Electrons also are not influenced by optical clarity; rather, the depth of cure is determined by material density of the coating/film and the accelerating voltage (kV) of the machine. Monte Carlo simulations can be used to determine a voltage that avoids cure gradients. Additionally, working with color-blind electrons means more flexibility when it comes to embellishing with richly pigmented and/or metallic inks and coatings.

An area where UV technology excels in comparison to EB is cost. Historically, UV has been much less expensive than EB, providing new adopters a low barrier into the market, and, over time, establishing a broader base of users. Today, EB only makes up a small fraction of the radiation curing market. However, progress has been made in the last 15 years by efficiently scaling EB to the application. With the availability of units specifically designed with maximum voltages of 100 to 150 kV, there’s significant cost savings (and reduction in footprint) in comparison to the original low-energy electron beams, which can handle accelerating voltages up to 300 kV. Furthermore, as demand increases for faster line speeds and wider webs, the cost differences between UV and EB diminish. Where UV generally requires additional lamps as line speed increases, a single EB can accommodate line speeds up to 1,300 ft/min (400 m/min).

In summary, consider the advantages of EB the next time a package calls for embellishment! Whether it’s Cast and Cure™, cold foil transfer, spot embellishment or maybe even a new embellishment technique, EB can help push the bounds of possibility.

References:

2021. FSEA Gold Leaf Awards Celebrate UV Curing. UV+EB Tech. (3).
DeDonder, M., 2015. Cast and Cure: A Game-Changing Decorative Application Process. UV+EB Tech. (3).
Embellishments: foil stamping process. https://www.labelsandlabeling.com/label-academy/article/embellishments-foil-stamping-processes
Schissel, S., 2021. EB Operation 101. UV+EB Tech. (1).
Schissel, S., 2021. Comparing EB and UV: Common Questions. UV+EB Tech. (2).

Special Diecuts Showcase the Yule Log Christmas Card

By Cienna Sorell, writer, PostPress

The Yule Log has been a comforting inspiration since its debut in 1966. The film of the burning yule log ran in New York for 23 years – up until 1989 – on the television network WPIX. The Yule Log was brought back to television due to unanimous wishes from a grieving nation after the attack on the Twin Towers in 2001, and ever since the film has been shown on WPIX on Christmas Day.

All American Labeling & Packaging, Dublin, California, created the Yule Log Christmas Card during the winter of 2020. After such a difficult year, the company wanted to make its annual gift to its customers really stand out with a unique concept. Leslie McCoy, director of marketing for the company, said, “With everyone experiencing the pandemic and being sheltered in place, we wanted the card to tie into the theme of the box, also while sending the sentiment home that they are not alone, and we can still gather and celebrate together even if we can’t physically be together.”

McCoy accredited the concept and design to All American Labeling & Packaging Creative Director Samantha Gomez. McCoy stated that, “Gomez concepted a retro TV showing the Yule Log fireplace to artistically show the Christmas Eve TV tradition that Fred M. Thrower had started in 1966. Much like the Yule Log Christmas Eve TV tradition did, our card gave everyone the opportunity to gather around the same fireplace even though we couldn’t physically be together.”

All American Labeling & Packaging was born in 1995 out of a need for a full-service label company that could partner with its clients to help build their success and drive quality products. The company offers digital, flexo and offset printing as well as folding cartons, flexible packaging, grand format printing, prototyping, digital plate making and shrink sleeves, all produced in-house. This project was custom designed in the company’s in-house creative design studio.

What made the Yule Log Christmas Card unique was the special use of diecut layers as opposed to other finishing processes. McCoy commented, “Samantha wanted to keep a retro feel to the piece and let the diecutting and design
stand out vs. showcasing other finishes for this particular piece.”

“During the design stage, Samantha created many physical and virtual 3D prototypes to show various iterations of the design and how it could be executed on press,” remarked McCoy. “Our team created a custom CAD and printed the project on the Heidelberg Speedmaster CD102+6L. It then went to the diecutter (MK Easy Matrix) and off to the blanker (TRX 1100). The cards were then hand-glued and folded,” answered McCoy, when asked to describe the processes used to create the Yule Log Christmas Card.

