Finishing Flexibility

The pressure of on-demand finishing is not for the faint of heart. Still, in all the hoopla over print-on-demand output and marketing, little attention is showered on the specialized bindery demands that help realize on-demand's full potential.

BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO

Ask Claude Monette, president and COO of Thebault DI—the digital printing arm of L.P. Thebault—what struggles his operation finds in the vast array of on-demand finishing combinations it must execute daily and Monette will offer a plethora of thoughts.

"Typically, the struggles of finishing in an on-demand printing environment are with the seemingly endless finishing combinations that on-demand products lend themselves to—from a simple trim-and-pack job to a customized diecut, embossed and personalized print product. Each presents their own set of unique challenges and time demands," Monette explains.

"For on-demand finishing, we deal with an enormously diversified customer base. We combine many digital services under one roof and so, logically, our finishing effort becomes a full-service bindery for many complex applications," he continues. "As an on-demand printer, we are constantly looking for finishing equipment that can deliver high quality saddlestiching, scoring, trimming, saddle-wire binding and more without cracking, scuffing or marking our toner-based products. It's a real challenge."

Obviously, an on-demand printer such as Thebault DI—which relies on Agfa Chromapress technology—must be able to assure customers that deadline-sensitive print jobs will be produced on time. After all, there's little advantage to digital color output if a job cannot be finished quickly.

As a result, in-house finishing capabilities are necessary for an on-demand printing operation, which must decide if in-line or off-line finishing, or more commonly a combination of the two, will bolster its digital printing effort with enough postpress power.

The benefits of in-line finishing include high set integrity, as well as a streamlined production path.

On the other hand, off-line finishing allows a digital output device to print at full-rated speeds, as finishing is done several feet away from point of output.

Whether in-line or off-line, the need to have automated finishing capabilities in the on-demand printing environment is critical. A fully functioning in-house bindery dedicated to on-demand output is the necessary final link in a production cycle that incudes all the glamour of variable data printing and customized, digital color output.

Digital Demands
"As digital printing enters the mainstream of publication and commercial printing, many of the operational paradigms of finishing need to be reexamined both by print providers and equipment vendors," contends Mark Fleming, president of Naperville, IL-based Strategies on Demand, a marketing, financial and operations consulting firm catering to digital print providers.

Fleming suggests that existing on-demand printers—and those looking to expand their capabilities portfolio by investing in a digital color press—consider the following facts of life for finishing in an on-demand environment.

• Finishing is an integral component of the on-demand production and distribution service. This isn't a capability that can be outsourced or left to the client. The compelling driver for on-site finishing is time.
• Pricing for on-demand production frequently differs from the conventional makeready-run structure. On-demand production and distribution can make the customer's product costs entirely variable. While this advantage is a strong selling point, it requires that the price of the product cannot change with the quantity ordered.

  Digital providers must recover the added value of on-demand printing and finishing by bundling these services into a unit price, rather than the traditional makeready and per-thousand run price.

• In on-demand finishing, the make-ready is more important than the run. One of the most common mistakes that Fleming sees is investment in high-cost finishing equipment designed for speed rather than flexibility. As a result, the printer's fixed manufacturing costs are weighted down by underutilized bindery capacity.
• On-demand finishing is not necessarily best suited for in-line finishing. The digital printing equipment manufacturers frequently promote high technology in-line folding, binding and trimming solutions for on-demand production using the long-run, standardized product paradigms that have existed in the older digital printing and mailing industry.

So, in what areas can today's digital finishers improve? Fleming offers the following suggestions.

• Closer electronic integration of finishing systems with digital production management systems to ensure the integrity of the finished product.
• Lower cost, versatile case-binding solutions. Literally one-half of the potential market for digital book printing awaits this advance.

As just one player in a still emerging, fledgling market that includes offerings from Duplo USA and Standard Finishing, among others, Roll Systems provides feeding and finishing technologies specifically for for on-demand finishing.

Its DocuSheeter 6180/6135 supports Xerox black-and-white cut-sheet printers; BookMaster is compatible with continuous-web printers from IBM and Océ; and its Digital Color Unwinder is designed to work with Agfa Chromapress, IBM InfoPrint Color, Xerox DocuColor and Xeikon digital color presses.

"The finishing demands of on-demand printers will vary greatly by printer model. Each kind of printer has its unique characteristics," cautions Jules Fried, vice president of marketing for Roll Systems. "For example, each printer handles different media at different speeds; this affects finishing. We see two trends: continuous web users are looking to use lighter and lighter basis weights and, secondly, the movement toward a standardization of output."

Meeting the Market
The paradox is that while shorter run lengths become feasible, Fried continues, it will still be difficult to change the format of each run. So the industry will begin to see standardization of media and finishing formats. This will make in-line finishing attractive as a way to reduce labor, improve document integrity and speed turnaround.

"Very little finishing equipment has been designed specifically to work with on-demand printing equipment," Fried argues. "Most of the equipment being used today is either existing pressroom or bindery equipment that customers already have installed, or traditional graphic arts equipment that vendors have adapted for use with the new technology."

True, the on-demand printing market has not yet seen a variety of finishing products sporting designs that reflect a production process devoted to the digital printing of short run lengths. "We expect to see evolution here," Fried projects.

Will it be evolution or revolution for the on-demand finisher? Will off-line finishing continue to be the most highly utilized course of action for on-demand printing—or will in-line solutions gain in prominence? Once again, the on-demand printing market will dictate its own technological course of action.

Xerox Covers On-demand Postpress

What's Critical for On-demand Printing? Customized Finishing

By Jerry Sturnick, manager, Feeding & Finishing Applications, Xerox Production Publishing Systems.

Since the advent of print-on-demand (POD) technology and the DocuTech Production Publisher, Xerox has collected significant knowledge over the years about how commercial printers use digital printing. This insight gives us a unique perspective on the finishing needs and challenges of today's digital environments.

Our data concludes that some 90 percent of POD pages are finished in some way, such as stapling, three-hole punching, shrink wrapping and binding.

Of these finishing technologies, three categories have emerged: in-line finishing, off-line finishing and automated off-line. Each provides unique cost and productivity advantages to meet the differing needs of individual print shops.

In-line finishing can be used with almost all finishing technologies, including all stapling and most tape and signature binding. One key benefit is that the automation of in-line often reduces staffing costs and cuts turnaround times.

Off-line finishing is the most common finishing technique and accounts for 80 percent of shrink-wrap, lay-flat, perfect and three-hole work. Off-line is optimal when a range of applications are produced on one printer. Also, the initial investment in technology can be less expensive than in-line.

Automated off-line is used increasingly in POD applications. It can finish collated pages based on coded documents or by the offsetting of pages by the printer. For example, a solution for the DocuTech with DigiPath Production Software is making labeling equipment obsolete by printing variable data directly onto the page. The benefits include reduced post-printing costs and quicker turnaround.

Solutions for digital color are at an earlier development stage than black-and-white, though color's growing popularity is spawning the next wave in innovative finishing solutions. The market will begin to see in-line trimmers, advanced color sheet interposers and integrated software solutions.

However, digital color finishing presents unique challenges, especially for laminating, trimming and folding. Digital color requires a wider range of surfaces and finishes—comparable to offset printing demands.

Color finishing solutions, along with the wide range of other POD and variable data solutions, are growing as the opportunities of this burgeoning market are realized. Commercial printers will increasingly be able to find equipment and build solutions that push the envelope and precisely match their unique finishing requirements.