Inkjet's Age, a print supplement to Quick Printing, is a business and technology brand dedicated to corporate and senior management and focusing on issues surrounding inkjet printing technology in all its forms. Inkjet's Age covers the industry news,
Issue link: https://quickprinting.epubxp.com/i/374926
18 SEPTEMBER 2014 • INKJET'S AGE www.MyPRINTResource.com The Standard Hunkeler Signature Book Block Solution produces glued book blocks consisting of 4-page, 6-page, or 8-page signatures coming off a 30-inch wide web. The glued book blocks can be easily transferred to a near-line perfect binder. set-up for the new signature, and no need to combine the signatures separately," he said. "Variable finishing basically com- bines these three steps into one process." Ease of use is another capability merit- ing strong consideration. While it has always been important, it is even more so as the workforce undergoes a generational shift. "Easy-to-navigate touch screens play a part in the equation, but the accessibil- ity of the machine's components is also important," he said. "A lot of time can be gained or lost de- pending on the 'operator friendly' nature of a machine and its components." Finishing equipment manufacturers need to comprehend and engineer for the many unique requirements of high-speed inkjet presses, to ensure non-stop opera- tion and efficient production, observed Don Dubuque, director of marketing for Andover, MA-based Standard Finishing Systems. Considerations include web width, web speed, paper used, percent coverage, handling the wet sheets with care to avoid any smudging, and being able to remove any set-up or waste sheets during changeover and ramp-up set-up, he reported. Inline vs. Offline Many print service providers are inter- ested in having all finishing inline, Peter- son said. That can include a saddle-stitch booklet maker or a perfect binder, both helpful in maximizing throughput and minimizing labor. Still, there is a rationale for going of- fline, he added. As presses get faster and faster, they're also growing more and more expensive. PSPs must optimize their in- vestment return by keeping them up and running as much as possible. "Going offline can help you do that, because operating roll-to-roll is the most reliable way to keep printers up and run- ning," he argued. "The more equipment you chain together, the more points of potential failure there are, and the more down time you're going to experience. Operating roll-to-roll, rewinders and unwinders are very reliable pieces of equipment. "What that means is that you're mini- mizing the potential downtime of your printer caused by feeding or finishing. Compare that to cutters and stackers moving stacks of paper, and it doesn't take an engineering genius to realize there are more points of potential failure." Manieri said inline and offline finish- ing both serve a purpose. The real issue, he argued, is the respective advantages of each technique. Inline finishing is the ideal set-up for print providers who run one type of product, process sensitive documents, or consistently process high- volume job runs. "Offline—finishing sometimes called near-line finishing—is ideal for print pro- viders that offer a wide range of products to customers, have short-medium job runs, or have separate plants for press and finishing processes," he said. Spatial Considerations Floor space considerations depend greatly on the print provider's requirements and tend to vary widely, Manieri said. A book production line, for instance, will require a much larger footprint than a simple mailer, he pointed out. Inline finishing can potentially provide more space-saving benefits, Peterson said. "If you're operating roll-to-roll, you have a rewinder on the back of the printer and feed it into the cutter," he noted. "If you take it inline, you have eliminated the rewinder and the corresponding unwinder to reclaim more space." According to Dubuque, the need for space efficiency is a constant, and inkjet print and finishing lines are no excep- tion. Modular finishing systems give PSPs more layout flexibility when configuring their finishing solutions, allowing those "Ease of use has always been important, but it is even more so as the workforce undergoes a generational shift. A lot of time can be gained or lost depending on the 'operator friendly' nature of a machine and its components."