Materials Handling in the Bindery — Moving It on Over

Call it paper kinesiology 101. The science of moving materials around the bindery is getting ever more digitized and automated, if not complicated. It is taking its cue from current automation trends up the production stream—although it can be difficult to automate the entire finishing process.

“Printers have picked the low-hanging fruit available to them by automating the prepress and pressroom areas,” explains Dennis Mason, president of Western Springs, IL-based Mason Consulting. “In many operations, the bindery remains a veritable beehive of activity, with people performing a wide variety of tasks. But it is this same incredible variety of tasks that makes it difficult for printers to remove labor through automation. Instead, a major trend in printers thinking about automation involves setting labor standards and making tasks uniform in order to increase productivity and throughput.”

According to Terry Choate, operations and general manager of Banta Catalog Group, there are many trends affecting the bindery today, which, in turn, will impact the way materials are handled. “From an operations perspective, binderies are facing severe manpower shortages,” Choate says. “Machine speeds are going up, while personnel numbers are going down. Binderies need to find more effective ways to handle the customer’s product and get it through the bindery at higher speeds and with less people.”

To this end, Banta is moving towards automating bindery processes rather than relying on manual processing to keep up with the pace of machines. It continually works on creating more efficiency. For example, Banta bundles in logs versus hand stacking on pallets for increased efficiency and speed.

Mason points out that digital workflows are beginning to incorporate bindery functions in-line with the press. “At Drupa, we saw many instances of in-line finishing, all of which is beginning to blur the line between the bindery and the pressroom—much as the line between prepress and the pressroom has been blurred by the advent of computer-to-plate and closed-loop color.”

Bindery equipment manufacturers showed a great variety of automated bindery equipment at the recent Drupa and Graph Expo trade shows. “(Manufacturers) have also embraced JDF and appear ready to provide printers with the equipment they will need to take full advantage of the integrated automation possibilities of JDF,” Mason reports. “It remains to be seen how printers will adapt this equipment to their operations.”

While many manufacturers are offering more automated finishing equipment, some users are not ready to implement all of the capabilities just yet.

“When we buy equipment now, we verify that it’s CIP4-compliant, but we utilize that technology on a limited basis in the bindery,” admits Mike McLaughlin, director of production at Challenge Printing in Shakopee, MN. “Our operators, like many others, can punch a program into a cutter or set up a folder pretty quickly. Though a complete digital workflow from order entry through finishing is intriguing, this technology, like any other, needs to be carefully thought out and measured on its return.”

For some applications, however, digital workflows have changed the way materials are handled in the bindery, adds Tom Benedict, senior vice president of sales and marketing, Banta Catalog Group. One example is accuracy of ink-jet addresses and messages on mailings.

“The Postal Service’s MERLIN system requires the printed barcode to be completely legible, so Banta has implemented its proprietary Banta Vision System, which places barcode readers on the bindery line,” Benedict notes. “The Banta Vision System verifies the accuracy of information and reads every barcode that goes through the machine. If the barcode is not legible, it rejects the product and reorders it in the system. As the only printer with this system, our direct marketing customers can realize savings, efficiency and increased productivity.”

In the immediate future, Banta’s marketing exec sees more marrying of conventional and digitally printed pieces on the binding line. Because of digital workflows, there is an opportunity to digitally produce covers, order forms and selected signatures on the binding line, he says.

“Direct marketers can analyze their customer responses based on data gathering and knowledge and, within hours before binding, are provided opportunities to make smarter decisions regarding product selection and messaging, among other factors.”

Binderies always search for more efficient ways to reduce the tremendous costs associated with materials handling—looking for the shortest distances possible, loading materials with as few motions as possible, and using lifts and other devices to relieve a handler’s dexterity and physical strength, states Werner Rebsamen, professor emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology and an expert on the bindery.

“Despite these efforts, materials handling is still perhaps the most costly, labor-intensive task in any print finishing environment,” Rebsamen contends. “During past R&E Council bindery seminars, some speakers have stated that 40 percent of everything (they) do in the bindery is lifting up and stacking down materials.”

Hands-on Area
No matter how automated the graphic arts industry becomes, a great deal of manual handling of materials will remain, Rebsamen believes. “With the exception of in-line systems, (most) materials to be bound come from various sources—on pallets, in boxes, crates, etc. They all must be sorted and moved to the gathering machines. Some of the materials arrive weeks earlier, some at the last minute.”

Because of this, equipment manufacturers are paying closer attention to the safety and ergonomics involved with continuous, long-term materials handling, Challenge Printing’s McLaughlin points out. “Cutting systems can be purchased with turnkey material handling systems for loading and unloading lifts from the cutter bed,” he says. “Portable scissor lifts and permanent in-floor lifts are more common to bring materials to the working level of the operator. Load turner/aerators have become more widely accepted in the industry, and even department layout is given more consideration—all in an effort to reduce injuries and fatigue, as well as to aid throughput.”

As more and more binderies install these labor- and time-saving capabilities, these abilities also increase the importance of the finishing area.

“Binderies will become more of a critical function based on the marketing applications and the ability of digital printing apparatuses to interweave into the binding line,” Banta’s Benedict predicts.

Rebsamen concludes that we are far from seeing the bindery living up to its automation potential. In years to come, more and more companies will move to a more automated process. It’s up to suppliers how far it can go.

“Due to the great variety of work to be processed in print finishing, it is always best to discuss any future investments with your suppliers,” Rebsamen recommends. “It is simply amazing what can be designed and implemented.” PI