Saddle-stitching is the easiest way to secure a book, together. The process is simple and the machinery involved is less complicated and compact. The process involves bending a fixed length of wire and forcing it through the pages and clinching the legs to form a stitch. It is a cheaper process compared to other forms of binding. You can do approx. 12,000 stitches with 1 kg of wire.  Also the machine consumes less space. Saddle stitching basics Saddle stitching is done to print jobs in which the spine thickness does not exceed 1 cm. The wire used for stitching is available in various thicknesses (gauge). The choice of wire is made according to the type of job (the thickness of spine and sheets). For thicker jobs thicker wire may be used since the wire has to penetrate the sheets. The stitcher head is made to handle wire within certain range of thickness. The stitcher head consists of the following components: Wire Straightener: The wire which is drawn out of the spool is straightened Cutter: This cuts the wire to a fixed length to form a stitch Stitcher Head: It bends the wire to form the crown and legs Clincher: It bends the legs of the bent wire from the bottom to form a stitch Basics for a good quality stitch Stitching head Good wire: Wires are normally galvanized. Some-times poor galvanizing creates problems with wire draw. The metal plating on the wire can come off in the straightener.  his creates a jam and offers resistance which in turn affects the wire draw and life of the stitcher head.  When wire is manufactured it is wound on a large spool; only to be rewound and supplied in smaller spool to fit in the machine. Wire in the smaller spool, if stored for many days, (gets aged ) starts to remember its shape in the spool. Such a wire would offer a lot of resistance to straightening and wire draw. To check the suitability of the wire, draw and cut about a metre length. The wire should coil back to form the size of a football (i.e. larger then the spool from which it has been drawn). Nearly half the problems associated to stitching would disappear when you replace an old stock of wire with a fresh spool. Consistent wire draw: The stitcher head should be able to draw fixed length of wire consistently.  You should check the length of wire by drawing them through the stitcher and taking it out after cut.  Take about 15 pieces and check if all are equal in length. If it is unequal the quality of stitch will be affected. You can also check the wire after bending, but before clinching, to see if both the legs have equal length.  If the legs are unequal, they would either overlap or have significant gap between them. Both these conditions are not acceptable. Good cut: There should not be any burr at the edge of the wire when the cut is made.  Ensure that you change the cutter when it starts to give burr at the cut. Centered wire: All stitcher head parts should be properly set according to wire gauge so that the wire is centered correctly in the stitcher head. Clinching: Finally the clinching should be accurate with the correct amount of pressure. The clincher should be clean and devoid of any paper dust. John Finn is the Managing Director, Deluxe Bostich Stitcher Int, Ireland

Greeting cards and rare books often feature Deckle edges Shown here is a colored deckle edge “We own a few books where the side (fore-edge) of the text block is not even. The 1st set amount of the pages are about 1/16” out farther than the 2nd set. The 3rd set is about 1/16” out farther than the 2nd set but equal to the 1st set. The 4th set is the same as the 2nd, and so on. It is as if each small binding section of pages was cut at 2 different widths. Is there a name for this type of edge, or is it an error in binding?”  Sometimes we receive questions from not only book printers, but from individuals interested in bookbinding. If it gets “technical,” this former teacher has the privilege and pleasure of answering them. Here is one such question I received earlier this month: “We own a few books where the side (fore-edge) of the text block is not even. The 1st set amount of the pages are about 1/16” out farther than the 2nd set. The 3rd set is about 1/16” out farther than the 2nd set but equal to the 1st set. The 4th set is the same as the 2nd, and so on. It is as if each small binding section of pages was cut at 2 different widths. Is there a name for this type of edge, or is it an error in binding?” Let us try to understand this phenomenon. Deckle Edges As we are all aware, earlier papers were made by hand. In this operation, the paper pulp is flowing between the frame and the deckle of the mould. This hand casting operation created unusual, beautiful edges. When papers were made by machine, the paper manufacturers tried to imitate that feature by means of a jet of water or air. Other deckle edges can be formed on dry sheets by means of tearing, cutting with a special type of knife, sand blasting or sawing. In earlier book manufacturing, there were no machines available for trimming the edges. As a result, the folded signatures (sections) were left untrimmed—a tradition carried on until a few decades ago. As a hand bookbinder, I have bound many French books with untrimmed signatures or deckle edges. Such untrimmed edges became popular in the late 19th century and lasted to almost the 1990s. For publishers, we had to imitate such rough deckle fore-edges on common machine made papers for many best-selling books. On folding machines and web-printing presses, we used special, dull knives to create such an effect, with the results, that virtually every single sheet varied in its dimension on the fore edge. Librarians did not appreciate that trend as such bindings collected dust, were unsightly (to some) and difficult to turn. Having explained you the process where we tried to create the deckle edges as an ornamental feature, now let us look at a case where these are developed unintentionally. Web-Printed Variables Book and catalogue offset printing is done in sections of 16, 24, and 32 page configurations. One of the largest printing companies on this continent printed a thick Gun Catalogue. A few days after trimming a smooth edge, the Q.C. Manager sent samples to the RIT book testing laboratory and stated that they are unable to figure out this “phenomenon.” Their client rightfully objected to that “saw-toothed” fore-edge and threatened to reject the entire 100,000+ order. Older books often feature untrimmed, rough edges What was going-on? The answer is simple. When using heat-set web offset printing, printers use one large mill-roll of paper after the other. Each section is printed individually and then stored in a warehouse. It often takes days, and even weeks to print such a large order. Most often, printers operate their expensive web presses around the clock, which mean each crew may have a different idea of how to dry the ink, especially large, solid areas. The crews may use different heat settings. Such fluctuations in the paper and in the printing processes will have some consequences. After trimming, the paper is picking up moisture and then wants to grow back into its final “resting” position. Different heat settings, storage conditions and moisture content in each individual section then results in uneven growths. This description is an experience from an actual consulting assignment where, as is most often the case, the binder gets blamed! Older books often feature untrimmed, rough edges. One large German law-book printing and hardcover binding company I visited solved this problem with trimming the book blocks twice. First they trimmed open the folds. Then they let the book blocks rest for 72 hours, giving the paper a chance to adjust to its environment. A three-knife trimmer in front of their hardcover binding line then did the final trims. Those were the smoothest book edges I have ever had the pleasure to observe. Communications in regards to Trimming As we now know, a book with genuine deckle edges is one a bibliophile will always treasure. Some time ago, a library binder in the Midwest (no longer in business) received such a valuable book from a rare book library with the instructions “Save the Deckle Edges.” When the rebound book came back to the library, the librarian noticed that contrary to their instructions, all three sides were trimmed smoothly. When the librarian lifted the cover, she noticed an envelope. It contained the “saved” deckle edges!  

A couple of years back, Welbound Times had addressed a few frequently asked questions (faq) that discussed the benefits as well as misconceptions of three knife trimming. We were surprised to see that, unlike many such articles on perfect binding and folding, this one did not elicit any queries from the readers. We could only fix the blame on the ‘extra ordinarily low density of trimmers in India’. India is currently one of the largest producers of books in the world. Along with the few other oh-I-can’t-believe-it-is-so-low indexes, like per capita paper consumption, if we were to look at number of trimmers per books produced – it will put others to shame.  This article is not to delve in to the reasons for such low base of trimmers in India; but to address a few important capabilities and benefits of three knife trimming. These are discussed in the form of a Q&A Before we start the questions, let’s understand the basic advantages of a three knife trimmer in comparison to guillotines, for book production: Much better speeds (almost 3-4 times) in comparison to single knives No wrinkles on spine, specifically on perfect bound books, as the spine is not under pressure during trimming  Consistency in book sizes. While this appears to be an obvious advantage, it is highly crucial for the casing of in-line operations. Automated casing in operations without a three knife trimmed book block is a disaster.  Operator Safety, as the trimming station is away from him / her. We know that there are many types of three knife trimmers – be it offline, inline, semi automatic, full automatic, hydraulic, mechanical etc. We will need an entire article to discuss these types and their individual benefits. As a user, one need to decide on a specific type based on his requirement on productivity, quality and safety. In certain books, we get a mark/impression at the spine area held by the book clamp / tong. In some other cases, despite adjusting the clamping height, the books tend to slip under the clamp/tong. How do we avoid this? Most of the modern day three knife trimmers have book clamps with adjustable clamping pressure. So even after adjusting the height – so as to hold the books firmly, we will need to minutely adjust the same so that the pressure is not too high or low. For example, books made with high bulk paper may need slightly lesser pressure in comparison. Wrinkles on book spine due to poor clamping In the case of books with laminated /coated covers, the book in the bottom of the pile ends up with its covers damaged/scratched. How can we avoid this? This happens due to the drag generated while the books are transported from feeding station to the trimming station. The trimmer should have book clamps with lower lips that can be lifted up. Once the clamping is done, the book pile is slightly lifted and moved to the trimming station. This avoids any contact (friction) between book cover and the path.  Tong of the book clamp, the lower lip of the tong should be adjustable M Suresh is the team leader of Welbound North. He is an application specialist known for his hands-on approach in problem solving.

Hot foil stamping One large photo book printer recently contacted me and had several questions in regards to hot-stamping their covers and bound books. Not an easy question to answer. In the age of digital printing, we are dealing with so many new chemicals, coatings and laminating materials. Hot-stamping foil manufacturers have taken these trends into account; and so do the suppliers for laminating foils. Remember: when no conventional laminating foil would stick to digital printed items? But how can you make sure the hot-stamping foil you intend to use or worse, the one your customer requested, will adhere to the substrate? Well, here are some hints from my personal experiences:  Are we able to imprint finished, hard cover bound books? Yes, as seen during one of my most interesting tours through three large binderies, where these stamping machines were in operation. The Flesher Corp. equipment did imprint flat pieces of covering materials, vertically and horizontally. They imprinted bound books on the front cover and as a first, for many of us, on the spine as well! Incredible, new technologies!   If hot-foil stamping, what materials may be problematic? Have you ever try to count all the different materials used for binding hardcover books? I’m sure you would agree that this is an impossible task. First, we have many different substrates like paper, cloth, synthetic and extruded materials. Within these categories, there are more varieties like resin reinforced papers, woven cloth grades with different finishes, cotton and polyester mixtures, grains etc. Then we have extruded materials sensitive to heat. Add to that coatings, laminating films – you are expecting miracles! The worst to imprint names must be padded vinyl covers! You assume that all those items can easily be hot-stamped with a single foil? If you have the true answers for all those variables, then you deserve a PhD. in hardcover binding and become a “Book-doctor!” The very best way to test Although we will discuss chemical testing procedures, the best tests are still conducting tests with actual samples. At least, this is what I used to do during the many years while working as a sample maker. In a large book manufacturing facility, I was responsible for and furnishing all technical details and measurements for binding. One of those tasks was to pre-test all materials to be hot-stamped, so that we will encounter no problems in the actual production. Just imagine: you blindly follow a book designer’s wishes and purchased large quantities of hot-stamping foils. Then in the actual production run, you find out that they do not work! Guess who will get the blame? It’s of course always the bookbinder! What is a Dyne Pen Test? If you suspect a potential problem, you can always conduct a so-called Dyne Pen test. This is simply testing the surface energy, necessary for UV coated and laminated substrates. These days, printers use many different coatings, matte varnish, gloss varnish, aqueous coatings and yes, several different kinds of film laminates. Printers not always do communicate certain finishing coatings and expect binders to process their particular covering material “as is.” With a Dyne test, we will be able to measure the pores in the surface of a particular coating or foil laminate. This will give us an assurance if a particular ink or a hot-stamping foil will adhere. The test is performed using a series of specifically numbered and formulated pens. The liquid in the pens do measure the ‘dyne’ count of the surface. It is an easy process. Take one of the numbered Dyne pens and draw a line across the surface until the line ‘beads.’ At that point, you will know that the dyne count of the surface is the last line tested before the liquid from the pen beads. A Dyne count of 38 or higher is required for a hot-stamping foil to adhere to the surface. Using this process, you can also test foils, especially critical if you have to over-stamp. For example on Law books, a title in gold over a red panel. Dyne pens Is this test good enough? There are arguments that a Dyne test with a pen alone is not enough. These opponents  recommend further testing using contact angles, corona treatments and or flame treatments. But talking to hot-stamping experts and my personal experiences in this regard, we found the Dyne pen tests to be sufficient. The other tests are mainly valuable for those who are printing onto film materials like PTFE-Teflon, Polypropylene (PP), Polyethylene (PE) or Polyester (PET). In other words, some of their surfaces need to be modified to be made “process-able.” In our industry, those surfaces most likely have already been modified. As stated, a simple Dyne test will do the trick and make your hot-stamping project a success. What should we do if the foil still does not adhere? Always call your foil supplier and ask for technical assistance. Foils are constructed with all kinds of different adhesives (size). A coated paper-like substrate may stamp easily, an extruded, plastic like material may reject the same foil. That is why foil suppliers have different formulations. All that, the foil representative has to do, is to look-up a chart, matching materials to be hot-stamped with an appropriate foil. Again, I hope you do realise, the importance of conducting tests in advance. Finally, you tried in vain, hot-stamping onto genuine leather and the coverage is not satisfactory. Well, here is another one of the authors tricks – use a foil that is made for edge gilding, it has double the sizing on the back and will do the job. That is what bookbinding is all about, knowing how to successfully cope with virtually every task and those can be many! Welbound Times is an excellent source to share binding related experiences.