The Yule Log Christmas Card embodies the essence of the holiday season in a remarkable way. The comfort can not only be seen, but also felt. This card showcases such a timeless, nostalgic feeling alongside the unparalleled craftsmanship of a diecut work of art – but with an original idea comes original challenges.

“The whole concept was built from scratch,” stated McCoy, “So there are always challenges when developing a new CAD with no reference point. We have a great collaborative team that rose to the challenge and used physical and 3D visualizers to establish the final piece. In finishing, the only challenge we ran into was efficiently gluing the product to get consistent folds. Our team ended up hand-gluing them to ensure perfection!”

Upon first glance of the card, the viewer takes in the warm hues of orange and yellow gleaming from the burning yule log in the center. The 3D card, made on 100# C2S paper stock, offers four specialty diecut layers to really draw the viewer into the TV set that is showcasing the burning yule log. A string of diecut red and green stockings hangs over the hearth, making the 3D effects of the fire pop.

Once the card is open, the viewer can see the inner workings of the TV set on the left side and a note from All American Label & Packaging on the right describing the Yule Log fireplace. The sign-off from the company reads, “May your days be Merry & Bright! Sending local love your way from your friends at All American Label & Packaging.” Once the card is closed, the backside shows the rear of an old-fashioned television set, to bring home the idea of the original concept brought to life by Fred M. Thrower.

During the process of creating a 3D card, many ideas and concepts must be considered. When asked if there was any special steps or precautions to take in the way of making the card, McCoy answered, “We work with the best suppliers in the industry, allowing us to run tighter tolerances on our diecuts than most. We pushed the limits on this tool to get the best effect and created a stripping jig to help punch the intricate pieces. It started with hand stripping in the beginning, but we were able to find a more efficient and consistent way in the end.”

As far as reviews from customers, the card was a vast success. “We were thrilled with how this project turned out, and it has inspired our creativity for this year’s (2021) card and box. Our customers and employees gave nothing but rave reviews for the card. Some still have them on display on their desks and in their homes. Best compliment we could get,” remarked McCoy.

The Yule Log Christmas Card received silver in the 28^th Annual FSEA Gold Leaf Awards for Special Diecut.

Passion in Photography and Print: The Road to Potosi

By Jewlissa Frickey, assistant editor, PostPress

As once stated by American Photographer Ansel Adams, “When words become unclear, I shall focus with photographs.” Photographer Gwen Norton did just that in the Bolivian high desert region. In order to capture the essence of beauty in the photographs, Yuko Uchikawa designed the book ‘The Road to Potosi’ to accompany an exhibition of Norton’s work.

Road-to-Potosi-photos — The project displays photographs captured by Gwen Norton of the mountain ranges in the Bolivian high desert region.

The book was digitally printed CMYK by Panoramic Press and comes tucked inside a slipcase produced by Roswell Bookbinding – a Brillianta Blue cloth over 118 pt. board, with the book’s title printed in matte silver foil on the front and spine.

“The designer wanted something that was going to be unique and different, as opposed to how photographers typically present their artwork,” said Kortez Brown, specialty division manager, Roswell Bookbinding. “The way this book was designed and manufactured allowed for a panoramic shot to be seen in full view on the full-page spreads.”

Wanting to give its audience a true impression of what it was like to walk through the Bolivian desert, the art starts from the first page. Panoramic landscapes begin at the cover, with a view of land and sky, the title and photographer’s name in white against the dark mountain range that divides them, giving the appearance of a natural bellyband.¹

After opening the cover, viewers are immersed into the scenery. Each page was laminated to the next to create one long sheet, folded down accordion-style into a single 11.875 x 9 inch book. With each turn of the page, the accordion style illuminates the movement of art and enhances the story to its audience, pulling the next page forward.

