Print Buyers: Anticipate Production Problems to Avoid Them in Printing Process

February 23, 2012

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Print Buyers: Anticipate Production Problems to Avoid Them in Printing Process
[*blog article by Steve Waxman]

They say that timing is everything, and in print buying this is especially true. It is essential to think ahead and plan for all contingencies. Here are two diverse case studies to illustrate my point.
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Consider the Choice of Cover Coating

One of my print brokering clients is producing a client directory. Last year the printer coated the cover with a film laminate to protect the print book and provide a gloss sheen. This year my client wants to coat the covers again but is not sure whether to request film laminate or UV coating. Here are their requirements:

GOALS

1. The coating process cannot slow down the production of the print book, since it is behind schedule.

2. The coating should minimize fingerprinting of the directory.

3. The overall look should be congruent with last year's directory.

4. The cost of the coating is less of an issue.

ANALYSIS
For starters, the book printer is different this year. It's understandable that this vendor owns slightly different equipment and therefore offers different in-house capabilities. This book printer can apply UV coating in-house. However, applying film laminate or liquid laminate would require subcontracting this part of the job.

It would take three days to complete this outsourced work. Granted, the book printer could produce the covers and send them out to be coated while he completed the text pages of the print book. Thus, this process would not necessarily add production time to the overall schedule.

The cost for 2,100 books is approximately $350.00 for UV coating and $650.00 for film lamination. Based on my client's requirements, this cost alone would not determine the choice of coating materials, but it is a benefit (and logical) that the in-house procedure costs a bit less. More importantly, it is also under the control of the custom printing vendor. He does not need to depend on anyone outside his printing plant.

Since the coating needs to minimize fingerprinting, the gloss UV option is appropriate. Being less reflective than gloss film lamination, UV coating will show less fingerprinting. I asked the book printer about dull film laminate and dull UV coating and was told that either of them would show fingerprinting more than the gloss options.

Fortunately, the cover design this year has a white background, while last year's cover background was black. Heavy black ink coverage paired with a gloss film laminate actually increases fingerprinting problems.

The client ultimately chose UV coating performed in-house under the control of the book printer. UV coating cures immediately under UV light, thus eliminating drying time.
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Request F&G's and Check Cover Press Sheets

Another client of mine is a professional photographer. She is producing a coffee-table book of photos of flowers paired with famous quotations. The print book needs to be of the highest quality. To be safe, I suggested that she request an F&G of the book (folded and gathered signatures handed off for approval prior to binding—essentially a press proof). If one signature had printing problems, that signature alone could be reprinted without needing to tear off the covers, reprint a signature, then rebind and retrim the book (smaller than the initial version and potentially less attractive).

This F&G review would benefit the client (who would see actual ink on paper, a version more faithful to the final job than any inkjet proof could be). It would also benefit the book printer. (If the client caught an error for which the custom printing vendor had been responsible, it would take less time and fewer materials to correct the problem.)

THE PROBLEM

There was a big error. A page was printed upside down. On the front of a page (the recto, even-numbered, or right-hand page) the folio (page number) was at the bottom of the page. On the back of the same leaf (the verso, odd-numbered, or left-hand page) the folio was at the top of the page. This error would have occurred during imposition (the prepress process of laying out the pages on a printing plate such that once the press sheet has been printed and folded, the pages will be in the right order–as clearly they were not).

Without question, it was a printer error (and therefore the custom printing vendor's responsibility to correct). To add to the problem, the printer had not included a copy of the print book cover along with the F&G, and at the time I learned of this, my client was 18 hours away from leaving town for a week's photo shoot.

THE SOLUTION

The client had lost a little confidence in the book printer due to the misprinted signature. She planned to drive to the printing plant (a four-hour round trip) the day before her week-long trip to see a cover press sheet. Otherwise, she thought she would spend the entire upcoming photo shoot worrying about the job. She really didn't need this stress.

So I arranged for a courier to pick up a press sheet at the custom printing plant and deliver it to my client's house the afternoon prior to her trip.

I also asked the book printer to reprint the signature with the inverted page and maintain the same color control as in the first printing (using automated color presets from the first printing). My client saw the cover sheet when it arrived. She loved the printing. She agreed to release the book to the printer to reprint the problematic signature and bind the job.

THE LESSON

Don't assume that problems won't occur, even with the best of book printers or commercial printers. Requesting an F&G helps both you and your printer if problems arise. Even if the error is your responsibility and you need to pay for a reprinted signature, it will cost a little less and provide a better product, which won't need to be re-trimmed to a smaller size.
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*[Steven Waxman is a printing consultant. He teaches corporations how to save money buying printing, brokers printing services, and teaches prepress techniques. Steven has been in the printing industry for thirty-three years working as a writer, editor, print buyer, photographer, graphic designer, art director, and production manager.]

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