To a novice, this topic seems to be a simple task. Take some covering material, two boards and an inlay strip. Apply an adhesive onto the covering material. Place the boards and inlay into an exact position, turn-in all four edges and the case for a hardcover binding is finished. Yes, this sounds simple but there is much more to it. Perhaps the most difficult task to accomplish is the right fit. This alone would justify an article. While being employed in the industry before the age of computers, this writer had to specify the dimensions for all kinds of book cases. These included edition bindings, side-sewn textbooks, limp style, flexible Bible covers, padded covers and many others. In short, a very complex task. Unlike yesterdays production, binders now must be set-up for short-runs. Each book cover maybe different. Zero set-up and automation is the key for efficient productivity During Drupa 2008, Kolbus did show us a new linear casemaking machine which produced 100 book cases a minute. Impressive and amazing technology. The engineers who now head an all-new casemaking machinery enterprise near this writer's home in New Hampshire, GP2 Technology, have produced in the past (20+ years ago) an American case making machine that did cycle at 120 book cases a minute! As the industry changed, they founded an all new company and now concentrate on the short-run, on-demand and photo book markets. Best of all, they have come up with some unique case-making machinery designs. During the last two Drupa's, they were recognized by bookbinding experts from all over the World. Let us now discuss in short some of the various kinds of book cases. Edition Binding The majority of these cases are produced at relative high speeds on automatic case making machines. There are reciprocal double head, and linear designs. The covering materials are fed automatically and receive a very thin, high quality protein glue. The two boards and the inlay must be appropriately spaced, all in accordance to the method of binding used. An adhesive bound book block requires slightly more space in the joints than a sewn binding. This  is to absorb the forces exerted onto the first and last relative fragile leaves. A square back hardcover binding with a board strip as an inlay requires almost double the space in the joint/hinge areas. Children books mostly feature a board strip on the spine. Many case making machines have a feature, where we feed a single piece of board and then slit it into two panels and a spine strip. Some board suppliers offer pre-assembled board structures called “Unitized Boards.” These are pre-assembled components of boards, often reinforced with a gauze in the joint areas. Another popular task in case making are the so-called three-piece covers where we have different materials on the spine and panels. There are many different options available to produce such covers. Some linear case making machines take the covering materials off a roll. The web receives a thin coat of adhesive. The three different rolls are combined. The cover boards and the inlay are placed-down onto the continuous web. The corners are cut, the sides are turned-in. The last procedure is to cut the web and turn-in head and tail. On-Demand and Photo Book  40 years ago, when large quantities were the norm, we, as a highly specialized book manufacturer for reprints and short runs sometimes had to produce only 150 books. We, had to use some ingenuity to cope with such small editions, as each one of the covers were using different covering materials. (Printed cover materials were virtually unknown) We did sort the orders by trim size. Changing the dimension of the case making machine only in the width saved a lot of change-over time. How times have changed! Now we must be able to produce book cases, one at a time, each being different in size and most important, this tasks must be done in an efficient manner. The most simple versions for case making offer a glue applicator, a jig, a turn-in device and rubber rollers to press assembled cases. This is still considered “assisted” handwork and productivity is accordingly. The next step up toward automation with zero set-up requirements is the GP2 Technology program which offers basically three case making machines. www.gp2tech.com Library corners At Drupa, they introduced a new cost effective model called the EC-3 which was most successfully received by small On-Demand and Photo Book establishments. “Just the right thing as the doctor ordered” said one of my colleagues. The SC-2 Autocase received further improvements and represents the latest generation of leading technology for “one off” and on-demand casemaking. Prior to Drupa 2004, this writer, being so close to the factory, had information on GP2's top model, the Autocase AC 20. GP2 Technology is also a leader with library corners. For those readers not familiar with it, the corners of the covering material are not cut, they are first turned-in. Thereafter, the edges are turned-in. This results into a slightly rounded corner. Librarians insist on such a technique as they believe, such corners offer better abrasion resistance. There are of course, as stated earlier, many other cover structures such as flexible covers or some new, economical case making techniques where no boards are used. We will cover those in a future article. 

Animal Glue or Protein Glue, an adhesive commonly used for Case making is also called Gelatin Glue, Jelly glue or Glutin. It is made of connective tissue and bones and hides of animals. It is manufactured using animal protein which is obtained by breaking, milling the bones and cooking or boiling the raw-materials. The major characteristics of Protein glue is that it has strong wet tack, strong cohesion power and is hygroscopic in nature. If a comparison is made between Protein glue and water based emulsions for case making, it would be clearly understood that Protein glue is the most suited for the application. An illustration below will explain the theory, further  Average glue application (coating weight) for laminating (example): Emulsion adhesives:   Wet Dry substance  Water absorption  50-70 g/m² 50-55 % 25-35 g/m² Protein Glue:   Wet Dry substance  Water absorption  + add. Restrain of water  (modified glue) Effective water absorption 35-40 g/m² 50-55 % 17-20 g/m² 12 % 15-18 g/m²    Reduction of Water Absorption 40 % This results in lesser warping of the case, better bonding and faster setting of the adhesive. Protein Glue keeps the water longer in the adhesive film which helps in improving the flatness of the case. Emulsion adhesive   creates an adhesive film by water absorption into the porous material like paper or cardboard while Protein Glue creates an adhesive film by cooling down the glue. One of the remarkable features of Protein Glue is to create an adhesive film very quickly! The running temperature of Protein glue is 50-60°C. which helps in quick evaporation of water (This also results in viscosity rising and the glue getting thicker. Hence, Water must be added from time to time, manually or automatically) It is important to note here that Temperature affects the viscosity! While choosing Protein Glue it is necessary to ensure that it has strong tack (The ability to hold two substances together when they come in contact), it is fast setting, gives good and safe edge bonding and no “hollow edges”. It coats completely without any blisters. There is no stringing / splashing and is easy to melt. Below you will find some generally accepted guidelines to help increase tack and setting speed of Protein Glues during periods of high heat and humidity. Operating Temperature It is recommend that all Protein Glue are run between 60°C. to 65°C.  When you have high heat and humidity we suggest that you turn the temperature down to 55°C. to 57°C.  This will help increase tack and setting speed. Water Addition Cut back on the amount of water dilution.  The more water you put in Protein Glue the longer it will take to dry and set up during high heat and humidity. Adhesive Application Be sure operators are not putting on too much adhesive.  If too much adhesive is applied it will slow down tack and take longer to dry.  A thin, well covered adhesive application will provide the best performance during high heat and humidity. In order to obtain the very best results, the following is recommended Temperature Melt Protein Glue at 60°C. – 65°C. Heat it up slowly.  Stir the glue frequently.  Do not turn the temperature “way up” to accelerate melting.  Do not “cook” Protein Glue—this was already done during manufacturing.  “cooking” damages the glue. Use Protein Glue at 60°C. – 65°C. At temperatures below 60°C. the glue is too “cold”—result:  increased viscosity (thickening), poor machining (excessive build-up), loss of tack (overdilution is required to obtain a workable viscosity) At temperatures above 65°C., the glue is too “hot”---result: Break down of adhesive, foul odors, stringing, cottoning, poor adhesion, excessive stickiness, discoloration (darkening or blackening). Frequently monitor glue temperature with an accurate thermometer-DO NOT rely on gauges, “High-Medium-Low” settings etc. If the Protein Glue is jelled in a machine, heat it up slowly at the setting which gives you an eventual temperature of 60°C. to 65°C.  Don't Rush It!  Get the glue “moving” as quickly as possible, by stirring, so as to avoid “Frying Pan” effect. Too dark?  Smells funny (unusual)? Thoroughly clean out the machine, pan, etc., and start over with fresh Protein Glue.  Spoiled glue will contaminate fresh glue - so don't take chances. Dilution Protein Glue is produced using an exact formula with precise specifications.  They are thus intended to be used without dilution or with a specific dilution for your application.  Should dilution be required it is advised to not exceed 10% by weight of the glue in the tank and it is also recommended to use warm water for dilution. Equipmernt and Housekeeping Stainless Steel vessels (Glue meters, glue pots) are ideal.  However, vessels made of other metals are used successfully. Heating of Protein Glue must be indirect.  The temperature of the Protein Glue should be controlled, preferably by a Thermostat. The Protein Glue vessels should be kept very clean at all times. Never use stagnant water to dilute a Protein Glue or for clean up. Fresh water is to be used because there is far less chance of bacterial growth which can cause foul odors and a breakdown of adhesive properties. Three parameters which have to be considered while using Animal Glue are: Concentration of the animal glue (RF-Value) - 50 - 55 % Running-temperature of the animal glue - 55 - 60°C Glue application (adhesive coating weight) - 35 - 40 g/m²    

we discussed in an past article, how to calculate the board sizes and width of inlay strip and cover dimensions for square back books. Now let us look at, how we can calculate the cover dimensions for hardcover books that are rounded or rounded and backed. Rounded and Backed book blocks are more difficult to calculate. The bindings always required making sample books—a labour intensive and expensive task. There is a mathematical solution to figure out the exact cover dimensions, even if the paper is not yet available. All we need from the publisher’s production managers are the trim-size, the type of paper used, the number of pages (and the PPI), and the style of hardcover binding. We are almost ready to calculate. But now you ask, how in the world can you determine the distance over the rounded and backed spine? After all, the width of the flexible inlay is a most important item to achieve a quality hardcover binding. Well, there is a trick to it. You must establish a chart. In my case, during a slow period, I bound 20+ Smyth-sewn book blocks. They all had the same trim size. The only variations were the bulk. I started with a ¼ inch thick book, the next having a 3/8 inch bulk – all the way up to 3 inches. Then I rounded and backed the book blocks the way they should look like in production. That required some craftsmanship. When I had all book blocks ready, with a paper strip over the spine, I took careful measurements. That established the exact distance from the heights of the backed ridges on each side and the rounded spine. That data was translated into increments of one thousandths of an inch. For example, a book block with a bulk of 13/16 inch measured when rounded only .95 inches, after rounding and backing it showed 1.18. That 1.18 equals roughly 1 3/16 inches for the width of the inlay. With this chart, it was possible to establish any cover dimension in a minute or two. Bear in mind, this was all done long before we had computers available. These days, once programmed, a cover size function is a matter of seconds. Best of all, if a Q.C. manager evaluates the finished bindings, some minor adjustments can always easily be made. Now let us go back to our examples and calculate the requirement for a hardcover binding with a trim size of 6" x 9" and a bulk of 13/16 inch. Board size 5 7/8" X 9 1/4" Joint area Inlay Joint area 1/4" plus 1 3/16" plus 1/4"     + Board size 5 7/8"     = Cover size 13 7/16" X  9 1/4" + Turn-ins (all four sides)   5/8" plus 5/8"   5/8" plus 5/8" Cover stock dimensions 14 11/16" x 10 ½" For heavy covering materials, allow a little more for the turn-ins. The measurements used above are for Smyth-sewn book blocks. Adhesive bound books do not and should not be backed as much. Therefore deduct 1/16" of the width of the inlay, shorten the boards and increase the joints to 5/16". Again, all such data is most valuable to get a useful cover size program started. With minor adjustments made in time, it is perhaps one of a most useful tool for anyone who must produce quality hardcover bindings. No matter what binding style you may produce, such a program is now even more important than ever. These days, most of the covering materials used are printed. The placements of the images are most often very critical. That is just one more reason why book covers must be calculated with an utmost precision, no matter if you are an edition, on-demand or photo book binding facility.

Book block making is a complex operation. And it does not get the credit it deserves. The "hard case" hogs the limelight for a well bound hard cover book. Let us examine a few of operations involved in book block making: Book block making is a complex operation. And it does not get the credit it deserves. The "hard case" hogs the limelight for a well bound hard cover book. Let us examine a few of operations involved in book block making: Gluing-off or first gluing The object of this operation is to seal the sewn sections together. This forms a firm - and "roundable" book block. The adhesive chosen should have properties discussed below: It should have low-viscosity with high solids content. The low viscosity will allow the adhesive to 'flow in' between the signatures. The high solids content will prevent the flow up the sewing holes. If the spine is to be rounded, then the adhesive should have the property to retain the shape.  Compatibility with the lining adhesive (check the type of adhesive to be used). It is not possible to use an emulsion for gluing-off and then apply a hotmelt for lining. In such a case one should have a paper membrane between the two or very specially adapted machinery. The adhesive should come off easily from the brushes while they are cleaned after the application. It should be such that the book blocks do not stick to each other when stacked one on top of the other. Problem area A too-heavy coating can cause the adhesive to split The main cause of problems is the application of excess adhesive. This means that the film thickness and tenacity are stronger than the coating on some papers. This also means they cannot be rounded. A too heavy coating can cause adhesive to split. The emulsion should form a thin skin over the folds or bolts of the signatures and not a solid wedge of adhesive from one signature to the next. The gluing-off emulsion chosen should be tested taking into consideration the next operation. For flat-back work, a firmer spine is desirable. If rounding and backing is to follow, then the adhesive should have more flexibility and have better "forming" characteristics. Caution Gluing-off emulsion can flow through the holes made for thread sewing. This happens mostly in cases where the paper is hard. One can do a smashing in order to close the punch and holes The next process in the book block making is lining. You can have single, double or triple lining using a wide range of adhesives. Single lining with emulsion The lining of book blocks generally uses emulsion adhesives. The following parameters decide the choice of adhesive: Type of application Drying process Subsequent bindery operation In some machines, the adhesive has to be first pumped up to a feeder tank before it flows down an application tube. In such applications, the adhesive must be "pump-stable" and have an acceptable flow. If a product is not pump-stable and breaks down then the flow could be too great and the adhesive would flow too far between the signatures and certainly into any sew holes. Conversely, if it thickens then this will cause adhesive starvation. Lining machines with roller applicators applying the emulsion to the spine of the book and to the liner require a high tack adhesive. Otherwise, the lining material can come off during the cutting operation. Some times the spine swells, as the lining moves with the applied pressure. When RF (Radio Frequency) / HF assisted drying is used, the choice of emulsion is critical. Here the vibration of the molecules creates so much heat that there could be a drop in "tack" in case of an ordinary emulsion. Therefore, the emulsion used should resist such a drop. It should not have the tendency to swell, as this will result in an unsatisfactory spine. A temperature of 60-70 degree centigrade is often registered as a book emerges from the RF- HF tunnel. This will have to be reduced to 23 to 25 degree centigrade before the book enters the three-knife trimmers. Book blocks that have to be rounded subsequently should have a flexible but firm emulsion and a stretchable lining material. Hotmelt Single Lining Hotmelt single lining is proving to be very successful, especially if large punch and needle holes cannot be sealed before the lining operation. It also offers a greater amount of insurance if coated or heavily inked areas are observed on the signature folds. The lining material should have a good stretchability. In fact it is seen that a hotmelt that is preheated before rounding holds shape better as it chills in the moulded form. The over-application of hotmelt is not recommended as this makes the rounding difficult.  Roundablehotmelts with a good stretch and very low shrink-back are now being used in this operation. Care must be taken when setting the liner nip station. This is because insufficient spine pressure will result in bubbles appearing after trimming operation.  A J (Tony) Clark has an enormous reputation in the bookbinding industry. Most of his working life was spent at National Starch & Chemical, from which he retired in 1996. He works now as an independent consultant.