“The book was printed on a KM-1 digital press, a UV press, with pretty unique settings,” said Art Webb, senior account executive, Panoramic Press. “Konica Minolta didn’t even really know it was possible to do what we did on uncoated paper.” Webb explained that Panoramic Press was only the third company to have the KM-1 installed, hoping it would handle its work long term. This included the high-end photography Panoramic Press wanted to produce in distinctive ways.

On top of the print, the size and placement of the photographs were diligently thought out, starting with a small full-body portrait of the photographer against the Bolivian backdrop that then folds out to a larger bird’s-eye view of the area. The sharp, colorful printing quality was a result of the use of Konica Minolta AccurioJet KM-1 digital press.¹

“We were experimenting with things once we had the press installed and had run this on a coated setting that was in ‘rich’ mode,” said Webb. “There are no coatings whatsoever on it. The UV inks that the press uses gives it the ability, when on a coated sheet, to look glossy and, when on uncoated sheets, the fidelity of the pictures become remarkably crisp.”

“A tremendous amount of engineering by both plants was necessary to make this book what it is,” said Webb, in reference to the partnership with Roswell Bookbinding. With a working history of over 30 years, both companies were ready to take on the project to make a final product like no other.

Panoramic Press worked closely with Roswell and the designer to generate multiple test prints using a variety of paper weights, first and foremost to see if the idea would even work. After many trials, the team finally decided on the Neenah Classic Crest Cover Solar White.

Neenah’s entire ‘Classic Crest’ line is FSC Certified and manufactured with 100% renewable energy – available in Smooth, Super Smooth and Eggshell finishes. The whites and duplex combinations allow for outstanding image reproduction that made the choice even simpler for the book production.

Each page is printed with a blank backside to paste the pages in accordion fashion. Because of this, each page has specific requirements, including a certain thickness to apply both pieces together without wrinkling while still having the pages look as flush and square as possible.

Road-to-Potosi-handmade — The book was handmade, each page printed with a blank backside to paste the pages in accordion fashion.

“My favorite part about this project is that the book was handmade,” said Brown. “Each page was pasted, by hand, back-to-back, by the handful of operators that can manufacture this type of binding.”

In a digital age, the reliance on hand-pasted book binding is becoming less frequent. By relying on one of a limited number of manufacturers capable of such specific binding, the project’s outcome was even more of a rarity. “The accuracy of hand-pasting pages together is not an easy task and was by far the hardest part of the project,” said Brown.

“It’s an inspiration to do something unique,” said Webb. “I try to get it in the hands of as many designers as I can.”

“The road to Potosi is long and winding,” the photographer wrote about her excursion, and the movement of the photos inside the book gives the same impression – one of hiking through that same beautiful terrain with miles behind the reader, and miles still to go.¹ In total, ‘The Road to Potosi’ stretches across 46 feet of paper.

“The beauty of the book is not just the photography and the things from the printing press. It’s, like Kortez has mentioned, the handmade section of this book that takes it above and beyond,” said Webb. “I’ve never seen anything, even in all my years working with Roswell, as incredibly well engineered as this project.”

As the final touches were made to the 100 + cover page product and handed over to the designer, the feedback from the client was simply put – “Astounding.” Winning Best of Show in the Western States Printing Alliance (WSPA) Awards for 2020 in the category of Digital Hardbound Books only solidified the success of the tremendous amount of work and detail that was put into this project by all contributors.

References

PaperSpecs, “Creative Book Design: ‘The Road to Potosi,’” 2021, www.paperspecs.com.

Digital Decorating and Embellishment Processes

By Kevin Abergel, marketing consultant, Taktiful

Digital decoration and embellishment processes are utilized to add a physical, visual or tactile effect to a printed piece, while also allowing variable data. In this Q&A, the true definitions of each, best applications and future potential are discussed.

What is the true definition of digital decorating and embellishments, and what types of decorating and embellishments are possible through digital processes?

