Printers Checklist for Edition Binding
Most printers have well established Standard Operating Procedures. But when it comes to sending out a job for Edition binding, it may not be something they have established guidelines for. One of the key pieces of information we like to know BEFORE we receive a job from a printer is: what is the supplied (untrimmed) size of the book block and what will it’s final size be? We need this to match up corresponding end sheets and possibly order the correct size before we get the job in.
Here is a checklist of the information to be used for Hard Cover Binding projects.
1. Provide a written description/Purchase Order of specifications including:
– Book title/Job name
– Binding Method
– final trim size of interior pages
– page count
– paper stock
– end sheet materials (plain white, Natural or other)
– cover material (Type and color of cloth or printed cover)
– spine style (see the link here: Spine Styles)
– foil stamping information
– foil color Standard choices are Gold Silver White or Black)
– stamping on front only, front & spine, spine only or other
– dimensions of the total stamping area
– Lamination of covers or jackets: Gloss,Matte or Linen finish
– Head & Tail Bands: please provide color description
– Packing instructions: state if there should be a specific # of copies per box, or just bulk packing
Indicate if shipment is just in boxes or if it needs to be palletized in a specific manner.
Shrink wrapping: in sets of a specific number or individually
– Quantity (include what the order is and how many acceptable “overs”. You need to usually supply us 5 to 10% over runs.
please check with us for specifics on the particular job.
– Shipping instructions and location– please tell us if it is Regular ground UPS, 2 day, or next day or if a
common carrier truck line is to be contacted for shipping
– Delivery dates– please be specific on what date we need to ship by and what date your customer requires
arrival of shipment
2. Provide a paginated “dummy” or sample as a reference
3. Make sure grain direction of all supplied materials runs parallel to the spine edge
4. If you supply a printed end sheet, please supply them folded and at the same size as the untrimmed interior pages of the book
5. Margins—Please supply a 1-up book block to us in the following format
– Ultra Bind: allow 1/16” extra on the spine edge and 1/8” on top, bottom and face edges
– Side Sewn: cut the spine edge to it’s final trim and allow 1/8” on top, bottom and face edges
Keep in mind that the side sewing goes through the side of the spine edge 1/4” in– please allow
a safe area of at least an extra 1/4” beyond that.
– PUR Perfect Bound: allow 1/8” on all 4 sides
– EVA Perfect Bound: allow 1/8” on all 4 sides
– Smyth Sewn: folded 16 page signatures with 1/4” lip on the high side folio, allow extra 1/4” on top, bottom
and face edge. DO NOT perforate the spine edge on your signatures.
6. Pack all materials tight and safe.
Please put extra cardboard around all edges to protect the book blocks from damage in transit.
Add a brightly colored slip sheet divider between each set of books. Please do not
use the same color slip sheet as the interior pages ( example: white pages with a white slip sheet)
7. Provide your contact information (telephone and email and shipping address) and be accessible if we have questions
There is always more I have not covered here- such as having artwork fit to our templates for covers and jackets. I will try to address those issues more in depth on a future post. Your inquiries, questions and comments are always welcome.
Copyright 2012 Martin Pugh All Rights Reserved
Printers Checklist for Edition Binding
How to achieve perfection in 2012
I have little hope that all will go 100% perfect in the New Year. I have been doing this for far too long. Perhaps it’s that group of humans I conduct business with- or the humans who do the actual work in the bindery. Lo and behold, let me not forget my own human condition! But as we approach a New Year, I ask myself…”what if…….”
It’s easy to dismiss perfection, but there still is room for improvement. So what if….?
What if…we all improved our productivity by 1% per month over a 12 month period? How could we do that?
What if…I as a sales person spent more time every day just focusing solely on the 4 tasks that sales is all about: (Prospecting, Qualifying, Questioning and Closing), instead of dealing with all the other production problems, plant meetings interruptions and unnecessary diversions-(such as plant meetings)?
What if… our production people spent more time producing real work rather than dealing with work arriving in a non-conforming manner (or attending plant meetings)?
What if…our customers got quotes faster, answers to questions on jobs promptly and delivery when they wanted more often instead of hearing that so and so is in another meeting or tied up on another call?
What if… the owners of our bindery found a way to satisfy the demands of the marketplace and maintain a reasonable profit margin on work while dealing with the escalating costs of health insurance, industry compliance issues, equipment upgrades and uncertain economic factors?
It would be nice to say I have all of the answers- except I don’t. But I do have a few, and I know that many of the failures of anyone’s day to day operations are a result of a lack of planning. Having an agreed upon action plan before attempting to enter the game is vital.
My goals this coming year include completion and implementation of a new work-flow software system that will help make our process of handling edition binding work more efficient, creating a more proactive system of communication with customers, improving quality control, reducing errors and minimizing re-works.
My mantra for the new year will be the same as the last several: “Don’t blame the person, fix the system” and “Quality must be built into the system, not inspected in”. Thank you Mr. Deming.
What if…..?
What if… we got each department to set some specific goals? What if we got the owners to agree to make it mandatory to keep after this for weekly and monthly tracking purposes? What if… we got our customers involved in this through continual education workshops or webinairs?
Well, I know as I start a new year, that by writing these goals down, I will be alot more likely to achieve some of them than if I don’t plan at all. What if our company did this as a group? What if we followed through on it all year long?
Well obviously we would have to have a few company meetings to get to this point, and there may be some going back to customers to help improve communications, and of course we’d have to go to some trade shows to see new equipment being used so that we could make the proper decision on what to buy and then of course there would need to be a meeting or two on that to finalize plans…. Well, as you can see, things may never be perfect…..but what if?
Happy New year everyone! If you have been reading this far, you may already realize this is all a bit tongue in check- yet something we all should be thinking about!- and we do!
As always, I welcome your calls, comments, and inquiries!
Copyright 2011 Martin Pugh All Rights Reserved
How to achieve perfection in 2012
