Capability is important. "Quick printers need to finish products as much as possible in-house, due to the time and cost of sending out their finishing," says Doug Sherwood, Western sales manager, Rollem International.

Chris Harrington, director of sales, Graphic Whizard Inc., says today’s print providers look for niche and value-add markets to complete their service offerings. They also look for, "methods and solutions to best automate what were once traditionally labor intensive tasks, particularly in the area of finishing.

While the March/April issue is the official ON DEMAND issue, you can be sure these solutions and more will be on the show floor in April, serving the on demand finishing needs of quick print and copy shops.

Binding
Bindery is an essential part of any on demand finishing operation, from wire binding to perfect bound book finishing. Many solutions are available to suit printer’s low- to high-volume production requirements.

C.P. Bourg’s Bourg Binder BB2000 produces perfect bound booklets with covers or padded documents. The solution’s no-tools setup feature, combined with automatic cover clamping, enhances quality and high-speed production. The BB2000 provides a binding thickness of up to 60 millimeters.

ExactBind’s PBS-6101 utilizes an EVA gluing system to bind soft and hardcover binding solutions, and is ideal for short to medium book runs. The company’s PBS-2000 tabletop binder is compact and features a semi-automatic push button operation; it is ideal for low-volume requirements.

The Fastbind FotoMount F32 Workstation consists of the Fastbind FotoMount F32 Photobook Maker, the Ideal 4205 Guillotine with stand, the Fastbind FotoCreaser C33, and an ergonomic rack for an all-in-one photobook production solution.

Nordson’s BetterBook binding solutions provide comprehensive hot melt and PUR adhesive systems for soft and hardcover bookbinding, including premelting and side and spine gluing of perfect bound books or book blocks.

Spiel Associates offers a variety of bindery products, including the Sterling DigiPunch, a high-speed machine that allows for double loop wire, plastic coil, or any hole patters at speeds of up to 60,000 sheets per hour (sph). The company also offers its Sterling Punchmaster 20, which punches for double loop wire, spiral, plastic coil binding, T-slots, or plastic comb binding.

Spiral Binding is a manufacturer and distributor of finishing equipment. The company provides binding products ranging from paper lock systems to perfect binding equipment.

Unibind’s Resin SteelBinding ST1025 includes ten heaters and nine cooling spaces and handles up to 50 books at a time.

Coating and Laminating
Dry-Lam’s Fujipla PLUSTER offers single-sided laminating for digital prints. The PLUSTER automatically feeds, laminates, and trims digital prints while virtually unattended. The 120 volt, 1,400 watt laminator does not require special wiring and has a compact footprint.

Drytac Corporation offers a full line of UV-curable liquid coaters. The newest addition is the VersaCoater DocuMate Plus-—a solution that features built-in infrared-—is designed to handle wax-infused inks. The device has a 3.5x3.5-inch footprint, and is capable of coating printed documents and photos up to 13 inches wide.

Epic Products International offers the Epic CT-660 offline coater, which contains CoatTech Anilox coating technology similar to systems used inline on offset presses. The precision Anilox roller and doctor blade produce consistent coating results on long or short runs.

GBC Commercial’s GBC 620os is a one-sided, on demand laminator designed to match economical mid-volume digital color printers and copiers on the market today. The solution features a semi-automatic feed table and dual gates that automatically set overlap, an automatic separator, and Teflon coated heat rollers. The laminator operates at 45 feet per minute.

Kompac offers its Kwik Finish UV/Sapphire/Aqueous/Specialty Coating and Curing System. The Kwik Finish allows for spot coating, handles thin substrates, features a standard auto feeder, and boasts a five minute coating change with the Kompac Vac.

Crease and Fold
Baumfolder Corporation offers its BAUM 30 AutoSet folder, providing greater productivity with faster setups. BAUM incorporates the exclusive BAUM ifold tutorial system as a standard feature of the BAUM AutoSet 30 series folders. The folders are available in many configurations, with a eight and 16-page right angle, K20 Knife folder, and a wide selection of presser stacker delivery units.

Count Machinery features its EZ Creaser for automatic creasing, perforating, and scoring. The company’s microprocessor controls the stepper motor-driven transport with precision. Crease positions can be placed in up to eight locations per sheet.

Graphic Whizard’s CreaseMaster line includes the CreaseMaster plus, ideal for mid- to high-volume users. Available in two production speeds, 3,600 square feet per hour (sf/h), or 4,600 sf/h, the solutions offer multiple creases per sheet, job memory, and an optional strike perf.

MBO America offers a modular solution for tabletop folders, the MBO FOLDMASTER system. Designed for on demand markets, the FOLDMASTER line consists of automated and manual buckle folders, knife folders, feeders, and creasing and perforating units.

Morgana offers its AutoCreaser 33, which uses the latest digital measuring technology. The machine features heavy-duty creasing die and matrix for media flexibility. The company also offers the DigiFold 5000P, which operates at speeds of up to 5,000 sph.