Both terms can mean a variety of different things. The wonderful thing is that technology in this sector is moving so quickly that the definition of digital embellishment is constantly changing. I would define digital embellishment as the process by which a physical, visual or tactile effect is added to a printed piece of matter to enhance it using technology that allows for variability in data and significant cost-effectiveness in short runs.

We are seeing different types of digital embellishment technologies being used, and the utilization of these various techniques depends on the different budgets, desired effects, technical limitations and environmental considerations of the printers, brands and agencies that require them.

One of the oldest and most well-known types of digital embellishment is “sleeking,” whereas we remelt black toner from a digital print engine through a laminator, and instead of a roll of laminate, we alternatively load a roll of foil.

The black toner heats up, melts and sticks to the foil. Voila, instant digital and personalized foil – whatever was printed in black is now metalized. Many different effects can be reached using this technology, such as metallics, simulated spot UV and more. Still, to have this foil part of an overall CMYK+ design requires the use of multiple passes through the digital press, very high registration precision and barriers such as lamination between steps for it to work. It also should be said that the overall effect of sleeking-based output is generally going to be “flat” and not dimensionally raised. While it is not a necessarily efficient process and requires time to produce and print clicks for each pass, it offers a low cost of entry and is perfect for people who want to test the waters of embellishment.

Then, making their entrance a little over a decade ago, are the inkjet-based systems. The inkjet-based systems first started by jetting a clear ink onto printed sheets to simulate spot UV. A few years later, there was the idea that tactile effects could also be achieved by adding more layers and tactile, raised spot UV was born through an inkjet process. Finally, a few years later, the idea was born that by formulating an inkjet polymer in a specific way, it could act as an adhesive agent for transfer metallic foil products. So, the premise was, with one piece of technology having the ability to do a flat spot UV, a raised clear tactile effect and a raised foil effect could be used all in one pass on a single inkjet embellishment machine.

This helped propel digital embellishment through the adoption curve from early adopters straight into the early majority. Thanks to the many new players, new formats, new platforms and diverse budget levels, mass-level democratization had begun.

Relatively new and exciting to the market today is the next logical step in a wholly digital ecosystem. If I can print, varnish and foil digitally, the only thing left is diecutting. Luckily, new technologies have come to market that enable lasers and instant polymer dies to allow for a fully digital cutting workflow at extremely high levels of precision and impact.

Today, we are witnessing a renaissance in the print enhancement market segment, thanks to the democratization of easy-to-use digital embellishment technologies and the understanding that “informational” print is migrating online while “impactful” print is the end game in most brands print budgets today. What has been especially interesting to watch has been how digital print embellishment has also helped increase volumes on traditional analog embellishment technologies by reigniting interest in these new finishes.

What are some of the limitations of using digital inkjet coatings and foils, and what are challenges that can occur? How do users overcome these challenges?

The primary limitations users will face with digital inkjet coatings and foils revolve around optimizing the printed surface’s dyne levels (or surface tension) to get the best quality of adhesion to the sheet and an attractive smooth and wet look.

Some manufacturers have developed special liquid polymers compatible with specific inks and toner outputs to overcome the dyne disparity. Some have implemented inline corona treaters to optimize the surface tension before inkjetting.

The easiest way to overcome these challenges is to either laminate or flood UV coat the printed material before embellishments, using appropriate coatings and laminates that will have strong adhesion to the sheet while retaining excellent dyne levels. While usually giving off the best final product, this solution carries a cost, both financial and environmental.

Another question I often get asked about is how to get inkjet embellishment systems to work with uncoated substrates. The honest answer is that they don’t; it is fighting against physics. Putting a liquid of any kind onto an uncoated substrate and expecting it to work is the same as pouring water onto a sponge and hoping it doesn’t get absorbed. Now, that being said, there are a few workarounds to getting an excellent final product, but it will never match the same quality as a traditional foil stamp on a proper uncoated sheet.

A paper stock can be gotten that looks uncoated and feels uncoated, but the reality is it includes a coating on it. That being said, users may be limited to how far they can push details or solids depending on the technology and the sheet. They need to test well and know the boundaries before productizing the offering.

