Am I the only Bindery worker here?

[Ed The Finisher]

I feel like a Screen door on a Submarine on this web site. The only conversation I ever have with our Prepress always end with the line "Customer provided artwork" I always reply "Wrong is wrong just fix it!"
Does anyone think I will ever be able to be of some help here?

 

[GinSu]

Ed, you are the the last and best line of defense against inferior printing. And while I gringe and cuss when our bindery people identify things that "just ain't right" (cuz if it went to press, it's too late), I'll replate at least twice a month due to their diligence.

If your skills aren't appreciated (no offense, but the ability to read an comprehend american english), then I'd recommend moving to where they are.

 

[RGPW17100]

I have been watching post press and have not seen much action here on print planet in that department. My hat is off the the bindery. Our guys work harder and fix more problems then anyone else. Probably close to 50 percent of our mistakes are fixed in that department by trimming the inside panel or making adjustments to jobs so that we can sell them.

 

[zoran]

Hi Ed and welcome.
I think every wall should be taken down between all departments in production cycle and get two-way conversation going for everyone's benefit.
I am on a Prepress side of things and are trying to reach to others but there is a lot of resistance.
Not sure if I know why. I see a lot of bad things happening, a lot of operators on the same equipment doing things different and they get riled up almost instantly when you try asking or suggesting something that might help them in any way.

I don't know if this is only at my place at work or common throughout the industry??
Anyway, I will be happy to hear your side of the story here on forums and will appreciate your input.

 

[rbailleu]

we had a kid from a local high school come in a do a job shadowing day. The first thing I did was take him on a tour. we started at the cutter. I said to him " you will not hear this from anyone else, but every job should start right here" every designer should ask what kind of paper, size, folds, and how are we going to print it. before they start. of course this kid was going to be job shadowing prepress. we had him design some scratch pads for his school and he got to make the plates (ctp). he put the plates on the press. got to insert the chipboard. I did the cutting and padding, but he walked away with a better perspective.

 

[First Choice Graphics]

Hello Ed,
No, I too am a bindery operator, also the pressman, the customer liason, the delivery driver, I sweep the floor and write the cheques. I outsource the pre-press and one of my old employers is now my salesman. Every person here is going to be able to contribute something valuable at one time or another. Ed I think if you could explain cracking on spines to designers, the why and how to avoid would be a huge help.

 

[Ed The Finisher]

to First Choice Graphics

to First Choice Graphics

First Choice
There are so many things that contribute to cracking on the spine. The grain of the paper, the coating, ink coverage, weight of the stock, is it scored and if it is scored what machine was it scored on. 90% of the time a good Letterpress operator will be able to score a job to avoid cracking. If you had a particular job in mind I might be able to help you more.

 

[JaimeZ]

Ed,

My first job was running the letterpress, cutting, folding, padding (and cleaning the restroom). Later I ran a AB Dick Duplicator, finally ending up in prepress. I value my bindery experience and I was taught that before beginning any layout always ask your bindery if the layout will work, then ask the press department if it can be printed. And even if I think I know the answer, many times I forget the details and this procedure has helped me avoid major mistakes. When I do not follow this procedure I find that a mistake has to be saved by the bindery guys.

So yes your experience will be of much value and I intend on using your skills through this forum.

 

[pasnbyu]

Hi Everyone !!!
I am new to this forum but not new to all aspects of printing. I have worked in printing 38 years, from management, to all type of presses, to all kinds of bindery equipment. Now being in bindery/secondary operations, I see it more where comp/pre-presses looks at you with that dear in the headlights look when you need to have them fix something even more than when I ran a press. We are now having issues with panel sizes/folding to make jobs look good, and I'll be the first to to tell you, THAT LOOK, and the comment, "Can't you fix it at the cutter?" is getting old. My head hurts thinking about it, but thats life in the printing business. All I can do is smile and walk away mumbling "You *&$#*&!>*&^*"

 

[oxburger]

I work in prepress AND with Ed the Finisher. We always solicit his advice when we get a job that could be problematic so that we can set the job up correctly to make his job easier. I think that's the mantra in our shop for the most part. We want the job set up correctly from the beginning of the job to the end of the job because alot of work we do is reprints and if someone has to "fix" a job in their department, what's to say that if it comes back as a reprint that the person who "fixed" the job is going to remember a year later what they did exactly to make the job work, or, if the same person is even still working here. We try not to send jobs through that are going to need to be adjusted for on the press or tweaked at the cutter or folder to avoid the hassles and waste. When we get a trifold job, we make sure the panels are set up correctly. If not, we contact the customer, ask them if they want to fix it or if they want us to do it. If we fix it, we try to make sure the customer gets our final working file in case they want to make changes to it in the future so that next time it comes in, the panels will be correct. In the long run, it only makes sense.