On-demand Finishing Finesse

But what happens when traditional printers make the leap into short-run digital imaging—either black-and-white, high-speed laser or digital color—and the printing of customized, variable information?

Substantial adjustments must be made to finishing facilities serving on-demand printing operations.

• In-house finishing is essential because the average printer cannot afford to send the work to a trade bindery and then wait for the job to return. If the work involves variable data, every set is an original and there is no overage. Printers are reluctant to entrust this work to an outside bindery because there is no tolerance for setup waste.
• Quick setup and changeover are mandatory because short-run economics don't permit excessive breakdown or setup times. While it may be economical to print just one copy digitally, these saving can easily evaporate in finishing setup time.
• Accuracy of setups is critical. Every book, from the first one off the press, must be of salable quality. There's no room for makeready spoilage, especially on personalized, customized work. For setups to be dead-right the first time, finishing equipment must be engineered to tight manufacturing tolerances.
• Ease-of-use is another factor. Instead of this work flowing through a traditional bindery, a printer may want to cross-train its digital print operators rather than use dedicated bindery staff.
• Single operator systems help keep labor costs down as a percentage of total job cost. Labor is the most important cost variable print-on-demand printers must control to ensure profitable operations.
• Decide where to finish. On-line or off-line. The benefits of on-line finishing are obvious: very high set integrity, as the sheets never leave the system; labor costs are kept low; and a streamlined production path is established.