Moisture content At the paper mills, all paperboards are carefully fine-tuned to their required moisture content.  The pallets are shrink-wrapped to retain that balance as good as possible. Most often, mills furnish instructions about how to handle board shipments. However, a board manufacturer has no means to control the environment at a bindery or at the end user's place. Board warpage Often such paper products are stored in unheated warehouses or in tropical climates, in places with high humidity etc. During winters, like the ones experienced in the US and Canada, the relative humidity is low. Paperboards, as well as all other materials used for the final assembly should be adjusted to ambient conditions, that is equal moisture contents prior to be bonded. This aids a return to the pre-bonded conditions following drying and curing of the finished products. Now you may ask, what is the best moisture content, what are the best conditions for storage? One of the best answers may be an advanced study made by the late Professor Eric Simon, who taught Offset Printing Technologies at one of Germany’s most prestigious universities, the Fachhochschule in Stuttgart. Together with his graduate students, he conducted extensive research on the stability of paper fibres, which is most critical to the printing process. This study found that the ideal moisture content of paper and paper boards are between 7 to 8 percent. The paper fibres are most stable in an environment with a relative humidity of 40 to 50 percent. This is the same percentage that is recommended by the US Governments Library of Congress. They have done extensive studies on the most ideal storage conditions for books and other printed materials. But there are other factors we must consider. All board warping problems seem to surface during winters. One must wonder why? With this basic educational session on paper, board, moisture and conditions, we are now able to discuss this topic, in-depth. Another question that often crops up from publishers is, what will happen to the finished books if they are stored in an un-heated warehouse? The cold will not damage the books. But, when the temperature rise above freezing point, there will be excessive moisture and this will damage the books. Therefore, it is most important, that they control the relative humidity. Warping of the boards has very little to do in this regard. Balancing the forces is the trick to control paper boards from warping. Book cover components Book cover is a sandwich, which consists of:  1. Cover materials – printed papers, UV coated, laminated, cloth etc. 2. Case making adhesive – animal glue, PVA, on rare occasions, hotmelt 3. Cover Boards – various qualities and thicknesses 4. Casing-in adhesive - PVA and PVA/Paste mixtures  5. Endsheets, lining materials All five components must complement each other. The board is the centre. If too much case-making adhesive is applied, the boards will react as discussed in the last issue. If the casing-in adhesive allows the paper to expand more than it should, it will pull the cover inwards. If moisture is unable to “wet” the endsheets and let them expand, they are unable to shrink and pull the covers inwards. If the adhesives lack the necessary humectants to keep the moisture in this sandwich, we have a problem, again. In short, it is a difficult balancing act, especially if the products must endure various climates, dry and moist environment. Bookcover sandwich   What causes warp? A paperboard manufacturer's explanation is that in the normal course of the bookmaking process, cover boards are subjected to varying temperature and humidity conditions. The more dimensionally-stable the cover board is, the more capable the board will be adapting to these conditions, that is returning to its desired dimensions after the expansion or contraction that occur. Warp happens when a cover board is unable to do so. These are the words of one of the world’s largest board manufacturers. But there are other opinions. John Cole, a well-known expert on paperboard manufacture has stated: Warpage is less likely to be caused by the board itself. “We have traced part of the problem to cover materials, but we do not understand the mechanics of the problem.” And so, it looks like board warping is a bookbinder’s problem! Gerald P Mielke is a bookbinding adhesive chemist and in the past, chaired an in-depth study on book cover warping. This being a project for BMI, the Book Manufacturer’s Institute. In his conclusion, he stated that the overwhelming cause of a cover warp is being caused by moisture which is absorbed or released and with the resulting expansion or contraction of the materials which compromise the book cover. Unbalanced expansion or contraction of any of these components relative to each other or within themselves may manifest itself as a warp. Mielke stated that moisture vapour barrier coatings or laminations on covering materials, even cover materials impervious to moisture, can interfere with distribution of moisture in the rest of the sandwich which in turn compromises the cover. He goes on to say that warping has tended to be more of a dry season occurrence, which makes the problem more apparent in the wintertime than in the summertime. With cold outside air, which at best holds very little moisture, when it is warmed, dropping the relative humidity and with it, creating very dry conditions. The drier conditions can cause uneven drying in the finished cover. This can contribute to the warping problem. It can also dry out some of the materials going into the sandwich compromising the cover, which makes them react more strongly in the presence of moisture provided by the adhesives to laminate the sandwich together. Other important factors to consider My personal experiences also centre on dry book blocks created by heatset web offset and digital printing. A low moisture content in the book block will play havoc with carefully manufactured book covers and boards. This is a recent problem. More so, since we see more and more book manufacturer’s utilising digital web-printing concepts which result in dry or low moisture book blocks. Let me share with you a personal experience. Back in the 1970’s, being in charge of the world’s first fully automated in-line book-manufacturing system, we tried to produce 70 hardcover bound books a minute, web-printing and hardcover binding books off a 38 inch mill-roll of paper. The low moisture in the book block made the quality paper boards warp! Eventually, that in-line system had to be pulled apart. The point is, paper, after heatset printing, needs time to recover. (Best is 72 hours) Only by de-warping the book covers twice in each direction were we able to control the amount of book cover warping, that is we learned, despite of all the obstacles to keep them flat. Yes, John Cole was right, book cover warping is a bookbinders problem. And they must be kept in control. This is an interesting experience, especially now, in the digital age of printing and the “instant” book which must be shipped within a day. It is deja vu.

The traditional way of constructing a hardcover binding used to be as follows: First you had to bind the book block and then take the measure­ments – these are the width, height and bulk (thickness). Then the binders cut the boards, the inlay or spine-strip, and the covering materials. A library binder, binding or rebinding one book at a time, usually had no other choice but to follow this rule. There are just too many variables for each book to be bound. They have to take much into consideration—trim or no trim; grinding or not grinding-off the spine; thickness of the book-block; and type of the hardcover binding (round­ed and backed, flat-back, endpaper structure). They all influence the critical measurements required for making a beautifully fitting hardcover case. Paper Caliper – PPI Manufactured papers have a caliper. The caliper of the paper is the measured thickness of a single sheet by the use of a micrometer when a speci­fied static load is applied for a minimum specified time. Since papers vary in their thickness and are compressible, the bulking number is measured in a manner that predicts the bulk of a book under the conditions of production. Paper companies and suppliers provide this data, expressed in pages per inch or PPI. For example if they list a certain paper to have 500 PPI, it means 500 pages will make a book-block that is exactly one inch thick. Now watch out and be aware that a sheet has two pages! In other words, 250 sheets of a 500 PPI paper will equal one inch. Let’s take a few examples and discuss the dimensions needed for hardcover cases. Flat or square backed books Flat or Square hardcover cases are much different from rounded and backed ones. If the book block is adhesive bound and the endpaper flexes at the binding edge, such a cover structure is different from a binding that is side-sewn. If oversew endsheets are used, treat it like one that flexes at the very binding edge. For an example, let us assume that our book-blocks have a trim size of 6 x 9 in and a bulk of approx. 3/8". An average, median board is used (0.080"). The calculations of board, spine (inlay) and cover dimensions for a square back hardcover flexing at the binding edge is calculated as follows: Board Sizes Trim size 6" x 9" Hinge area Less ¼" Extensions plus 1/8" plus ¼" Board size 5 7/8" x 9 ¼" Width of Inlay Strip Board thickness 0.080" Spine thickness plus 3/8" Board thickness plus 0.080" Width of inlay strip ½" That is the width of the spine strip. Therefore, cut the spine strips ½ x 9¼". This should be done on a board shear. If the strips are cut on a guillotine cutter, one of the edges of the strip is slanted, often resulting in a poor quality, distorted spine. Board sizes for square back book Now we are ready to calculate the dimensions of the cover and covering material. If the spine strip has a width of ½", add 3/8" on each side. The 3/8"  gaps repre­sent the joint areas. Bear in mind when using thicker boards, you must add a little more to this area, as the covering material has to go over the spine strip. An insufficient joint area may result into unusual stress exerted onto the first and last pages of a binding. Cover dimensions for square back hardcover Cover Size = Board Size + between the boards + board size  Cover Stock = Cover Size + Turn in allowance Cover dimensions Board size 57/8" X 91/4" Joint area Inlay strip Joint area   + Between the boards 3/8" plus ½" plus 3/8" equals 1¼" + Board size 57/8" = Cover size 13" x  91/4" + Turn-ins (all four sides)   5/8" plus 5/8" 5/8" plus 5/8" Cover stock dimensions 14 ¼" x < 10 ½" Side-sewn book blocks with Singer-style end­sheets require different calculations because the cover board must flex further inward. Now let us look at, how we can calculate the cover dimensions for hardcover books that are rounded or rounded and backed. Rounded and Backed book blocks Rounded and Backed book blocks are more difficult to calculate. The bindings always required making sample books—a labour intensive and expensive task. There is a mathematical solution to figure out the exact cover dimensions, even if the paper is not yet available. All we need from the publisher’s production managers are the trim-size, the type of paper used, the number of pages (and the PPI), and the style of hardcover binding. We are almost ready to calculate. But now you ask, how in the world can you determine the distance over the rounded and backed spine? After all, the width of the flexible inlay is a most important item to achieve a quality hardcover binding. Well, there is a trick to it. You must establish a chart. In my case, during a slow period, I bound 20+ Smyth-sewn book blocks. They all had the same trim size. The only variations were the bulk. I started with a ¼ inch thick book, the next having a 3/8 inch bulk – all the way up to 3 inches. Then I rounded and backed the book blocks the way they should look like in production. That required some craftsmanship. When I had all book blocks ready, with a paper strip over the spine, I took careful measurements. That established the exact distance from the heights of the backed ridges on each side and the rounded spine. That data was translated into increments of one thousandths of an inch. For example, a book block with a bulk of 13/16 inch measured when rounded only .95 inches, after rounding and backing it showed 1.18. That 1.18 equals roughly 1 3/16 inches for the width of the inlay. With this chart, it was possible to establish any cover dimension in a minute or two. Bear in mind, this was all done long before we had computers available. These days, once programmed, a cover size function is a matter of seconds. Best of all, if a Q.C. manager evaluates the finished bindings, some minor adjustments can always easily be made.  (see chart below) Now let us go back to our examples and calculate the requirement for a hardcover binding with a trim size of 6" x 9" and a bulk of 13/16 inch. Cover dimensions Board size 57/8" X 91/4" Joint area Inlay strip Joint area ¼" plus 1 3/16"  plus ¼"  + Board size 57/8" = Cover size 13 7/16" x  91/4" + Turn-ins (all four sides)   5/8" plus 5/8" 5/8" plus 5/8" Cover stock dimensions 14 11/16" x < 10 ½" For heavy covering materials, allow a little more for the turn-ins. The measurements used above are for Smyth-sewn book blocks. Adhesive bound books do not and should not be backed as much. Therefore deduct 1/16" of the width of the inlay, shorten the boards and increase the joints to 5/16". Again, all such data is most valuable to get a useful cover size program started. With minor adjustments made in time, it is perhaps one of a most useful tool for anyone who must produce quality hardcover bindings. No matter what binding style you may produce, such a program is now even more important than ever. These days, most of the covering materials used are printed. The placements of the images are most often very critical. That is just one more reason why book covers must be calculated with an utmost precision, no matter if you are an edition, on-demand or photo book binding facility. Spine thickness chart for rounded hardcover books The following chart gives the width of inlay strip over a rounded and rounded and backed spine. The chart is derived from empirircal measurements Book Bulk (inches) Rounded/backed (inches) Rounded only (inches) ¼ 0.43 0.28 5/16 0.52 0.34 3/8 0.59 0.41 7/16 0.67 0.48 ½ 0.75 0.56 9/16 0.84 0.64 5/8 0.92 0.72 11/16 1.01 0.80 3/4 1.09 0.87 13/16 1.18 0.95 7/8 1.27 1.03 15/16 1.35 1.11 1 inch 1.437 1.187 1 1/16 1.52 1.27 1 1/8 1.59 1.34 1 3/16 1.67 1.42 1 ¼ 1.75 1.50 1 5/16 1.88 1.58 1 3/8 1.91 1.66 1 7/16 1.98 1.72 1 ½ 2.06 1.81 1 9/16 2.14 1.89 1 5/8 2.22 1.97 1 11/16 2.30 2.05 1 3/4 2.37 2.12 1 13/16 2.45 2.20 1 7/8 2.53 2.28 1 15/16 2.61 2.36 2 inches 2.68 2.437 2 1/8 2.84 2.58 2 1/4/p> 2.98 2.72 2 3/8 3.13 2.86 2 ½ 3.28 3.00 2 5/8 3.43 3.14 2 ¾ 3.58 3.26 2 7/8 3.78 3.42 3 inches 3.87 3.56

