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Using Bindery Automation to Combat Rising Costs and Declining Margins
By: Mark Hunt
CIM, JDF, CIP4, and JAA (Just Another Acronym)
Printers of all stripes are under assault by acronyms. Industry pundits predict the end of print as we know it unless we adopt computer integrated workflows driven by job description format (JDF) files formally approved by the International Cooperation for the Integration of Processes in Prepress, Press and Postpress (CIP4).
Wow.
Be that as it may, your goals are probably a little different; you’re just trying to decide how to improve make-ready times on your saddlestitching or perfect binding lines so to handle short-run work efficiently and without breaking into long runs. Or you may need to finish variable pre-collated sheets from your new digital color press without sacrificing finish quality. Either way, you know you need automation…you’re not sure to what extent.
Well there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is it’s probably short-sighted to make any capital investment in post-press equipment that isn’t JDF-enabled. The good news, though, is that you’re under no obligation to implement JDF today. It’s not an all-or-nothing proposition, and it shouldn’t cost you more.
Most leading post-press equipment manufacturers have a CIP4 game plan that provides some level of step-wise JDF implementation that allow you to automate set-ups today, then plug into a fully-integrated MIS workflow when and if you’re ready. And, generally speaking, buying “JDF-ready” equipment shouldn’t carry a heavy surcharge, although some added costs are likely when hardware and software integration begins.
Justify the Buy
The approaches used by different types of printers to justify a bindery investment says a great deal about where the print market is heading.
It used to be fairly simple to build the case for post-press investment. You’d do the math on the back of an envelope, evaluate your old finishing process (n units of books/booklets finished per day/week/month, with a labor burden of y, with an average unit resale price of $x.xx), then you’d plug in the variables associated with new process and calculate the difference between the two results. If you could negotiate a good price, swing a reasonable lease rate, get a trade-in on your old gear, and end up making or saving more money over a reasonable timeframe, then you’d more than likely proceed.
Today, a host of other factors come into play. Set-up/make-ready time can be huge, depending on how many different jobs you have per day/week/month, or expect to attract with the new equipment. And the mix keeps changing as run-lengths overall decline. Customers also expect ever-quicker turnarounds, so the new process needs to get product out-the-door or on to the next process (mailroom, for example) as rapidly as possible. Labor variables are changing, too -- you may be unable to count on (or afford) the same level of expertise to run the new equipment. A different skill set may be needed. And as more digital imaging enters the finishing flow, you may also need post-press methods that support pre-collated output. The math has become much, much tougher, so the “envelope justification” has been replaced by complex spreadsheets that can help you take these and other factors into consideration.
Now more than ever, printers need to understand their real costs on each job to stay profitable. Ideally, anything that can be measured would figure into the equation; set-up time, run time, down-time due to preventative maintenance or equipment failure, labor, waste, energy costs…and the list goes on. Only by keeping close tabs on bindery shop floor metrics can printers determine real job costs, and only then can they look to squeeze more efficiency from their processes and identify equipment and staffing issues in need of attention. This need for metrics in the bindery can be supported by systems that capture real-time job statistics and also provide JDF set-ups, job management and production scheduling.
Expect to see higher and higher levels of digital control in the bindery: on-board intelligent automation with servomotor control; networked systems that capture job statistics from several machines for cost review and analysis; and the ability to exchange data with MIS systems for enterprise-wide visibility and standardized, repeatable processes. Digital control will become the de facto standard in the bindery, just as it has in upstream print production processes, and just as it has in other industries where computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) has transformed their way of doing business.
Adopting CIM
Whatever technical barriers to widespread CIM adoption exist –- interoperability may be the biggest, resulting in what have been dubbed “islands of automation” –- cultural barriers might be equally daunting. Even so, CIM may be one of the most effective ways for printers to escape the whipsaw effect of rising costs and declining margins –- in the bindery, and across their print operation.
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Mark Hunt is director of marketing for Standard Finishing Systems, a leading distributor of post-press and paper handling solutions for the graphic arts and digital print industries. Hunt has co-chaired two industry-funded studies, including the recent “Installed Base and Market Potential for Bindery/Finishing Technologies,” is a frequent contributor to a range of graphic arts publications, and has spoken at numerous print industry events, including Graph Expo, On Demand, and the Research and Engineering Council. Hunt is a graduate of the University of New Hampshire with a degree in business administration.
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