How to Choose a Finish Line

There are many options for binding documents—books, booklets, and other marketing collateral just to name a few—but what’s the best one for the job? Printing News explores the options—and the reasons behind—choosing the right finishing devices for your workflow (and how digital devices might change the rules).

In-line or off-line?

The question of in-line versus off-line is an age-old question and one that isn’t so simply answered considering they both have their pros and cons. While in-line finishing requires minimal manual intervention, it’s important to consider the run-length and mix of the job in order to determine whether you’ll need the increased flexibility that near-line (or off-line) finishing configurations can provide. In making a case for in-line finishing, Will Frank, marketing specialist at Standard Finishing Systems, said, “In-line finishing can make sense if you have a dominant application that you run the majority of the time, so the job can run from white paper roll to finished product in one continuous path with fewer manual touch points and potentially lower labor costs.”

Ray Hillhouse, VP of sales and marketing for Morgana Systems, makes a case for off-line finishing, “The off-line solution will allow the finishing of work from more than one print engine, allowing those engines to print at full speed. An additional consideration becoming more common is where special finishes to covers are being used, for example laminating, or foiling to enhance the look and feel of a publication.”

A possible challenge to consider is that a productive off-line system may require multiple machines to finish a product. If one element fails, it will bring the whole system to a stop, impacting overall productivity. Therefore, Frank urges PSPs to consider capital investment, downtime estimates, job mix, substrate variety, labor costs, and skill-set when they are factoring in what type of finishing to choose.

Valerie Marotta, marketing and delivery manager at Xerox, shares that some companies, like Xerox, are solving the challenges in efficiency and productivity presented by off-line or on-line finishing by opting for dual-mode finishing. Dual finishing is a unique technology that runs in-line but can operate either way. This technology adapts to the needs of individual projects by accepting sheets from the press and passing them for finishing or taking input from other presses for finishing, functioning as a feeder– independent of what is going on with the press. This empowers print service providers to leverage schedule, job requirements, and load balance by maximizing efficiency.

A Look at recent trends

As automation grows, so does the need for flexibility. The trend has been in-line but some say the next trend is dual-mode, like the one from Xerox, as automation grows. The myth that one finishing device is ”married“ to a press or will be slowed down by the press may keep some print shops or in-plants from moving towards in-line, but dual mode presses are trying to offer solutions for such.

For example, Standard offers a saddlestitching solution designed to run in-line with continuous-feed print engines, process booklets from a printed roll or finish pre-collated cut sheet output via an optional sheet feeder designed to allow standalone saddlestitching. "These systems allow for greater flexibility to efficiently handle varied job requirements and customer demands, as well as maximize equipment use where it is needed most at any given point and time. UV and aqueous coatings also continue to be a differentiating factor for print output. In commercial printing, sheet coating with UV has become more of a necessity than a luxury, with effective cost and process being key. Historically manual and often tedious, this has been a growing arena for digital automation. New products are emerging that are changing the landscape of this process, bringing these capabilities to the masses," explained Frank.

Standard’s Roll-to-Fold system also provides the flexibility to efficiently handle jobs from multiple print sources by changing from in-line to off-line in just minutes. The system can go from white paper roll all the way to finished folded output (ideal for direct mail pieces) in a single pass with no manual intervention. Alternatively, the folder can be used as a stand-alone device for processing cut-sheet work off-line.

Xerox, in partnership with a digital coating manufacturing company, is presenting a flood UV coater that runs directly in-line with Xerox presses to market. In-line capability means the coater can receive the printer output, no longer requiring an operator to transport paper to it. The coater will run at rated speed and productivity savings can be expected to eliminate manual transport and the simplified approach of coating various applications.

Labor and investment protection are driving factors in the decision process when evaluating whether to configure systems in-line or off-line.

Finishing is determined by the job

Off-line finishing provides a greater flexibility. Therefore, Hillhouse says commercial print shops might choose off-line processes more regularly. Advances in automation are converting manually-finished jobs into in-line finishing approaches.

“This is through new, creative technologies with the goal to simplify (and in some case de-mystify) finishing,” said Marotta.

"For example, manual wire binding is a very pervasive lay-flat option in the print industry, yet cumbersome to produce. In the traditional method, using a Xerox light production press (rated speed 125 ppm), the time to print, punch, and bind was four hours and 24 minutes (one hour and four minutes to print, two hours and 14 minutes to punch, and one hour and six minutes to bind). With the automated solution—the press and the binding system in-line—the time was one hour and four minutes (four times faster than manual punching and binding). The punch and wire bind devices run at rated print speed of the press, and there is no manual intervention needed for the process—proof that digital finishing technology has simplified decades-old manual punch and binding," Marotta explained.

With the Xerox Dual Mode Sheet Feeder, this capability itself can be run in dual-mode, accepting pages from the press or from other presses through the feeder. For off-line, many of the complex, traditionally manual processes (like hard case binding) remain primarily in the off-line method, but technology continues to evolve for efficiency.

How digital technology changes the rules

When considering what type of finishing devices to use, digital technologies can often impact your decision in a different way than offset would. Anthony Gandara, product manager at Duplo USA, pointed out, “Both options are viable and are currently being utilized in the market. The industry is being driven by printer manufactures who promote in-line as the first option to the customer.”

Print providers need to ensure that the finishing options they are considering are capable of handling the requirements of inkjet presses. "As more inkjet presses have come to market, advancements have been made to meet these requirements," he went on to say.

So, what to choose?

There many factors a PSP should consider when looking to install a new finishing line or add to an existing one. "It starts with an understanding of their current state and their vision for the future. Many PSPs will want to make best use of their existing assets, and often improvements such as flexibility, scheduling, and productivity are at the top of the list. New ventures for revenue growth and expansion of services are priorities," explained Marotta.

While both in-line and off-line have merits, and have helped PSPs achieve their goals, it’s safe to say the dual mode concept can address many, if not most of them.

"Printers should do a complete inventory of current applications, as well as anticipated work to fully comprehend which tools are needed. Critical to the selection process will be consideration of equipment that can handle the special requirements of roll-fed inkjet printing systems. Can the finishing solution keep up with the higher speeds of the chosen inkjet printer? Can white paper, produced in the print process, be automatically purged so that these powerful print engines run continuously, without costly stops and re-starts? Can they handle the range of substrates that will be processed by the inkjet printer?" said Frank. Other things to consider include, "Are there special features to assure that image quality is not compromised? The printer will also want to evaluate the advantages of using an in-line finishing solution versus an off-line solution. In-line solutions require less space and often remove labor cost, but can add to system complexity. Off-line finishing typically offers more layout and production flexibility, but also requires more manual touch points."

Ultimately, there's no one size fits all answer for any print service provider. However, advances in efficiency, automation, and a keen eye towards innovation can always make the finish line a little closer.