Board warpage Board warping problems, which most of the time occur in the winter, arrive at our book-testing laboratory from all over the world. The purpose of this article is to furnish you with some basic information on why such problems do occur. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who has the biggest warp of them all? A Primer on paper and paper boards When paper or paperboards are made, approx. 70 to 80 percent of the fibres float in the machine direction (MD). Paper fibres are hygroscopic. They pick up water when the moisture is high, they lose water when the percentage of moisture is low. Paper fibres expand 4 to 5 times more in their width than they do in their length. Therefore, one must make sure that all cover-materials, boards, endpapers have the grain parallel to the binding edge. How paper and paperboards do react to moisture in an ever changing environment, is shown in the adjacent figure: Are there guarantees against paperboard warping? Fibre expansion What are the basics of a paperboard? All paperboard manufacturers rely on paper-waste which, being a re-cycled product, is hard to control for consistency. Some use newsprint, others magazine papers etc. For example, a high amount of corrugated box content attracts more moisture, whereas groundwood or thermo-mechanical furnish, i.e. soft fibres, respond to less moisture. In addition, papers and boards with short fibres tend to saturate more rapidly and therefore expand and contract more quickly. Long fibred stocks are more stable in this respect and in certain instances, it is possible to exercise considerable control, a factor every mill tries to achieve in a best possible manner. Unfortunately, with today's trends toward recycling, we must cope with shorter fibres. This is also true for the printed papers used as covering materials. There are many different techniques being used to manufacture paper boards. Most important for them is to manufacture a paperboard product that is dimensionally stable. Some structures promise to offer more stability than others. That maybe true, but despite those claims made by some paperboard manufacturers, this bookbinding expert has experienced and analyzed warping problems on all brands and qualities of paper boards made. I have never come across a single warping incident where, at least in my opinion, where the paper boards were at fault. How moisture or an adhesive application affects papers and boards The most fundamental relationship in a print-finishing process does lie in the reaction of papers, boards etc. on each other in the presence of water-based adhesives, that is animal or protein glues, cold-emulsion PVA's, starches etc. To understand these effects fully, it is essential to have a good understanding of the construction of the fibrous materials and how they react to moisture during the drying and manufacturing processes. These factors greatly influence the performances of the finished products in the ever changing climatic environments. Example, books made in Asia during the summer in high humidity, then transported to a bookstore in Minnesota, where, during the winter, the air is very dry. Paper and paperboards are all based on cellulose fibres, which have a tubular shape. Given the opportunity, these will absorb water by capillary action and as a result, the individual fibres will considerably increase in their diameter, but gain only a fraction in the fibres lying in a more or less parallel direction. As each of the fibres expands in its diameter, expansion will occur. The expansion is across the machine direction. Now, if a binder applies a water-based adhesive onto one side of a paper-board, this will cause the fibres on the surface to expand rapidly. All this does happen, because there is a time lapse before the moisture has penetrated evenly through the board. Therefore, and that is important, expansion will initially be uneven and a curl will be induced into the paperboard. If the same amount of moisture is applied to the other side, the board will flatten out. The following schematics are self-explanatory: The interplay between moisture and paperboards Now, try to solve a problem sent to our laboratory. A manufacturer produced puzzle boards. They mounted a color printed sheet only onto one side of the board and then they did wonder why the boards warped! Now, as a consultant and the necessary knowledge of the forces at work, you can give them the following advice: “In order to make a board to lie flat, one must mount identical papers onto both sides, same grain direction, same amount of adhesive!”. Timing is critical as well. As you can see for yourself, it is a relative simple solution! Just try to understand Mother nature at work. Moisture content At the paper mills, all paperboards are carefully fine-tuned to their required moisture content. The pallets are shrink-wrapped to retain that balance as good as possible. Most often, mills furnish instructions about how to handle board shipments. However, a board manufacturer has no means to control the environment at a bindery or at the end user's place. Often such paper products are stored in unheated warehouses or in tropical climates, in places with high humidity etc. During winters, like the ones experienced in the US and Canada, the relative humidity is low. Paperboards, as well as all other materials used for the final assembly should be adjusted to ambient conditions, that is equal moisture contents prior to be bonded. This aids a return to the pre-bonded conditions following drying and curing of the finished products. Now you may ask, what is the best moisture content, what are the best conditions for storage? One of the best answers may be an advanced study made by the late Professor Eric Simon, who taught Offset Printing Technologies at one of Germany’s most prestigious universities, the Fachhochschule in Stuttgart. Together with his graduate students, he conducted extensive research on the stability of paper fibres, which is most critical to the printing process. This study found that the ideal moisture content of paper and paper boards are between 7 to 8 percent. The paper fibres are most stable in an environment with a relative humidity of 40 to 50 percent. This is the same percentage that is recommended by the US Governments Library of Congress. They have done extensive studies on the most ideal storage conditions for books and other printed materials. But there are other factors we must consider. All board warping problems seem to surface during winters. One must wonder why? With this basic educational session on paper, board, moisture and conditions, we are now able to discuss this topic, in-depth. Another question that often crops up from publishers is, what will happen to the finished books if they are stored in an un-heated warehouse? The cold will not damage the books. But, when the temperature rise above freezing point, there will be excessive moisture and this will damage the books. Therefore, it is most important, that they control the relative humidity. Warping of the boards has very little to do in this regard. Balancing the forces is the trick to control paper boards from warping. Book cover components Book cover is a sandwich, which consists of:  Cover materials – printed papers, UV coated, laminated, cloth etc. Case making adhesive – animal glue, PVA, on rare occasions, hotmelt  Cover Boards – various qualities and thicknesses Casing-in adhesive - PVA and PVA/Paste mixtures  Endsheets, lining materials All five components must complement each other. The board is the centre. If too much case-making adhesive is applied, the boards will react as discussed in the last issue. If the casing-in adhesive allows the paper to expand more than it should, it will pull the cover inwards. If moisture is unable to “wet” the endsheets and let them expand, they are unable to shrink and pull the covers inwards. If the adhesives lack the necessary humectants to keep the moisture in this sandwich, we have a problem, again. In short, it is a difficult balancing act, especially if the products must endure various climates, dry and moist environment. Book cover sandwich What causes warp? A paperboard manufacturer's explanation is that in the normal course of the bookmaking process, cover boards are subjected to varying temperature and humidity conditions. The more dimensionally-stable the cover board is, the more capable the board will be adapting to these conditions, that is returning to its desired dimensions after the expansion or contraction that occur. Warp happens when a cover board is unable to do so. These are the words of one of the world’s largest board manufacturers. But there are other opinions. John Cole, a well-known expert on paperboard manufacture has stated: Warpage is less likely to be caused by the board itself. “We have traced part of the problem to cover materials, but we do not understand the mechanics of the problem.” And so, it looks like board warping is a bookbinder’s problem! Gerald P Mielke is a bookbinding adhesive chemist and in the past, chaired an in-depth study on book cover warping. This being a project for BMI, the Book Manufacturer’s Institute. In his conclusion, he stated that the overwhelming cause of a cover warp is being caused by moisture which is absorbed or released and with the resulting expansion or contraction of the materials which compromise the book cover. Unbalanced expansion or contraction of any of these components relative to each other or within themselves may manifest itself as a warp. Mielke stated that moisture vapour barrier coatings or laminations on covering materials, even cover materials impervious to moisture, can interfere with distribution of moisture in the rest of the sandwich which in turn compromises the cover. He goes on to say that warping has tended to be more of a dry season occurrence, which makes the problem more apparent in the wintertime than in the summertime. With cold outside air, which at best holds very little moisture, when it is warmed, dropping the relative humidity and with it, creating very dry conditions. The drier conditions can cause uneven drying in the finished cover. This can contribute to the warping problem. It can also dry out some of the materials going into the sandwich compromising the cover, which makes them react more strongly in the presence of moisture provided by the adhesives to laminate the sandwich together. Other important factors to consider My personal experiences also centre on dry book blocks created by heatset web offset and digital printing. A low moisture content in the book block will play havoc with carefully manufactured book covers and boards. This is a recent problem. More so, since we see more and more book manufacturer’s utilising digital web-printing concepts which result in dry or low moisture book blocks. Let me share with you a personal experience. Back in the 1970’s, being in charge of the world’s first fully automated in-line book-manufacturing system, we tried to produce 70 hardcover bound books a minute, web-printing and hardcover binding books off a 38 inch mill-roll of paper. The low moisture in the book block made the quality paper boards warp! Eventually, that in-line system had to be pulled apart. The point is, paper, after heatset printing, needs time to recover. (Best is 72 hours) Only by de-warping the book covers twice in each direction were we able to control the amount of book cover warping, that is we learned, despite of all the obstacles to keep them flat. Yes, John Cole was right, book cover warping is a bookbinders problem. And they must be kept in control. This is an interesting experience, especially now, in the digital age of printing and the “instant” book which must be shipped within a day. It is deja vu.

Saddle-stitching is the easiest way to secure a book, together. The process is simple and the machinery involved is less complicated and compact. The process involves bending a fixed length of wire and forcing it through the pages and clinching the legs to form a stitch. It is a cheaper process compared to other forms of binding. You can do approx. 12,000 stitches with 1 kg of wire.  Also the machine consumes less space. Saddle stitching basics Saddle stitching is done to print jobs in which the spine thickness does not exceed 1 cm. The wire used for stitching is available in various thicknesses (gauge). The choice of wire is made according to the type of job (the thickness of spine and sheets). For thicker jobs thicker wire may be used since the wire has to penetrate the sheets. The stitcher head is made to handle wire within certain range of thickness. The stitcher head consists of the following components: Wire straightener: The wire which is drawn out of the spool is straightened Cutter: This cuts the wire to a fixed length to form a stitch. Stitcher Head: It bends the wire to form the crown and legs. Clincher: It bends the legs of the bent wire from the bottom to form a stitch. Basics for a good quality stitch Good wire: Wires are normally galvanized. Some-times poor galvanizing creates problems with wire draw. The metal plating on the wire can come off in the straightener.  his creates a jam and offers resistance which in turn affects the wire draw and life of the stitcher head.  When wire is manufactured it is wound on a large spool; only to be rewound and supplied in smaller spool to fit in the machine. Wire in the smaller spool, if stored for many days, (gets aged ) starts to remember its shape in the spool. Such a wire would offer a lot of resistance to straightening and wire draw. To check the suitability of the wire, draw and cut about a metre length. The wire should coil back to form the size of a football (i.e. larger then the spool from which it has been drawn). Nearly half the problems associated to stitching would disappear when you replace an old stock of wire with a fresh spool. Consistent wire draw: The stitcher head should be able to draw fixed length of wire consistently.  You should check the length of wire by drawing them through the stitcher and taking it out after cut.  Take about 15 pieces and check if all are equal in length. If it is unequal the quality of stitch will be affected. You can also check the wire after bending, but before clinching, to see if both the legs have equal length.  If the legs are unequal, they would either overlap or have significant gap between them. Both these conditions are not acceptable. Good cut: There should not be any burr at the edge of the wire when the cut is made.  Ensure that you change the cutter when it starts to give burr at the cut. Centered wire: All stitcher head parts should be properly set according to wire gauge so that the wire is centered correctly in the stitcher head. Clinching: Finally the clinching should be accurate with the correct amount of pressure. The clincher should be clean and devoid of any paper dust. John Finn is the Managing Director, Deluxe Bostich Stitcher Int, Ireland

Polyurethane reactive hotmelts are synthetic polymers which are therrmoset in nature. When heated to their application temperature they react with the moisture and bond with the surface. After solidification they cannot become liquid again i.e. they are irreversible as compared to conventional hotmelts. Advantages of PUR HMA over conventional HMA Application temperature for PUR ranges from 85–140°c which is lower as compared to conventional HMA that ranges between 160°-180°c. This means that energy is saved, set-up time is less and wrinkling of spine is reduced since less moisture is absorbed from the book. The unique property that gives PUR hotmelt adhesives their performance advantage is that they cure to thermoset material that resist melting. This curing process is the reaction with moisture found in the air or in the substrate to produce a strong tough temperature resistant adhesive. PUR HMA possess very high degree of cold crack and heat resistance PUR HMA provides high degree of flexibility. Therefore one can produce lay flat books with thicker substrates, as well as books in which the grain direction is not parallel to the spine. PUR is resistant to solvent therefore you can use them with books which have inks or coatings that bleed into the spine PUR HMA bonding is a chemical reaction and not a purely surface phenomenon therefore it does not rely on fibre content of the substrate. PUR can be used on substrates with high filler content and thicker coatings Applications of PUR Moisture is an important component for use of PUR HMA. Therefore maintaining atmospheric conditions around the perfect binder is essential for good binding. Also contrary to conventional HMA, PUR cures faster on humid days. It is important to know what press was used to print the book forms. If heatset web offset processed printed jobs arrive at the bindery they should be unpacked and left for sometime to acclimatise and retain moisture. PUR bound books used to have a longer curing time of around 24 hours , so they had to be left exposed to natural air. This has improved greatly with the new generation PURs that can cure under 4 hours, subject to sufficient moisture content during curing. PUR HMA cannot be left exposed to moisture for longer time. Therefore they are applied through an enclosed system with the help of slot coaters the slots can be opened or closed according to the width of the spine. It can be used to apply PUR on the spine of the book block or cover material. Henkel has formulated a grade of PUR hotmelt which is in granule form and can be used in a conventional glue tank with a few modifications to the tank and rollers. The glue tank and rollers are Teflon coated for easy cleaning. The glue tank is made smaller since the adhesives are put in to the tank has to be completely consumed and the remnants had to be thrown away.  By using the system one can get used to PUR technology and application before buying expensive equipment . Typical application of PUR include museum quality art books, coffee table books and frequently used library reference material. This is because PUR gives stronger binding than traditionally smyth sewn books. In continents like Asia and Africa, where the temperatures can soar, PUR is a definite insurance against books falling apart. 