Cut/Trim/Slit
Challenge Machinery’s Titan 265/230/200 cutter features innovative computer engineering and a memory that stores up to 99 cuts per channel. The machines offer a user friendly, menu-driven LCD screen, variable mode data entry, and a 23-inch cutting width.

Duplo USA provides its DC-645 Slitter/Cutter/Creaser for finishing digital color documents. At a speed of up to 26 sheets per minute, the solution slits, cuts, and creases a variety of full-bleed applications in a single pass.

GBR Systems Corporation’s 438 cutter/folder and feeder/folder systems process up to 38,000 sheets an hour printed two-up. Working online with conventional non-intelligent inserters the solutions provide up to 30 stations of selection and communicate serially with intelligent inserters.

MBM Corp. provides Triumph cutters, which are manufactured in Germany by IDEAL Krug & Priester. Triumph cutters offer SPS safety features and are certified under a quality management system. Designed to meet the cutting needs from offset to on demand, the Triumph series provides a wide range of solutions.

Serving the needs of higher volumes, Muller Martini’s Orbit three-knife trimmer uses its innovative technology and full automation at the highest net capacity. Optimum trimming speed is a decisive factor in the production of a high-quality, adhesive-bound end product. The Orbit Three-Knife Trimmer’s transport, pressing, and trimming units are driven independently of one another.

POLAR-Mohr offers the DC-M die-cutter as a standalone component for semi-automatic offline operation with manual feeding. Individual label stacks are fed outside the actual die-cutting area and transferred to the die-cutting tool with an electric motor-driven pusher. Die-cut labels are delivered over a delivery chute.

RB Sun Enterprises manufactures tabletop business card slitters. Its HS-3000-GC Gutter Cut solution is rated at 1,000 finished cards in under five minutes. The solution easily slits full-bleed cards.

Therm-o-Type provides its Zip-A3E and Zip-10 Cutter/Slitters. Zip-A3E is a heavy duty, precision programmable cutter/slitter featuring Windows XP touch screen control. Zip-10 Business Card Slitters are designed for low-quantity business cards and other multiple-up products that are produced on inkjet and laser printers.

Tabbing
Duplo’s DT-900 Tabber works inline with the company’s DF-920 or DF-915 Folder. With the DT-900 Tabber direct mail pieces, newsletters, double postcards, and other self-mailers are processed at a touch of a button. With a two-tab capability, mail pieces are securely fastened. Ideal for the digital print environment, this unit is perfect for the in-house production of variable data and direct mail.

Kirk-Rudy’s KR 535 Tabmaster mail tabber simplifies mailpiece tabbing. Production rates that exceed 40,000 tabs per hour combined with a roll capacity of nearly 50,000 tabs make the KR 535 very efficient.

RENA Systems features a variety of mailing solutions for quick print and copy shops. The company’s T-350 Dual Tabber features a high-capacity hopper that holds over 300 tri-fold mailers for fewer interruptions. The feed hopper assembly is removable, transforming the T-350 from an offline tabber to an inline unit, complete with input guides and transport rollers.

Punch
GBC, an ACCO brand company, provides a variety of punch solutions for low- to high-volume finishing requirements. For high-volume punching needs, the GBC USP 13 combines durability and high-speed productivity to automatically feed, punch, and stack complete books—including pre-collated covers, body pages, and index tabs.

RENZ America’s AutoPunch 360 is a fully automated punching machine with a short setup time. It features automatic punching with fully automatic or manual format changeover for all punching patterns used with loose-leaf binding systems and specialized hole patterns.

Vijuk distributes folding and finishing equipment. For binding jobs that require hole punching, the Fenimore Clutch System enables users to roll the Fenimore 258 Punch up to the delivery end of the Fenimore-Vijuk Sidewinder, Booklet Binder 950, or any other binding machines, including folders, collators, and saddle binders.

Score/Perforate
Rollem offers its TR Die-Scoring System, which features single-pass die-score capability. With the ability to process up to 15,000 sph, the system perforates, scores, and slits. Single-pass processing allows for the exact placement of scores and slits within seconds. This high level of quality control allows for confident processing of challenging jobs. On-the-fly adjustments can be made to compensate for inconsistent press sheets.

Standard Horizon offers its VP-66 vacuum fed perforator/slitter/scorer, operating at speeds of up to 15,000 sph. The VP-66 handles 16-lb carbon less paper in up to 11-point card stock. Eight interchangeable perforating, scoring, and slitting blades are available, providing maximum flexibility.

Responding to Requirements
Quick printers and copy centers require a versatile range of printing and finishing equipment. After all, once you have the output down the finishing steps really make the final product. From cutting, punching, and laminating to high-volume coating and tabbing, a finishing solution is available to help streamline the process. Offering a variety of services with a fast turnaround time is a recipe for success.

Si Nguyen, director of marketing, Duplo USA Corporation feels print service providers of every capacity face similar challenges when it comes to finishing. "Finishing is often viewed as the bottleneck to end production," he says. Finding an experienced operator and productivity are areas that are often pushed to the edge with last minute jobs that cannot be completed with finishing limitations. Nguyen says often, decisions are not made based on the needs and applications of a shop, but instead are selected by price.