Published Article

Short-Run Binding in the Digital Age
By: Fred Daubert, Vice President, The Riverside Group
Published in: Printing News

There was a time when “short-run binding” simply referred to project runs of about 500 pieces. That’s not the case anymore—changes in the marketplace and printing technology have forever altered the short-run approach. Today, a short-run binding refers to not just the quantity, but to the short turnaround and product flexibility demands of customers.

Short-run binding has become a growing market for a number of reasons, but the rise of self-publishing and advancements in digital printing over the past several years has placed the power to produce books and other bound items into anyone’s hands. Organizations and authors that once needed financial backing from publishers and other companies are able to produce low-cost pieces of any length, in any quantity they need. If this sounds like a headache for binders and finishers, it is – but it’s also an opportunity.

Digital Challenges, Bindery Solutions
Every short-run job has a few common issues, including adequate spoilage, material costs and turnaround demands. For example, many mills have yardage minimums for cloth, specialty stock or materials required for casebound pieces, making ordering product and estimating overall costs difficult. Tipping makeready needs against pricing can lose jobs to competitors who happily store excess material. Presenting the customer with an overall vision of the project, including real costs, can tilt the scales your way.

Challenges unique to digital jobs present themselves in spoilage considerations. Typical binding requires 6-7% spoilage to be included in any order to account for makeready pieces and product that is ruined due to human or machine error. The rise of digital printing has altered the norms for most ‘traditional’ trade binderies.

Typical trade binderies aren’t well suited to the influx of digital material in the marketplace for one enormous, almost immoveable reason: equipment. Traditional equipment is built for offset printing and will require more makereadies for digital work, regardless of run length. The percentage may balloon to as high as 15% normally, and grow even larger for short-run digital jobs, where 15% might only be a few pieces.

Some digital pieces can be quite expensive, with print costs as high as $30 per unit. Many printers simply can’t afford to supply ready-to-ruin pieces at $30 a pop, but they can often supply stock of the same dimensions for makeready purposes. ‘Live’ material is always better for makeready as it provides the machine operator with knowledge as to layout and accurate production specifications. In a pinch, blank sheets comprising roughly 25 books can serve as a substitute for preparing finishing work when adequate makereadies aren’t available.

Even after supplying materials and managing makeready issues, short-runs can present problems when producing the product. Most short-run work lacks margins large enough to adjust equipment on-the-fly, and, as we’ve discussed, there is seldom enough spoilage to make up for a few dozen poorly cut pieces. That’s why there is simply no substitute for machinist skill. Operators ready for transitions and variances in both product and machine are often the difference between a perfect run and a reprint. Binderies that continue to train and properly supervise production staff will have the edge in making short-run work profitable.

Moving forward, digital printing technology may provide its own solutions. Until then, trade binderies with traditional equipment need to find solutions to finishing digital work efficiently and inexpensively.

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Fred Daubert is Vice President of the Riverside Group, an "under-one-roof" bookbinding and finishing company located in Rochester, N.Y. They specialize in both soft and hard cover binding production, including perfect binding; PUR binding; notch binding; Smyth sewing; cased-in mechanical and perfect binding; and more. Additional capabilities include mechanical binding; laminating and UV coating; folding; gluing; tabbing; die cutting; foil stamping; embossing and more. For more information, contact Fred Daubert at (800)777-2463, or book@riversidegroup.com.