PUR (Polyurethane Reactive) adhesives have been in bookbinding, primarily since 1989.  The first test in North America was run on the west coast using a homemade application system.  Since then, the use of PUR has increased dramatically.  In 1995, it was reported that there were 28 users of PUR, and by the end of 2010 this number has increased to 100+ users in North America. Advantages of PUR over standard EVA hotmelts PUR has been chosen over standard hotmelt adhesives for many reasons—with superior adhesion and layflat, being the most important ones. Adhesion: PUR is unique in that it will bond to lacquer coatings, UV cured coatings, films such as mylar, as well as clay coated paper.  Excellent Layflat: Films of PUR, when applied at the recommended thickness, are considerably more flexible than standard EVA hotmelts.  PUR is suggested to be applied at 0.25-0.3 mm because it is twice as strong as standard EVA hotmelts.  While the adhesion and layflat qualities are very important in the use of PUR, there are many other qualities that provide benefits for the bookbinder. Heat and Cold Resistance: Once the PUR adhesive has cross-linked, books bound by these adhesives will not fail at extreme temperatures over 1000C and below -400C.  These properties were especially important to a binder in the US who sent books to both the Sahara Desert region as well as areas in Siberia.  Since turning from hotmelt to PUR, this binder’s adhesive related complaints have been eliminated. Less Wrinkling of Backbone: Binding cross-grained paper with standard hotmelt adhesives causes considerable wrinkling in the gutter area of the book.  The lower operating temperature of PUR does not drive the moisture in the paper away from the backbone, the way normal hotmelt does.  PUR is also somewhat malleable as it cures, allowing the paper fibres to return to their original orientation.  Less “Chip-out”: Since PUR is applied at a low temperature and since it is applied at half the standard thickness of hotmelt, there is much less chance for the material to build up on the trimmer knives and nick the cover material during trimming.  Square Backbone: The amount of PUR applied is considerably less than standard hotmelt, therefore less material is available to be squeezed out when the cover station and side nipping attach the cover and form the back. Solvent Resistance: According to Werner Rebsamen’s article “Insidious Solvents” (WB Times, Aug-Sept 2005), PUR is the only binding material today that is totally resistant to solvents and oils.  Samples of the cured PUR adhesive have been immersed in oils and solvents, such as MEK and alcohol, that are used in the printing industry and these chemicals have had no effect on the PUR film.  Standard hotmelt films are softened drastically and even dissolved by some of these chemicals.       Then there are some additional benefits: Cost savings vs. Smythe Sewing:   For many years the standard of the industry to produce rounded, hard cover books was to use Smythe sewing and glue the sewn books with a flexible liquid adhesive prior to rounding. A study in Europe has shown that savings of 30%-40% in cost can be realised by milling off the backbone of the folded signatures and then gluing them off with PUR. Roundability and Round Retention: Many hard cover books are rounded and backed to provide both aesthetics as well as strength to the final book.  By gluing off the book block with PUR, followed by in-line rounding and backing, a significantly greater round can be obtained.  As the PUR cures with the book in the rounded state, the retention of the round will be maximised.  There will be no “memory” as is found when rounding books that have been glued off with standard hotmelts. Application Equipment Due to the nature of PUR, special precautions must be taken in order to prevent premature cross-linking and to facilitate clean up of the PUR. Both open pot systems and closed extrusion systems have been developed since 1989 to specifically deal with these special needs. Open Pot Systems: Initially, an open pot designed specifically for PUR was produced by commercial printing in Medford, Oregon.  It was on a Muller Martini Star Plus binder.  In order to take advantage of PUR, some of the binders on the west coast adopted this application technique.  Closed Extrusion Systems: The initial closed extrusion system consisted of a premelter, a holding tank, and recirculation hoses feeding the application head.  This technology had limited success in the US.  A number of years were spent attempting to improve this system. The latest extrusion systems from Nordson Corporation and Robatech, Switzerland have made the application of PUR adhesives relatively simpler. Concerns One of the major concerns for the use of PUR is the price of the material.  While the price of PUR is about 3-4 times that of standard hotmelts, the   application amount is generally half or less than the amount of hotmelt normally applied.  (Welbound has developed a price comparison calculator for PUR v/s Conventional EVA HMA. Please send a mail to welbound@gmail.com, for a free copy). As one plant manager put it “a small increase in cost, more than justifies the use of PUR and I can sleep at night, knowing that the job will not be rejected.”  Many users of PUR have found that switching back and forth from PUR to hotmelt is not justified because of this small difference in cost.  In addition, operators become much more familiar with the machine settings and are able to maintain the low application levels when PUR is used exclusively. Another concern involves the emission of MDI, one of the ingredients used to make PUR.  The MDI is present in very small concentrations (parts per billion) and newer generations have cut the levels in half. Then there is the length of time it takes the PUR to cure so the books can be trimmed and shipped.  PUR was first introduced into the United States bookbinding industry by the erstwhile National Adhesives (now a part of Henkel International) in 1989.  The first generation of PUR, while it could be trimmed inline, needed almost 24 hours before enough strength developed so the books could be shipped.  This delay in shipping was found to be completely unsatisfactory for most of the industry. The second generation PUR was developed in 1994 that allowed inline trimming and sufficient strength within four hours of binding, if enough moisture was present in the paper and the relative humidity of the binding area was high enough. The third generation PUR was developed in 1997.  This generation’s page pull development was achieved within an hour of production and only required the moisture of the paper to achieve final cure.  However, since the green strength was very high at an early time, especially in humid areas, it was found that the PUR was becoming very heavy in the glue pot.  Finally, the fourth generation of PUR was developed.  This was a lower viscosity version of the third generation and maintained the high green strength, but extended the pot life.  This generation has replaced most of the third and second generation PUR, and is especially successful in the new extrusion systems and continues to be used in many systems today The future of PUR PUR began its usefulness in binding highly coated and  cross-grained paper and this market will continue to be the highest user.  More and more printers and publishers are aware of the benefits of PUR and this in turn is driving the demand. Another emerging market for PUR usage is that of photo albums.  These books typically have very high quality paper stock and the purchasers require durability, flexibility, and strength only obtained by using PUR. The next large increase for PUR will be in the hard cover binding area.  Because of the cost advantage of PUR binding over Smythe sewing, and the ability of the fourth generation of PUR to be rounded in line, many hard cover book manufacturers have been investigating PUR. Another critical application is that of soft cover textbooks in countries that have hot summers. In order to prevent the books from falling apart, the publishers take the precaution of thread sewing or side stitching the book blocks, prior to pasting on a perfect binder. This bottleneck can be removed with the introduction off PUR. Chuck Cline is a chemistry graduate who worked with the erstwhile National Adhesives for 30 years. He was part of the field trials of most of the 'path breaking inventions' in the adhesives industry including COOLBIND, ULTRACASE and PUR, in the North America. In 2001, he founded  'Binding Solutions LLC', an independent consulting firm.

In most cases, the design of the book cover is a designer/ artist’s job. The publisher takes plenty of effort in the design of the book cover, which improves the salability, and shelf appeal of the book. The illustrations, photographs and designs on the cover are alloted a lot of importance; a huge number of hours are spent on discussing and designing the cover. All these efforts can come to a naught, if the same attention is missing in selection of the material for the cover.  Many of the publishers are aware of the important points to be considered while selecting the cover material/paper. However, some will give undue importance to aesthetics while ignoring the need to crease/score the covers. And finally there are others who will opt for cost over grain direction. Let us discuss the considerations for choosing the “right cover” for a perfect binding job. Generally, the covers are thick, printed, embossed, laminated papers or boards. While selecting the cover materials, the following properties are to be considered : Thickness & Size of Stock:  Using a thick board to bind a thin book block is a strict "No No". The cover weight (gsm) is directly proportional to the book thickness. Please consider the guidelines in the table below for selecting cover stock. The spine length of covers should be foot plus 3mm and head plus 2mm, meaning that an additional 5mm longer that the book block. Book block thickness (in mm) Cover thickness (in gsm)* Up to 5 mm 150 - 180 6-12 mm 200 - 230 13 to 16 mm 250 - 270 *There are other factors like stiffness that need consideration while selecting the cover weight. Grain Direction:  The grain direction of the cover should be parallel to the book spine. This is absolutely necessary for a ‘well bound’ book Suitability for Creasing / Scoring:  A lot of stress is put on the cover board when it is scored. The two centre scores are necessary for achieving a square spine. The outer creases/scores are known as ornamental or opening creases and they power the opening of the covers. The scoring/ creasing lines, achieved through discs on the perfect binder, should not break the cover surface. Conversely, the cover should not be too thick for the scoring discs to create any impact. In cases, where the ornamental scores are not deep enough, the load of opening will shift to the second and third page and this can break the joint. Splitting strengths: Splitting is a case where the outer layer of the cover comes off the next layer. When splitting occurs on the spine area or at the trimmed edges, it could have disastrous results. Cover materials are fabricated through different methods like couching (pronounced as ‘cooching’) or gluing of several thick layers. Couching is a process of attaching two or more paper webs into one layer, when they are moist, during the paper manufacturing. There is no glue used in this case. Hence couched type paper will have better split resistance when subject to moisture. Also, a high splitting strength will reduce the possibility of wrinkles on the book spine. It is ideal to make a few dummies with the available cover material and compare the results. Inside surface properties: The surface of the inside cover is the one that comes in contact with the glue. There should not be any lamination or lacquer at the spine and side glue areas. Glossy cover should be tested for compatibility with the hot melt adhesive used. Stiffness and trim strength: Extremely stiff covers will not travel well on a perfect binder. The same is true for very thin and highly flexible covers. In certain cover material, the coating, ink, lamination etc peel off at the edges during trimming. This means the paper layer will start to split. This is due to a low trim strength of the cover material. There are few more points to be considered while selecting a cover, but the six points (listed above) are the critical ones. I've always believed that print buyers are aware of these criteria and take care of the same while suggesting the cover material.  However if they do not, it is the responsibility of the book printer to bring these facets to their notice. If the print buyer still insists on the “wrong choice of cover” for whatever reason, then the job should be accepted with the risk factored in. Additional care will be needed for setting the machine, in-process and final inspection. This will mean more machine and man-hours as well as increased allowance for wastage. A costly affair,  right? Let us disregard the old adage about not judging a book by the cover!  

Wohlenberg Lucro is a robust and beneficial solution for high speed book production. The proven German technology is adapted to include features that will sustain the stress of not-so-ideal working conditions. Lucro combines the strength of the proven efficiency of the Sprinter gatherer and the City binder, with sensible and essential automation, that is foolproof.  The perfect binding line is central to the workflow of soft cover book production. Lucro delivers the unique advantages offered by other Wohlenberg lines - be it in handling difficult signatures, loose leaves, gate-fold covers etc.  Wohlenberg Lucro follows the lineage of the Wohlenberg binders that stand out for their smart and economic use of space and energy. For a 5000 books per hour machine, Lucro requires the lowest foot print and consumes the minimum of energy.  Salient Features Flexible spine processing with high-power 6.2 kW milling motor plus frequency-controlled notching- or multiple knife head  Flexible glue technique for separate processing of spine- and side glue as interchangeable system for different gluing techniques Universal easy-to-use rotary cover feeder for processing 4,6 and 8 page covers Separately operating registering and pressing station for the exact positioning of cover and optimal spine forming Laydown device for gentle positioning of the products and as interface for an inline linking Technical data Mech. Speed 1000 – 5000 cycles/h Book height 140 – 370 mm Book width 105 – 320 mm Book thickness 2 – 50 mm Number of clamps 15 Cover height 140 – 375 mm Cover width 208 – 640 mm Clamp opening width 12 – 90 mm

Why do we need to adjust the back plate/ lip of buckle plate? The back plate has an adjustment to make sure the leading edge of the sheet enters the fold/buckle plate without "ducking" the mouth of the plate.   Normally, for thin papers, the back lip is brought inward toward the fold rollers. It assists easy entry of sheet in to the fold plate. This setting, however will not work with heavy weight paper. Here the sheet will enter the plate but the exiting is restricted - as the lip is too far down into the fold rollers. This will cause paper jam, bad slitting/cutting, crooked perforating with most of your accessories. The hexagon adjustment (picture A) is for moving the back lip either in or out. Towards or away from the rollers (picture C). This adjustment deflects/catches the sheet to make sure it enters into the fold plate and doesn’t “duck” the plate. Normally this adjustment is used if the leading edge of the sheet has a bad up or down curl or the paper is extremely thin, 25lb - 40lb. This also depends on the plate being used, up #1 or down #2.   Picture Bshows the + and - on the side of the fold plate. The BLACK or RED mark is for reference on the back lip position. The O mark on the scale is the central position. Counter clockwise takes the lip in toward the + sign and clockwise takes it out toward the - sign.   When do I adjust the gap between the buckle plates? We will need to make this adjustment to go well with the stability of the paper (This varies with different paper thickness).  Older type of folding machines never had this adjustment. What happens to the sheet when it enters the plate and hits the sheet stop? In a fraction of a second the sheet buckles (hence the name buckle folder), corrugates and many ripples are forced along the sheet from side to side.   Now if the gap between the buckle plates is more, then these ripples will lead to variations in fold. So what is the right gap? :  The gap should be not small so as to hinder the entry of the sheet into buckles; but just enough to keep the buckling problem to a minimum. You do not have to make this adjustment on every set up!  If you are getting variation then this will be another area to look at.   Why have I got plastic and steel marbles for my side guide? This one is quite simple.  Either for HEAVY or LIGHT stock.   With the heavier paper you must have control of the sheet to make sure it enters into the side guide and stays there until it gets to the first roller. If the weight within the side guide marble rail is too light, then the paper will not register. Having said that, there are many other variables like grain direction, requirement of speed etc that will decide the flow of sheets through the alignment table into the buckles. Hence some trial and error is involved here. If the press room have some set up sheets of the job then test your set up with this.  This way you are not taking good sheets from the actual run.   When do I skew the side guide and why do I need to? Many a times you may get sheets with the print-area not aligned to the paper. This is mostly due to cross cut papers - either bought cheap 'stock lot' or cut incorrectly.   If the sheet is folding "out of square" constantly then this is the first area for you to check.   Fold one sheet and check it straight from the first fold.  Lay it on a flat surface and palm the sheet until all the air is out and sheet is as flat as possible. Now check the leading edge side guide corner to see if the sheet is folded edge to edge!  The way to compensate this is: a slight adjustment on the side guide. You may have to combine this with your fold plate's skew adjustment.  Try your side guide first; if it's not giving the desired result, then combine it with your fold plate.     The corner to corner registration is checked usually in such cases where you suspect the paper to be cross-cut. Otherwise registration to be checked with folding marks. Look forward to answering real time issues in folding, faced by WT readers. I will try my best to answer these.  Dave Trutzenbach is the CEO of www.partsforfolders.com, an online site which is a hub for ordering folding machine parts. He has 52 years experience in the industry and has worked as operator of folders, managed bookbinding units, besides imparting tips about bookbinding before his retirement from MBO.

During  the manufacture of paper, the paper fibre orient in the direction of flow of pulp and this is known as the grain direction or machine direction. As you know, paper is manufactured in the form of large reels.  The sheets are then cut out of these reels. What is  "grain direction" of paper? Long grain and short grain sheets cut from reel During  the manufacture of paper, the paper fibre orient in the direction of flow of pulp and this is known as the grain direction or machine direction. As you know, paper is manufactured in the form of large reels.  The sheets are then cut out of these reels. Depending on whether the longer or shorter side of the sheet is in the grain direction, the sheet is called LG (Long  Grain) or SG (Short  Grain) What is the significance of grain direction in printing & binding? Paper expands across / against the grains. While printing, this can cause problems in colour registration. It is possible to compensate for this, in the circumferential direction; but not laterally. This would mean that the grain direction should be parallel to the printing cylinders. In other words, for multi colour printing, long  grain  is  preferred. In binding,  the grain direction should be parallel to the book spine. That means the final fold should be in line with the grain direction.  In such a case,  the book will open more easily and lay flat. Books, adhesive bound with wrong grain direction (perpendicular to the spine) have a better chance  of  falling  apart. Let us elaborate this a bit more:  Paper is anisotropic in nature and has different stiffness along length and width.  It is stiffer along the grain direction;  this explains why a book with grain perpendicular to spine behaves like ‘mouse trap’, shutting with a clap-sound when its opened and left. Even in thread-sewn books,  the signatures of the open book tend to stand up and refuse to lay flat. The same holds true for covers as they crease and fold better along the grain direction. In order that the grain direction requirements of both printing and binding are met, the imposition of the pages will need to be planned properly. How does one know the grain direction of the paper he or she is planning to print on? Paper supplies: In most cases the supplied sheets mention the type of grain – whether LG or SG. In some cases, the direction is marked by underlining the side (28'' x 40'' indicates long grain and 28'' x 40'' is short grain ) Droop test:  A piece of paper is placed on the edge of a table so that it overhangs by six inches. The angle of droop is noted and the same paper is turned 90 degrees and extended by the same overhang again. The orientation that shows the greatest droop has the grain aligned with the table  edge. Droop test It is important for the spine to be stiff, while the pages are flexible. The only way is to have the grain direction along the spine.  Moisture test: If moisture is applied to one side of a sheet of paper, it immediately starts to curl in one direction. The expansion is on the cross-grain edge, the curl indicating the paper grain direction.   Moisture test Folding test: When folding a small sheet of paper you will notice that it folds more easily and smoothly when the fold is parallel to the grain. If folded against the grain, the small fibre particles break and make an unsatisfactory fold. Bending test: Thicker papers are best tested by bending them in both directions. One direction offers considerably more resistance than the other.  Parallel to the grain direction the resistance is far less than against the grain. Tearing test: A sheet is torn in longitudinal and latitudinal directions. The tear pattern will be straight when parallel to the grain and jagged across the grain.

