June 2004: Collating Gets Everything in Order

At The Riverside Group, our single-sheet collating capabilities are ideal for projects as complex as this swatchbook.

Collating is one of the most overlooked processes in the post press world. It's also vital to the success of many products, including mechanically-bound books, calendars, swatchbooks and loose-leaf products. The collating process varies based on the specifics of your project. Here are a few planning tips to keep in mind:

Single-sheet vs. Signature Gathering
Collating can be performed as either single sheets or gathered signatures. The latter is used primarily for perfect binding applications and for longer production runs. Single-sheet collating can be performed on projects with varying stock sizes, thicknesses and finishes. That makes it ideal for including items such as index tabs, short sheets, and foldouts into your collated sets.

Planning Tip: Supply a Collated Set - Eliminate the need for guesswork by supplying The Riverside Group with a collated set to use as a production sample. Numbered pages won't suffice for many complex projects, especially if the content varies little from page to page (such as text-heavy applications). In addition, let us know the exact placement of index tabs within collated sets. This lets us optimize the collating process for the most efficient production possible.

Planning Tip: Place Spine Marks on Signatures - Marks on the spines of signatures ensure that we maintain proper order when gathering for perfect binding, Smyth sewing, and case binding applications.

Planning Tip: Layout Pages Close in Sequence - For high page count book projects, keeping closely-numbered pages together on press sheets can reduce production time during collating. Let The Riverside Group help you optimize your layout for efficient collating and subsequent production services.

The Riverside Group Advantage
At The Riverside Group, we're capable of collating stocks ranging from onion skin to chipboard. We've also substantially upgraded our single-sheet collating capabilities with the recent addition of a 40-bin Duplo collating system. With automatic detection of double feeds, misfeeds and paper jams, and computerized makeready and job storage, production speed and collating accuracy are greatly enhanced. Whether your project is a simple calendar or a complex swatchbook, let The Riverside Group handle your collating, folding, binding and other post press needs.