A toner also can be put down to act as a barrier to absorption; some digital toners can act as a seal between the liquid and the sheet but require lots of experimentation.

Finally, sheets can be precoated with a primer that will prevent varnish from getting absorbed, but the product may end up losing the intended look and feel of the paper the customer wanted.

What suggestions exist for companies involved with digital decorating processes to help them market and communicate the benefits of embellishments for print?

One of the first suggestions for a company that has recently invested into digital decorating equipment is to stop telling customers and others what specific machine it has purchased. The purchaser of the digital decorating equipment has done its homework, traveled for a demo, visited other users, bounced the idea off a few of its key customers and decided to move forward with a dazzling new piece of technology. So, there is no reason to tell people specifically what machine was invested in – simply market that the digital decorating technology is available.

Every time a company tells a potential client what machine was bought, it arms the client with the ability to easily find others with the same machine and bid the job out for the lowest price. The brutal lessons we have learned in CMYK print’s commoditization should teach us to prioritize value atop everything. There is no need to continue repeating these same mistakes.

Value is what a printer or finisher should offer when talking with a brand or agency, not price – no matter what type of embellishment processes it is selling – traditional or digital. Know-how is value, and keeping the secret sauce a secret is what has made Coca-Cola and McDonald’s the brands they are today. Don’t give away the secret sauce; wield it as a magnificent weapon to upsell and cross-sell to existing and new customer bases.

When a prospect sees an embellished sample, there should be no obligation to share how the process was done. When selling any type of embellishment for print, the printer or finisher can sell it as a special branded technique and explain why the ROI would be justified because of the impact it will have on the target customers.

I recommend coming up with a specific “brand” name for digital decorating technology, and, very importantly, have it copyrighted! It doesn’t matter what the brand name is, the idea is that it is being branded as its own technology. This can be used for other embellishment processes as well, including cold foil, laser cutting and more.

Remember, if there is a special brand name for a company’s digital decorating technology, it is branded as something owned by the company offering it, it’s copyrighted, marketed under the brand name and it ends up in a bid under the copyrighted brand, the bid goes to the company that has created the branded name.

What types of applications or technologies are foreseen in the future for digital decorating processes?

As equipment begins to get faster and less expensive to produce, I can, in the immediate future, see the breakeven volumes between digital and analog-sized jobs start to drift higher.

Secondly, I see the Industry 4.0 pointing toward eventually combining digital printing, digital spot UV, digital foil, digital dimensional and digital cutting and creasing onto single platforms for lights-out manufacturing.

Finally, I see the next major evolution of the digital decorating presses to involve the use of printed electronics for smart “connected paper,” which will have serious implications in retail packaging and direct mail but also force us to ask some strong questions around privacy and data use stemming from IoT paper.

Kevin Abergel is a 17-year veteran in the graphic communications industry,
serving in many roles with MGI, optimizing its line of print embellishment products. Throughout his career, he has been a passionate and committed advocate for the digitalization of print embellishments and now is looking forward to exploring new challenges full of infinite possibilities with Taktiful Consulting. For more information, visit www.taktiful.com.

Top 7 Ways to Improve Folder-Gluer Productivity with Simple Investments

By Stefan Badertscher, director of sales and marketing, IMPACK

Below are the seven most effective ways to maximize your folder-gluer’s productivity without holding anything back. Learn about what steps you should take, how to implement those steps and in what order.

Add an accumulation conveyor after your folder-gluer’s compression belt.

If you already have an accumulation conveyor after your folder-gluer, you can skip this step.

Adding an accumulation conveyor will allow your packing personnel the ability to accumulate more boxes per meter of conveyor, hence the name “accumulation conveyor.” This reduces the speed of your box shingle and allows more boxes within the same time frame. As a result, your packing personnel will have more time and peace of mind, which will lead to a naturally quicker packing process.