I think we’re all used to having a budget for every project, but in a tough economy, many of us are operating on shoestring budgets—budgets that feel confining, and can stifle creativity. And even with really tight budgets, it is generally expected that the end product will still be of the highest quality and creatively presented—so how can you break out of the box without breaking the bank? I think we’re all used to having a budget for every project, but in a tough economy, many of us are operating on shoestring budgets—budgets that feel confining, and can stifle creativity. And even with really tight budgets, it is generally expected that the end product will still be of the highest quality and creatively presented—so how can you break out of the box without breaking the bank? The following is a list of tricks that will help your folded project look good on the cheap. Tip 1: Pick anything but a trifold I love the trifold—it’s the worker-bee of the industry, but if you want to get some attention, there are a handful of other folding styles that are considered “production” folds that are easy to set up on the folding machine and fast-running. Double parallel folds, roll folds, accordions, and even gate folds can be affordable if your printer has a gate fold attachment. Do a little research before settling for the everyday trifold. Tip 2: Get flexible with format As a habit, you may be making all of your brochures to the same folded size. Try something different! Before choosing a new format, be sure you understand the end application of your piece – does it have to fit into an envelope, a display, a pocket folder? Is it a direct mail piece? All of these questions will determine the right sizes and formats, but if you have some flexibility, stop working on autopilot. Ask your printer for guidance regarding what sizes and formats will print efficiently. You can also change direction and create a piece that is horizontal in format for a fun twist. A switch from vertical to horizontal format can totally change the look and feel of a folded piece. Tip 3: Give it a trim If you’re really sold on a trifold, add some pizzazz by trimming the cover short. The slim vertical strip of area that will be revealed by the short trim can have bright colour, or large vertical text, or a peek of imagery—and it’s just a simple trim. Cheap! How about an angled trim on a corner? That’s just a guillotine trim, not a die, so again, not much cost to you, but eye-catching and different. A simple short trim on a cover can turn a standard tri-fold in to something special. Tip 4: Cover it with ink Heavy ink coverage, done well, looks luxurious. It also potentially gives you the opportunity to downgrade the paper a bit and save some money. If you’re covering the entire brochure with ink, you don’t need a premium sheet with the highest brightness. You may be able to use your printer’s house sheet or other economical choice for a nice savings. One caveat—don’t get too aggressive—downgrade too much and your heavy ink coverage may not look so good on your cheap sheet. Heavy ink coverage almost always requires scoring, as well. Ask your printer for guidance. Tip 5: Fold or assemble it yourself OK, this tip is not for everyone, but if you want to avoid costly hand work or machine time in the bindery, and you have a small print quantity and a score so you can see where the folds fall, then you might be able to coax a few friends (or interns) to join you for a folding party.  Other possible cost-saving hand tasks include assembling and inserting into envelopes, and wafer sealing. Maybe you can splurge on a die and have the sheets delivered flat for hand-folding. Make sure you have a lot of friends or employees to help. Tip 6: Join the gang If you really want to save, plan ahead. Figure out what you need to produce within a certain time period and gang it together in one press run. Design your holiday card now so that it’s ready at a moment’s notice to jump on a press sheet with another project. Do the same for your postcards, sell sheets, and other collateral and tell your printer you’re looking for opportunities to gang projects together. Tip 7: Ask about inline finishing A lot of printers are investing in in-line finishing equipment, which is making a lot of processes that traditionally have been performed off line, a part of one continuous process. You may be avoiding scoring, perforating, cutting, and gluing because you think it’s unaffordable, when it may actually be within your budget if performed in-line. Ask your printers if they’ve adopted any in-line processes. Tip 8: Don’t be shy This tip is the most important of all. Establish a nice working relationship with your print vendors and let them know that you are looking for ways to cut cost while upholding quality. Your printer is a great partner and resource—get them involved and ask them for advice, rather than making assumptions and cutting your options short without knowing for sure what is within reach. Trish Witkowski is Chief Folding Fanatic at www.foldfactory.com. Visit foldfactory for folding ideas, videos, resources, software tools and more. Join the community and start receiving the “60-Second Super-cool FOLD of the WEEK” e-video.  You can contact Trish at trish@foldfactory.com.

What looks like a folding mistake by the bindery is often a designer error. If a panel is to fold into another, it must be slightly smaller or there will be what’s called “telescoping”, or the inability for the folded sheet to lie flat. What looks like a folding mistake by the bindery is often a designer error. If a panel is to fold into another, it must be slightly smaller or there will be what’s called “telescoping”, or the inability for the folded sheet to lie flat. It will have a roundish profile because the panels are too long and push against each other for lack of anywhere else to go. No reputable printer will deliver a brochure that doesn’t lay flat. The bindery will be forced to make adjustments to the fold placement so there is no telescoping, but margins and colour breaks will shift noticeably. The ongoing industry problem is that printers quietly make this adjustment, and designers assume the printer folded the job incorrectly, causing bad feelings and often loss of business. So don’t let it get that far—compensate for folding at the initiation of the job, or ask the printer if they have a template. Also, pay close attention to the folded blueline. Even though these are hand-folded, they should still be a pretty good indication of what your end result will be. If it’s wrong on the blueline, it’ll be wrong in the bindery. And if you sign off on that proof, it’s yours. Compensating for folding in the file at job initiation, for me, is also about control. Early in my career, I left it up to the printer to compensate for me. When I got my brochure back, my fold in panel was almost 1/4 inch (6.35mm) short, when it could have been 3/32" (2.4mm). This is not to say that printers are careless, it’s just that there is a fairly wide range of what is considered acceptable, so if you’re looking for a tight gap on a gate fold or fold-in panel, do it yourself, or clearly communicate it to your printer. As far as how to compensate, there are a few ways to compensate the digital document, and if you don’t know how to, ask your printer to put you in touch with a pre-press operator who can walk you through digital file compensation techniques. It’s not as hard as it sounds. You can also visit foldfactory.com for downloadable custom folding templates or ask your printer to provide a folding template. Lastly, if you’ve already completed a job and you’re unsure about your fold placement, tell your printing salesperson when they pick up the job so they will alert pre-press to the potential problem. Although it’s much better to be proactive and set up the file correctly yourself, if you don’t think you’ve done it right, don’t keep your mouth shut. Tell someone, or ask more questions. You’ll save money, and potentially your reputation. Folding compensation guideline How do you know how much to compensate, and where to compensate? Make a rough folding dummy and lay it out flat. Look closely at which panels fold in or down. Any panel folding into another will require compensation. Compensation goes up with thickness of sheet, and number of sheets folding in. Also, more than one fold in the same direction, such as a roll fold, means compounding the compensation measurement in consecutive panels—each panel must get progressively smaller. The general rule for any single sheet thickness panel folding into another is to shorten the fold-in panel by 3⁄32 – 1⁄8  inch. If the fold-in panel is broadside (two sheet thickness) or in heavy cover stock, subtract 1⁄8  – 3⁄16  inch (3.2–4.8 mm) from the panel width to compensate for pushout from the extra sheet of paper (or the weight of the cover stock). If you don’t know where to start, consult the printer or bindery to make sure the fold is possible to mechanise, and to ask for a compensation diagram or template. In asking them for help, you may find that the bindery or printer can help you come up with unique solutions to enhance the result. Trish Witkowski is Chief Folding Fanatic at the online community foldfactory.com. She holds a BFA in graphic design and a MS in graphic arts publishing from RIT. An award-winning designer and educator, Trish has a specialised expertise in folding and is the creator of the FOLDRite™ system, and host of the popular weekly e-video, “60-second Super-cool FOLD of the WEEK.” Publications include: A Field Guide to Folding, Folding for the Graphic Arts: A Teacher’s Handbook, and FOLD: The Professional’s Guide to Folding. Contact Trish at: trish@foldfactory.com

Board warpage Board warping problems, which most of the time occur in the winter, arrive at our book-testing laboratory from all over the world. The purpose of this article is to furnish you with some basic information on why such problems do occur. Mirror, mirror on the wall, who has the biggest warp of them all? A Primer on paper and paper boards When paper or paperboards are made, approx. 70 to 80 percent of the fibres float in the machine direction (MD). Paper fibres are hygroscopic. They pick up water when the moisture is high, they lose water when the percentage of moisture is low. Fibre expansion Paper fibres expand 4 to 5 times more in their width than they do in their length. Therefore, one must make sure that all cover-materials, boards, endpapers have the grain parallel to the binding edge. How paper and paperboards do react to moisture in an ever changing environment, is shown in the adjacent figure: Are there guarantees against paperboard warping? What are the basics of a paperboard? All paperboard manufacturers rely on paper-waste which, being a re-cycled product, is hard to control for consistency. Some use newsprint, others magazine papers etc. For example, a high amount of corrugated box content attracts more moisture, whereas groundwood or thermo-mechanical furnish, i.e. soft fibres, respond to less moisture. In addition, papers and boards with short fibres tend to saturate more rapidly and therefore expand and contract more quickly. Long fibred stocks are more stable in this respect and in certain instances, it is possible to exercise considerable control, a factor every mill tries to achieve in a best possible manner. Unfortunately, with today's trends toward recycling, we must cope with shorter fibres. This is also true for the printed papers used as covering materials. There are many different techniques being used to manufacture paper boards. Most important for them is to manufacture a paperboard product that is dimensionally stable. Some structures promise to offer more stability than others. That maybe true, but despite those claims made by some paperboard manufacturers, this bookbinding expert has experienced and analyzed warping problems on all brands and qualities of paper boards made. I have never come across a single warping incident where, at least in my opinion, where the paper boards were at fault. How moisture or an adhesive application affects papers and boards The most fundamental relationship in a print-finishing process does lie in the reaction of papers, boards etc. on each other in the presence of water-based adhesives, that is animal or protein glues, cold-emulsion PVA's, starches etc. To understand these effects fully, it is essential to have a good understanding of the construction of the fibrous materials and how they react to moisture during the drying and manufacturing processes. These factors greatly influence the performances of the finished products in the ever changing climatic environments. Example, books made in Asia during the summer in high humidity, then transported to a bookstore in Minnesota, where, during the winter, the air is very dry. Paper and paperboards are all based on cellulose fibres, which have a tubular shape. Given the opportunity, these will absorb water by capillary action and as a result, the individual fibres will considerably increase in their diameter, but gain only a fraction in the fibres lying in a more or less parallel direction. As each of the fibres expands in its diameter, expansion will occur. The expansion is across the machine direction. Now, if a binder applies a water-based adhesive onto one side of a paper-board, this will cause the fibres on the surface to expand rapidly. All this does happen, because there is a time lapse before the moisture has penetrated evenly through the board. Therefore, and that is important, expansion will initially be uneven and a curl will be induced into the paperboard. If the same amount of moisture is applied to the other side, the board will flatten out. The following schematics are self-explanatory: The interplay between moisture and paperboards Now, try to solve a problem sent to our laboratory. A manufacturer produced puzzle boards. They mounted a color printed sheet only onto one side of the board and then they did wonder why the boards warped! Now, as a consultant and the necessary knowledge of the forces at work, you can give them the following advice: “In order to make a board to lie flat, one must mount identical papers onto both sides, same grain direction, same amount of adhesive!”. Timing is critical as well. As you can see for yourself, it is a relative simple solution! Just try to understand Mother nature at work.

A few weeks ago I was at a get-together with a diverse group of people who met each other for the first time. The pre-dinner conversation was veering dangerously towards the mundane, and “nice to meet you” was the most commonly heard phrase. Just when the party was being dismissed into the dustbin of boring get-togethers, a turn-around happened… While dinner was being laid on the table, a seemingly–terribly-bored-lady in the group quipped- “Dum Aloo!! –a dash of dahi can do wonders to the aloo when it's being fried”. That phrase elevated the mood of the party. The dreary discussion became a charming chat, what with: “how the royal chefs made meat kebabs, delicously soft enough for the toothless nawabs to gulp them” to “we use bamboo shoots in our pickles” with the occasional “the best sushi in Mumbai is at ….” Food, as always, demonstrated its infallible power to “start - and sustain - a conversation". It's not surprising nowadays for (many of us as retailers to experience) living room discussions turn into feedback sessions on their favourite brand of cooking oil not being available in the supermarket or how the cash counter queues have become longer on Sundays. In a country which has always made “roti” precede 'kapda and makaan', food and grocery occupies 60% of the retailing basket, making it the country's most popular category. On a lighter note even the other national favourite -Bollywood has been unsparing with food in their titles (Cheeni Kum, Bheja Fry, Garam Masaala being a few recent examples) I wasn't prepared for the next round of conversations that made the “party”. From food the pondering turned into schooling: How difficult (and expensive) is to get a seat in an school! In these times, education is possibly one of those rare fields which is recession free. With better education of the child a much higher priority over investment in a house, the new phrase for India would (should be!) be "Roti, Kapada, KITAB and Makan”. When Welbound Times asked me to pen a few words on these 'times', I thought, as food retailers and book printers, we have something common to deal with: “a recession free commodity”. Whatever may be the inflation level, people will eat rice and biscuits ; they also buy text books and notebooks for their children. These are definitely tough times for some; but these are times of opportunities and challenges too. Its how you perceive the situation and react that will make the difference. I have tabled a few “conventional” reactions to the difficult situation; these are then countered with alternative behaviour of a leader. Many of these are part of the “retail experience” and I have tried to make them as relevant as possible to the reader of Welbound Times. Conventional reactions during tough times Alternative behaviour of the leader Start randomly cutting in on cash flow - the lesser the better Cash becomes a critical weapon in your armoury - you roll a coin and see how it reaches its goal without going here and there. Deploy funds exactly where the need is. Start firing people, manpower cuts are essential That's the last measure - Start expecting more, talk and challenge people on productivity. If done this way staff affinity & loyalty in good times is assured. Negotiate , Negotiate- these are times all suppliers are in trouble , hence strip them bare on costs Partner on efficiency and productivity – they will have a longer impact Keep all assets idle, including the personal ideas and thoughts. There is no better option The better option is to “sharpen the blade when the knife is not being used”. So do maintenance, explore upgradation. Acquire new skills, adjacent businesses. Maintain status quo-“jaisa chalta hai chalne do” Innovate- communicate to customers, staff. Maybe some innovative ideas will come through. Getting better money realization has become tough- so let me add some complexity e.g super built up to carpet while buying a flat Getting better money realization has become tough- so let me add some complexity e.g super built up to carpet while buying a flat The “sentiment” is so dull – how could I possibly take tough measures on efficiency now, everyone will revolt Every stakeholder is “feeling” the pinch-they will be in a very receptive state to hear to process changes etc. Stop all investments on promotions, advertising and brand building. It's a waste. Who is doing it anyway? Exactly the reverse. This is the time to consolidate positions. Be seen, be noted, when no one is prominent. Also promotions and advertising will be cheaper in these times. The only point to think is “how should I gain more share from competition- the more they lose the better for me, since anyway the industry is shrinking Industry shrinking is bad news for all the strong players. This is the time to only grow the market. And the only competition will be the self. Some well wishers with whom I have bounced the above thoughts have challenged me on who a “leader” is. In the context of retail, the simple answer is: “An ordinary retailer thinks that he is running a rectangular shop, stocking food and grocery and makes business and money through this. A leader is a person who raises the bar and feels truly responsible in influencing the food value chain in the life of a consumer. (that he also makes business and money from this is taken for granted – he leaves behind circumstances to energize the generations to come!) Similarly in the graphic art industry, “an ordinary book printer collates paper, prints, folds and binds to produce books. A true leader in this industry owns up to the transformation in education that India is embracing and slowly yet steadily upgrades, builds capabilities to catalyse and celebrate the change”

“People who love only once in their lives are shallow people. What they call their loyalty, and their fidelity, I call either the lethargy of custom or their lack of imagination.” - Oscar Wilde I know of this small and busy eating place in Mumbai which serves only one item- South Indian rice plate in two forms: limited and unlimited. The owner is a stiff-faced elderly gentleman who dispassionately issues tokens when you reach the cash-counter, after which there is a long wait to get a seat. Any effort at asking for a preferential entry in seating is always replied by a dispassionate “wait karna hai to karo varna paise vaapis lo.” (Wait if you need to; else please take back your cash) in an Udupi accent. When he is not shooing away requests, he is bluntly reminding people seated inside not to idle time on the seats after the meal. When I was initially subjected to this “rude” attitude years ago, I was sure that such joints will have no loyalty what so ever. With a few years gone by, I am “a loyalist” of this place and have found that this is one of the few places that seem to have a strong and growing set of “loyal” patrons. Why does this happen ? Good food, consistent service, no-nonsense pricing – I have still not found the real answer, but this small place has made me question my own understanding of “customer loyalty”. How often do we exhibit loyalty-demonstrating behaviour as customers? “I want only Mustaqbhai to cut my hair at the saloon”, “Sirf dadu's ki cutting-chai mein dum hai”, “Only Maria understands the henna requirement of my hair”, “Only Thums-up for my rum”. I have heard these and many more comments and they often make me think that loyalty is a state/goal worth chasing in our business. At my workplace, I often meet consultant gurus who want to vend customised loyalty programs. Having shifted to the retail business, I have come to realize (maybe like the stern Uduipi restaurant owner) that the only truth about loyalty is that “there is NO such thing as loyalty”, atleast in the conventional way. Let's try to debate five “traps” of the conventional understanding of loyalty . These “traps” are also experienced in the many existing loyalty programs. More often, these “traps” are shaped in form of “rules” that turn into major pitfalls. Guess what! I pawned my gold ornaments and shopped all day; I have become eligible for the Gold Card. Trap 1: Loyalty is primarily about setting “relationship rules” Many of us are exposed to special schemes for “loyal customers” which reward people more on 'buying more'. The scheme promises special benefits when you “spend more and become the golden-card member”. Closer at workplace I have seen teams get heady with the success of such schemes. I discovered the pitfall in this rule when a simple housewife told my team in an interaction that “I hate this because you always make me spend more than my budget. It disturbs my home budget balance.” In this case , our enthusiasm of giving her special discounts was putting loyalty in the reverse gear. Trap 2: Loyalty pertains to conditional relationships and is always “reciprocated” Crowded cash tills in hypermarkets of India have often been a discouraging factor to many customers. This crowd is most accentuated on Saturdays and Sundays. Faced by this challenge, our retail teams would try “happy hours” for customers. Those who shopped before 2 pm on Saturdays and Sundays would be rewarded. Not only did this scheme fail to work with customers, it created potential “dissonance” among customers who would shop with their spouse and children only after 2 pm. We still battle the crowded weekends at our stores but a significant opportunity got created when the visionary promoter of our organisation suggested “why don't we create a weekend environment in the middle of the week”. This resulted in a strong “bazaar” getting created every Wednesday. Homemakers who would be busy over weekends, working couples and singletons now throng our stores on Wednesdays leaving space for many more families to shop on weekends with us. This has led to good business gains and importantly, more happy customers who come “again and again”- some on Wednesdays and others on Sundays. Would you have called this as a “loyalty-creation” thought? Conventionally-No. Trap 3: Loyalty should primarily aim at getting customers over and over again As I type this para, I can see my son counting the stamps on his doughnut loyalty card. The local doughnut store has designed a card that will give me a stamp on a special card every time we buy “six doughnuts”!. We should get 12 such stamps within 3 months. At this rate I will be asking my children to swap parathas for doughnuts and of course make them believe in the maxim “have a doughnut a day and hope to keep diabetes away”. This brings me to the third and a significant trap of conventional loyalty schemes. The best illustration of the trap is the example of Tukaram Patil. He holds the record of the biggest (and longest) bill in our hypermarkets. Patil saab is from Ichalkaranji, Maharashtra and visits the hypermarket in Sangli immediately after the harvest, full family perched on his bullock-cart. This is his only visit for the year but the purchases humbled many of our managers who always believed in selectively rewarding frequent shoppers. How do these schemes recognise the many Tukaram Patils of the country who get all their shopping done in one visit. In the headline of the article, I have taken the liberty of quoting Oscar Wilde out-of-context. His controversial statement on love and wedlock norms brings me to the fourth trap which we also see in many of the wedlocks around us , the trap of possessiveness Trap 4: Loyalty is to dominate, own and possess the customer- Exclusively In your last visit to the cosmetic counters at the departmental store, have you been hounded by the smart and aggressive counter sales persons. They readily dish-out fragrance Brands A and B and provide lip-liner demos for Brands C and D. It appears that they are perennially in the rat-race to edge out all brands other than theirs. The aggression and exclusive sales-pitch often ends up appealing only to the people who have come prepared to buy cosmetics be it brand A or brand B. All these sales boys and girls believe that customers come specifically to buy their brands. That's true, but what's often overlooked by all of them is that such customers are a minority comprising not more than 5%. The majority 95% are non-users who could be seeking some 'beauty' product, some starting advice. But this need is overlooked by the 'Buy ONLY me' attitude of the three brands. If all three brands had made an inclusive sales-pitch 'a cosmetic' first (and a Brand later), to this customer group, many more customers would have tried beauty products. The mantra therefore could be “inclusive growth”. At first this may appear to diminish loyalty but it is strongly felt that people who follow this mantra will eventually have a larger share-of-mind. Trap 5: Loyalty is about keeping scores Most of the loyalty schemes “keep scores”. They keep building an artificial sense of comfort that some value is being continuously piled up by our “loyal” purchases or patronage. Often there is an artificial scarcity being created of lapsing unused points, missing freebies if we don't act early, "never before discounts for loyal customer”, the list can go on. However this contrasts most of the loyal relationships we enjoy in the real world. Imagine a mother keeping scores for all the nights she stayed up for her kid; friends keeping a tally of all the times they kept company in bad times; a teacher keeping a tally of the good grades he earned for the top-ranking student. If there is no score-keeping in the real world, why should any customer relationship have a tally. Scores “compare”, scores add the mortality into relationships. The obvious downside of a tally-system is that the moment another score-keeper enters the fray with more efficiency and efficacy, the customer switch is imminent. I believe its time to move beyond a score-keeping mechanism in any relationship that recognises and compliments loyalty. The straight norms to avoid the traps Make the consumer devise the rules of engagement, break all conditions, compliment the customer irrespective of the “buy” frequency remaining low/high, have an inclusive relationship and make score-keeping redundant. I would therefore strongly advocate building an intimate understanding of the customers' life-cycle and mirror this in every engagement, in every solution offered to the consumer. I am reminded of a bindery machine producer, headquartered in Kerala, who advocated cost-efficient manual tips of handling paper wastage to one of his small customers. After many years, when the customer bagged a sizeable order, the machine manufacturer coached the customer on automation and assessing demand through forecasting model. In this case, the relationship had blossomed into a close understanding of the evolution of the customer and this relationship is likely to stand all tests of time. Let me conclude this note with another food example – this time from the crowded markets of Thiruvananthapuram. There is a small food-shack serving 'limited' non-veg meals. Here the owner personally supervises the serving of meals to his customers who sit on two narrow benches. If you are a loyal customer, it is usual to hear things like “since when have you started eating 1 chapati less” or “today is Tuesday, I know you will opt for vegetables over chicken”. Many new customers are often taken aback by a strong rebuke from the owner “please don't come here if you intend to eat so little, there are other places which will be much cheaper for your small needs”. The owner of this joint reminds me of the simplest yet impactful maxim of loyalty- “You've got to give loyalty down, if you want loyalty up” Sadashiv Nayak is one of the most sought after name in food retailng in India today. Mr Nayak has brought in an innovative approach to food & grocery retailing and is recognized for his role in the rapid expansion of Big Bazaar.

India has made substantial gains in education. This is a country where 250 million children attend schools. Yet one of its most stubborn development challenges is the fact that 33 million children of primary school age still are not enrolled in school. Right to education is enshrined in the Constitution. The central government launched an ambitious scheme for education. The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan is an effort to universalise elementary education by community-ownership of the school system. The SSA hopes to provide useful and relevant elementary education for all children in the 6 to 14 age group by 2010. There is also another goal to bridge social, regional and gender gaps, with the active participation of the community in the management of schools. India may boast the record for producing and selling the cheapest textbooks in the world Education is one of the key demand drivers for the growth of print world over. The sheer size of the education market in India ensures that this would probably be the largest factor. However, there are challenges in turning this into a value proposition. Free education – free books Innumerable interventions have been planned for the growth of enrollment. One of it includes: Free textbooks to all girls and socially backward children at primary & upper primary level within an upper ceiling of Rs. 150/- per child (less than $4). The state will continue to fund free textbooks being currently provided from the state plans. As a result, the state government textbook boards form the largest segment of publishers – in terms of quantity of books, produced. All such boards put together are estimated to produce anywhere between 1.5 to 1.7 billion textbooks per annum. That’s not all. The government is laying tremendous thrust on innovative activities for girls’ education, early childhood care and education, interventions for children belonging to backward and needy section of the society. There is a thrust on computer education especially for upper primary level. There is a big opportunity for the book printing industry in India; since the preliminary requirements of the SSA include huge quantities of publishing: school wise/EGS centre wise incentives of free textbooks and notebooks, teaching materials and information system etc. The state government textbooks are printed by empanelled printers selected through a tendering process. Often such tenders see unhealthy compe-tition leading to unrealistically low rates for printing. Huge compromises are then made in the production process, in terms of machines, consumables and quality control. This, in turn, leads to poor quality in production as well as delays in supplies. At times, one has to educate the state board government authorities that one three-side trimmer is the equivalent of three or four automatic cutting machines in productivity of trimming books. And similarly, four automatic pinning machines is equivalent to one online saddle stitching machine. Make and age of machines, special attachments, capacities – these are often not given much importance. In most cases there are no gradations for vendors. The ignorance among government authorities and the unhealthy competition deter highly successful printers who can produce books with better presentation quality. The rate card of NCERT, the premier national textbooks publishing body is a good example. For binding 1,000 signatures of A4 size book, the rate is about Rs 40 (about $1). That means a book of 10 signatures will fetch 40 paise – this is less than the cost of adhesive used in binding the book. Ironically, their tenders have always seen more and more new printers joining the bandwagon. Private education Private publishing The other side of the spectrum is the enormous growth seen in Investment in Private education. With growing income, the huge Indian middle class queue up to send their children to private schools. Today this is a significant part of their annual spend. There are the private publishers who produce textbooks and guides based on the various national (ICSE, CBSE) and state syllabus. Every such segment has a few national players; many more at the state levels. One can estimate about 700-800 million books per annum from this segment. Even in this segment we’ve witnessed a high level of fragmentation and competition. This ensures that the cover prices are very low. In fact India may boast the record for producing and selling the ‘cheapest’ textbooks in the world. “When a textbook on physics reaches a teacher for evaluation and recomme-ndation, there are 30 plus options on the table. The books maybe in different sizes, varying in presentations and in price; but how can the teacher evaluate so many books and decide which is the best for his / her students? Even if your teaching is based on a new book, it will take months before realising if the product (read content) is good. So, then, content is no more the king. It is price and relationship with teacher and school that sells the book. The low entry barrier in publishing ensures that the pressure on pricing is huge,” says Vivek Govil, President and CEO of Pearson Education India. (At the GLOBALOCAL Conference in New Delhi). Also, this makes the value chain unbalanced. Because the student at the top of the pyramid is willing to pay the right price, which is much higher than what the publisher is staking his claim to. (It is only the books on specialisation or super-specialisation subjects that command a premium). The cost of books, as a part of the school education budget in India is a humble 5%. We are not talking about the subsidised books published by the government. For example, a student studying in a private school in Mumbai, following the state board syllabus, would spend anywhere between Rs 20,000-40,000 per annum (about $450-900) on school fees alone. As against this he or she will spend a maximum of Rs 800-1000 ($22) on textbooks, guides and workbooks - all put together. This is an example where the consumer can afford and is willing - but the supplier is not in a position to ask. As there is no value realised, huge levels of compromises are made on both presentation and content quality. Content is often “cut and paste”. Poor quality of paper (50 gsm cream wove white printing paper from a b-grade paper mill is the norm), compromises on design to reduce cost, mono-colour printing, shabby binding and so on. This has made companies like Pearson to focus on complete solutions - including training sessions for teachers, educational aids, question banks, workshops etc; where the book becomes one part of the package and its value is realised in relation to the solution. The academic publisher will forward integrate and invest in educational institutions, thereby realising the full potential of the content. Issues in distribution India is a large country and the rural India still has places that cannot be reached by motors. The free books seldom reach there. The private publishers stay away due to logistical issues. Unless the infrastructure develops in such areas, this will remain a major deterrent. We may need to think out of the box to provide solutions in the short term. For instance in 2009 during a heavy monsoon spell, thousands of school-going children in Bagalkot, Raichur, Bijapur, Koppal, Gulbarga and Gadag districts were distraught that their textbooks and notebooks were washed away in the monsoon floods. If their parents were worried about rebuilding their damaged houses, the children were disappointed at losing their books, with half the academic year over. Responding swiftly to their plight the textbook society, which was established by the State Government, had issued circulars to the Deputy Directors of Public Instruction (DDPIs) in the flood-hit districts to distribute textbooks stored in the block-level textbook godowns (in each taluk) for sale, free so that the children did not lag behind in the studies. The above incident underscores the disparity between India’s haves and have-nots. Even though publishing – and particularly educational publishing forms a large pie of the print market, most of the ‘better’ printers stay away from this for obvious reasons. Lessons to learn Today, a pricing battle is transpiring in other countries, as well. In December 2010, the US Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision on “the pricing of products made outside the United States.” This has implications for textbook pricing because it effectively prevents the new introduction of low-priced academic books. That’s because internationally sold goods usually work like this: the manufacturer produces two types of the same product. One is expensive and lavish, intended to be sold in the developed world. The other version is cheap and basic, intended for sales in Third World countries. Textbooks work like this too. The real barrier that many students have to accessing inexpensive textbooks is that publishers will only sell them the expensive, lavish version. Publishers make the cheap version, which is really all the students need, but the economic version is available in the developing world. The case came down to this: if the producer makes something intended for foreign sales, can American companies buy the product abroad and sell it cheaply back in America? A victory would have meant yes, and might have allowed Americans to buy textbooks for less money. That would greatly cut into publishers’ profits. This is a victory for American printer-publishers. Perhaps a cue for Indian book printers to tread a similar path, soon...