This contrasts with having your personnel pack directly from the folder-gluer’s compression belt, where there is no buffer if some boxes need to be checked or adjusted, or if some boxes slip out of their hands.

What I have seen very commonly among clients who do not have an accumulation conveyor is that their packing personnel will attempt to build their own buffer by emptying the compression belt as fast as they can. This leads to a very non-ergonomic workstation.

The accumulation conveyor allows your packing personnel to have more boxes per meter of conveyor, thus giving them a more relaxed work experience and the ability to easily resolve any issues with the cartons if, and when, they happen.

Upgrade basic tables to actual tilting tables.

If you have actual tilting tables, you can skip this step.

What is the difference between basic tables and actual tilting tables? Basic tables are tables locally made from wood or stainless steel that are used to hold the cases which are to be packed with the boxes. Very often, clients will couple those basic tables with a “tilting holder/stand” which is
used to tilt the cases to prevent the boxes from falling when placed into the case. Put simply, basic tables are fixed tilt stations.

Fixed tilt stations require the packing personnel to push the cases upwards onto a conveyor when they’re done packing the case. This represents a pushing movement of 6 to 12 kg each time a case is ejected. On top of that, and depending on the material of the case, the friction makes the filled case even heavier.

Actual tilting tables, on the other hand, are tables made of a metal frame where the case is placed on a section of free-movable parts, such as “gravity conveyor rollers.” The frame holding the case is fixed on both sides at one specific point to allow the table to pivot when the case is moved. These eliminate the friction between the case and the surface on which it is moving by using modern technologies, making the force needed to eject the case almost zero.

Once the cases have been packed, personnel close the flaps of each case and then push the case forward. Subsequently, the case gets ejected onto a conveyor or directly into the case sealer machine.

Benefits of an actual tilting table are as follows:

It is less strenuous on the packing personnel.
The table requires less manual workload.
It is faster, making a difference over time.

Add a box turner.

Another step forward would be to add a box-turning feature.

The purpose of having a box-turning feature is to rotate your boxes 90° to the left or 90° to the right and control your box orientation to meet the requested case packing configuration. If not turned, your boxes would come out standing up, which would require your packing personnel to manually turn them 90° and place them into the case.

What a box turner really does is orient the boxes in a better way for the packing personnel to facilitate the packing. This is because standard straight-line boxes typically are packed with the glue flap lying horizontally when placed into the case.

The box turner automatically facilitates this arrangement so that your packing personnel do not have to manually turn the boxes before packing them into the case. This allows for:

Avoidance of repetitive movements that lead to constant wrist injuries;
Simplification of the grabbing movement; and
Time savings during the packing process.

The implementation of the previous three tips creates the most common packing help machine on the market: a collecting table. Most collecting tables are nothing more than an accumulation conveyor combined with a tilting table and a box turner.

Integrate a case sealer.

Next, integrate a case sealing machine to automate the case taping after you have manually ejected your cases. During visits to clients, this is the one tip that always takes them by surprise.

With some easy calculations, clients quickly realize how much time (and money) they have been spending on packing personnel labor for simply taping cases. Instead of using a hand taper, as you would traditionally do, a case sealer machine allows you to fully automate the taping process so that your packing personnel do not have to manually tape any cases.

Simply push the case through the case sealing machine and the case will come out automatically taped or sealed. Taking it a step further, it even can pack cases without taping the bottom of the case. The case sealer will tape the top and bottom of the case, at once, fully automatically. This investment can save approximately three to six seconds per case.

Ensure that glued boxes do not need 100% inspection.

Equip the folder-gluer with a glue inspection system and a box ejection device. This is to make sure that the boxes coming out of the folder-gluer compression belt are well-glued, even when your folder-gluer is running at higher speeds. It is, by far, the most important step you should apply if you’re searching for ways to speed up your packing process.

Potential clients repeatedly state, “We need our personnel to inspect 100% of our boxes.” If this rings true and there is no way of sampling some boxes for inspection or having the client accept some percentage of minor imperfections, then there is no room to improve a folder-gluer’s productivity.