I came across this quote: "Contributors should have some pity for the editor and poor compositors. We should take pride in writing a clear and beautiful hand in our own language ... Especially when writing for a publication, everyone should regard it as his sacred duty to be doubly careful." The author is not a compositor or typesetter. It is Mahatma Gandhi and going by his advise, it seems nothing has changed since 1919. Statesman, author, printer Very few know that Mahatma Gandhi was an astute printer, publisher and journalist. Gandhi edited Indian Opinion, Young India, Navjivan and Harijan. On 7 Sept 1919, Gandhi bought out the Navjivan weekly. However, the British government was threatened by the critical writings of Gandhi. Since no printing press owner was willing to risk its business by publishing reports against the government, Navjivan felt the need to acquire its own printing press. Gandhi counted bad printing an act of himsa (violence). He insisted on clear types, durable paper and neat simple jackets Today, Navjivan's annual sales turnover is Rs 1 crore. These are mostly from highly subsidised in-house publications. Add-itional revenue is generated through the copyright of Gandhi's collected works which adds up to 1,000 books. This includes his autobiography, My Experiments With Truth published in 24 foreign lang-uages, including Braille. A glance through Gandhi's body of work is impressive. Gandhi counted bad printing an act of himsa (violence). He insisted on clear types, durable paper and neat simple jackets. He knew costly books in attractive jackets were out of the reach of readers of a poor country like India. During his lifetime, the Navajivan Press printed many books at a low price. His autobiography in Gujarati was priced 12 annas. There was also a cheap edition of this book printed in Devanagari. Gandhi had simple, practical suggestions. He felt children's books should be printed in bold types, attractive paper, and each item should be illustrated with a sketch. He preferred thin booklets. They do not tire out the children and are easy to handle. Curiously, Gandhi was not obsessed with saving money while printing. Once the Navjivan Press decided to publish a Gujarati translation of Gokhale's writings and speeches. The translation was done by an educationist. When the book was printed, Gandhi was requested to write the foreword. He found the translation poor and stiff and asked it to be destroyed. When he was told that Rs 700 had been spent, he said: "Do you think it desirable to place this rubbish before the public after spending more on binding and cover? I do not want to ruin people's taste by distributing bad literature." Gandhi stopped printing his journals when a Government order restricted him. His press was confiscated, his files were destroyed, his co-workers were jailed. He was never discouraged and remarked: "The press has a role to play. It has to become the people's Bible, Koran and Gita rolled in one. A newspaper predicts that riots are coming and all that sticks and knives have been sold out. It is the duty of the press to teach people to be brave, not to instill fear into them." In today's times, the print industry has a lot to learn from the Father of the Nation.

Paul Parisi to Book Binders - A basic lesson on how to communicate with your customers In the print industry, we have six common pitfalls for job rejections. These are: Incorrect instructions to the printer - 39% Colour mismatch - 30% Improper converting - 20% Breakdown in customer contact - 5% Layout issues - 4% Fonts - 2% Incorrect instructions have wrecked many books. A few examples of errors made while planning: Books that are to be perfect bound, stripped for saddle stitching Thread sewn books provided with more gutter space for grind-off (back milling) Trim margins that are either too low or too high. Bookbinders are often left with little or no maneuverability when a print job arrives on our shop floor. In the race to do additional jobs, one might be tempted to accept the job with its entire shortcomings – only to lose the client once the binding fails. My advice is: caution the customer; provide him with a list of “to do” things. One needs to make an extra effort in making the client understand that ‘there is huge saving for him / her’ in a job, well planned. Given below are a series of instructions that a bookbinder should communicate to the print buyer or planner. Provide the publisher or the printer various folding impositions that your machines support. Ask him/her to call you “when in doubt”. Insist on using stepped/numbered spine markers to assist in proper signature collation. Trim allowance for the signatures – they should provide at least 3mm on the head, tail and fore-edge. The untrimmed covers of thread sewn or perfect bound paperback books should be 3mm longer at the head and tail. In addition to this, if the end papers are to be glued solid to the covers, then insist on the cover being at least 3mm wider (binding edge to fore-edge) than the untrimmed signatures. Head margins for all pages must be the same to ensure proper registration. This includes inserts that may be trimmed for tipping or wrapping as well as signatures and covers. Printed endpaper should bleed to the untrimmed signature size. All signatures for Smyth sewn books must be the same size. Uneven signature lengths will require pre-trimming and you must charge for it. There should be grind off allowance provided for perfect bound books. This is normally about 3 mm. There is absolutely no grind off allowance on Smyth/thread sewn books. Printed cover stock for hard bound books: Allow 15 mm turn-in on all four sides when printing cover stock for hard cover binding. This cover buffer enables the bindery to turn the cover stock over the board, onto the inside surface of the cover. Remember that the trim size of the book is smaller than the size of the cover. It is advisable for you to produce a binding dummy to ensure correct stripping once you’re supplied with materials and information. Suggest that the paper cover stock be film laminated for strength. We need to ensure that crop marks and colour bars are removed by trimming. The signature marks are hidden by folding and sewing. For this all marks should be left at least 3 mm (preferably more) outside the final trim area. For cross-over, strip copy about 1.6mm short of grind‑off area (grind-off margin + 1.6mm). Cross-over should appear to meet at the spine. As the accuracy of folding required is very high, insist on folding at your bindery. As for cross-over images, you cannot be responsible for alignment if you are not involved at the planning stage When printing books with bleeds that run into the binding margin, as with art or photography books, please leave 3 mm unprinted and unvarnished glue trap (blank, non printed area) in the gutter between signatures. Without the glue trap, you cannot guarantee that the adhesives will penetrate into the paper fibres. This will also prevent solvents from printing ink migrating into the glued area. If the job involves thread sewing and if the paper is not heavy, then you may have to insert an 8 page into another 8 page to make 16 page signatures for sewing. The planning has to bear this in mind. If the job has odd signatures, 2, 4 or 8 pages, then it will involve either tipping or wrapping. Never have them at the beginning or the end of the book. 2 page: Tip it to outside of back (rather than front) of any signature other than the last signature. 4 page: Wrap around any signature (in case of automatic thread sewing) or insert into a signature (in case of perfect binding). 8 page: Collate with other signatures but never place them at the end of the book as this will cause problems. You may be wondering: will my customer run off, if confronted with such a big list of “do this and don’t do that”? Perhaps some of them may scorn you; but try and reason about the benefits and the gains. Every process or step or instruction will result in Reduction in raw material consumption Lower wastage and A stronger, durable book. You might take more time in convincing the customer about the benefits of job planning, but in the end the customer will remain – happy and satisfied. Paul Parisi is president of Acme Bookbinding, the Massachusetts-based, oldest continuously operated book bindery in the world.

2009 saw significant developments in eBooks and tablet device, and this has indeed been the fastest-growing segment of the publishing market. This is as per the new survey of US consumers and their attitude towards eBooks conducted by the Book Industry Study Group. The survey also suggests that eBook readers are altering their purchase habits with nearly 20% of respondents saying they’ve stopped buying print books in favour of buying eBooks. Affordability was indicated as the main reason for this trend. There have been many new e-books that have been introduced over the last year. The most popular amongst these are: Amazon’s “Kindle”, Barnes & Noble’s “Nook” and the Sony eBook reader. Kindle is a watershed event in ePublishing. It is not the first eBook device, and may not ultimately be the one that will prevail. Yet, Amazon’s Kindle is touted as one of the most ambitious projects after the Gutenberg’s printing press. The latest to hit the market is Steve Job’s iPAD, the $600 plus tablet computer. The single most interesting component of eBooks is its paper-like display. Rather than the LCD displays used in previous book readers, this display uses E-Ink technology invented at MIT’s Media Laboratory. Another notable feature of E-Ink is that it can be laid onto a plastic substrate, even a flexible one! This means that devices such as Kindle are very resistant to the greatest threat facing LCD display in laptops – cracking and shattering. Factors contributing the growth of eBooks Improved display technology will be a positive catalyst of change and will help contribute to the development of eBooks. Developments in XML (eXtensible Markup Language), will help in repurposing data into cross-media platforms. Environmental considerations will also have an impact on the choices people make. Printed books are supposed to generate about six times more CO2 emissions compared to eBooks. This kind of data would push policy makers to increasingly produce more content electronically. There are arguments in support of the printed books, too: Kindle does not give you the “holding, feeling, smelling” experience. Nor is it convenient to read to your children in bed. Several book buyers step into bookstores to buy a specific title, but in the process, end up buying books that grab their attention, for future reading. With eBooks however, users will only download a book when they actually want to read it. That being said, though, Kindle-like devices pose a serious threat to printed books in the years to come. EBooks will also change the existing business models in publishing. According to Steve Kessel, Amazon’s vice president for ePublishing, about 48% of book sales in the US now happen via Kindle. He expects products like Kindle to replace physical books in the future. According to the Association of American Publishers, eBook sales had gained 150 per cent since April 30th 2009. This is to be contrasted with overall book sales, which dropped over 4% Overall, $112 million worth of eBooks were purchased last year, a figure predicted to rise to $400 million in three years time. My brief on eBooks and the inroads it has made into publishing are more western economy centric. According to the Sunday Edition of “The Times” (UK), more than half of all books will be electronic by 2020. Amazon said that on Christmas Day, sales of eBooks outstripped print for the first time. Recently California’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger passed legislation that all textbooks would go electronic. Based on this one policy, several companies in Silicon Valley are likely to be doing R&D to develop technology for cheap and efficient etext books. Indian perspective Such trends are kindling worries for traditional publishers and printers. However, from the Indian perspective, do we need to feel threatened? There are contradicting views on this. India’s per capita consumption of print is one of the lowest in the world. India’s GDP growth rate is predicted around 10% and within the next 10 years India is poised to become the third largest economy. But India cannot achieve this unless we focus on education. For this, we could need more schools, more universities, and therefore MORE TEXTBOOKS. This segment will be one of the drivers of the Indian printing industry. India has already taken steps in moving documents to an e-platform, especially in the financial sector. Over the years, stock certificates, annual returns, tax returns have gone electronic. With the advent of XBRL, several financial documents (including Annual Reports), will go electronic. Cross-media platforms Printed publicity material will also see pressure from the e-segment. Magazines are moving to the online media. In the UK, many niche publications have stopped their print version. Companies such as Pressmart offer a full suite of online publishing services to the newspapers and magazines and deliver them on Web, Mobile, eReader, Podcast and other digital channels seamlessly. The Smart Phone will play a pivotal role in ePublishing, as it has done so in other segments. My domestic help was mentioning that till recently, his village in Jharkhand did not have phone connections. No PCO booth. It still does not have a PCO booth. However, several villagers have a mobile connection. The point I am making is that today, we may skip intermediary technologies to move directly to the latest available one. Wireless technology has changed businesses dramatically. From my own personal experience, with the advent of SMSes, our greeting card business is on the downswing. This did not happen with the internet (in fact with the internet, printed greeting cards were booming). The Smart Phones (especially iphone apps) are making its impact on ePublishing. To summarise, eBooks are here to stay, but are currently no threat to the Indian Print industry. Hopefully, we have another decade or two before us of business. Nonetheless, I have started working on my golf, just in case I need to retire early. Bimal Mehta is the Executive Director Vakil & Sons Pvt Ltd and Mentor of the BMPA Share To Benefit Forum