However, an inspection system that checks boxes during the gluing process can increase the confidence in the whole process by controlling the quality of the boxes that are being packed into cases.

The article “Quality Control Systems Key to Folder-Gluer Production Success” from PostPress magazine covers the importance of glue inspection and box ejection systems, the features and benefits they provide and things to look out for when considering those quality control systems.

Though there is no guarantee for each box to be 100% perfect, these tips can help provide confidence in producing client-approved box quality, at a percentage level that your client has agreed to.

I always tell clients to take a speed test before considering a folder-gluer packer.

If the gluer cannot go faster with more than one or two packing persons because it will lead to quality problems, this means there is one (or more) of the following problems:

Boxes cannot be glued faster without damaging them.
A new folder-gluer potentially could glue faster, but this needs to be analyzed in detail.
The boxes are well folded and glued, but the glue is not sticking as it should.
Many clients change the type of glue they use to one that offers a quicker and stronger bonding once they start running faster.
The boxes are well folded, but there is not enough glue or the glue is completely missing.

This issue can be solved with an upgraded gluing and glue inspection system. This will make sure that boxes are well-glued even when your folder-gluer is running at higher speeds.

The folding and gluing process is the core component of production. In other words, mastering the folding/gluing process should be a primary concern when thinking of automating an end-of-line process. The process of tuning a folder-gluer is more akin to craftsmanship than automation. Increasing the output of a gluer is never as easy as cranking up the speed dial of the gluer.

For example, when setting a complex box on the folder-gluer, it would take time to tune the gluer until it’s reached a good production and consistency level. The issue, though, is that when tuning the gluer, either by setting a new box or making adjustments to increase the speed, it is inevitably throwing garbage out.

The more a client moves toward automation, the more folder-gluer inconsistencies will have to be considered in the packing process. Why? If badly glued or damaged boxes are sent to the carton packer, they either will be packed and sent to the client without knowing it, or, in a more automated machine, it may create a box jam and cause a complete stop in the production line.

Incorporate pneumatic tilting tables.

Finally, incorporate pneumatic tilting tables that push cases into the case sealing machine with the press of a button or a push on a peddle.

This step would save additional time, and money, over what can be saved with the implementation of Tip #4.

Explore options of folder-gluer packaging equipment.

Once all the previous six tips have been applied, it is time to start exploring the world of folder-gluer packaging equipment and peripherals. This includes semi-automatic, automatic and fully-automatic folder-gluer packers, stackers and pre-feeders, as well as peripherals such as box turners, batch inverters, counting and separating devices, and custom solutions that are built to meet the unique and specific needs of production.

The main takeaway is that in order to realize Tip #7, Tip #5 must have been implemented carefully to master the folding/gluing process. In other words, be 100% confident that the cartons are coming out well-glued.

Once you are confident about your folding/gluing process, and you know that you either can increase your folder-gluer’s output whilst maintaining your quality or maintain your folder-gluer’s output but with fewer packing personnel, then you can begin considering folder-gluer packaging equipment and peripherals. But, knowing that you need to invest in carton packaging equipment is not “the” ultimate answer to push your folder-gluer to its full potential.

Conclusion

There are fundamental steps to take before considering packaging equipment to become the top-speed producer in your industry. The implementation of these top seven folder-gluer productivity tips creates the best position to add packaging equipment to the folding-gluing process, and, more importantly, get the highest payback off of investments in packaging equipment and peripherals.

The real tipping point between deciding whether to add a folder-gluer packer or not is the setup time. If a gluer is far from reaching its maximum speed, but two packing persons are struggling to keep up, explore the different types of folder-gluer packaging equipment and how they can help unleash a folder-gluer’s full potential.

Stefan Badertscher is the director of sales and marketing at IMPACK Packaging where he has been leading the development of an international sales network and introduction of an inbound marketing strategy. IMPACK specializes in analyzing work methods and designing equipment for manufacturers of carton board and corrugated board packaging. For more information, visit www.impack.ca.