Book Manufacturers Stick with Glue Binding

Like operations in the rest of the printing industry, book manufacturing printers and binders have had to steadily evolve to produce books for short-run, niche-type markets.

In the past, book printers and binders had the luxury of producing books in very long runs, with one set-up, a single makeready, and continuous production into the millions of copies. But today, book printers and binders are being asked to produce shorter runs over a variety of time schedules.

"About 25 years ago, a general interest book club supplier was expected to arrange for the printing and binding of 100,000 copies of one title," recalls Ernie Campbell, distribution center manager of BookSpan, a one-year-old Mechanicsburg, Pa.-based book manufacturer serving more than 44 book clubs.

Campbell goes on, "Today, we offer many, many different book clubs for different interests; it's not uncommon for us to produce 5,000 books of a given title for each of our specialized niche clubs. We used to print 150,000 copies of a Tom Clancy bestseller; today we'll print 100,000 copies of the Clancy book and 50,000 copies of an assortment of special interest titles."

Meanwhile, at Steffen Book Bindery in Macedonia, Ohio, situated between Akron and Cleveland, Bill Turoczy reports seeing tremendous growth and change in the company he bought 20 years ago.

In that period, he says, Steffen Book Bindery has grown from six employees with an average age of 54 years to 52 employees with an average age of 37; expanded its facility size tenfold, up to 44,000 square feet at present; and, most important, has traded in production of looseleaf notebooks to the more profitable adhesive binding.

"Our printer clientele calls in orders from Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, New York, and Ohio," notes Turoczy. "We perfect bind a wide range of technical magazines and educational books in both hardcover and softcover versions, although our main niche is softcover."

Being flexible and responsive to customer needs is essential to being a successful binder.

"We're being asked to perfect bind thinner and thinner books," says Turoczy, "sometimes under an eighth of an inch. And the spread in thickness is tremendous, from just six millimeters to as much as two inches. We've also perfect bound a jewelry catalog that weighed eight-and-a-half pounds."

Turoczy adds, "At the same time, we're seeing a big variation in the stocks used for perfect binding. I use PUR glue, a premium-strength adhesive, for 80% of my perfect binding even if the book consists of uncoated stock. If a book falls apart, your client is embarrassed, but I can sleep at night knowing that PUR adhesive holds my books together."

To accommodate such growth, Turoczy has installed an array of Kolbus perfect binders. In 1990 Steffen installed the new Autobind layflat process, only the fourth such system in the U.S.; a year later, it added the Kolbus Ratiobinder, and two years later the Kolbus Systembinder.

In 1999, Turoczy upgraded the Ratiobinder with the new model rated at up to 8,000 cycles per hour, and in December he added a second Ratiobinder equipped with a 33-station 840 gatherer, one of only seven such systems in the U.S.

"When I went to Germany to see the system in production, I was awed," says Turoczy. "It gives us the speed, efficiency, and productivity we require, with fewer stops. Also, our employees don't have to lift loads as high, which makes our workplace more ergonomic."

As for the future, Turoczy is seeing a trend toward very customized books and add-ons.

"We've installed a signature recognition system to scan each form before it is fed into the binder, to ensure we produce a correct book," he says. "Also, we're being asked to bind in compact disks anywhere in a book. Recently we completed a 1,000-copy run of a language book in which we bound in two CDs, one on top of the other. If the test market goes well, we'll be getting more orders for this type of job."

Adds Ron Musil, president of the Banta Book Group, Menasha, Wis., "A tremendous amount of change is affecting book printing and production today. As manufacturers, we face parent complaints about the weight of school books in the backpacks of small children, higher raw material costs, and and an increase in foreign competition.

"As suppliers, we face time compression in producing books and are being asked to produce shorter runs with different versions, which can require us to now produce as many as 56 make-readies in one day. Also, as a business, we find that our talent base has shrunk; last year we operated with 75 fewer people than the year before."

Even with all these challenges, the Banta Book Group has doubled its business in the last four years, increasing its sales 30% to 40% each year. Sales in 2001 are expected to be $206 million, according to Musil.

Turnaround time has certainly been accelerated for book printers and manufacturers. "Members of our book clubs used to expect to receive a book two or three days after placing an order," says Ernie Campbell of BookSpan. "Today, especially with Internet orders, our members expect even quicker delivery."

While book printers and binders are staying alert to any popular interest in electronic portable books, they are heartened by developments in on-demand printing.

"On-demand printing actually helps, not hurts, our business as a book club," says Campbell of BookSpan. "For example, we produce a certain number of books for our members; but a few months later we get back-orders for 1,000 more books. We can't ask a web printer to produce that small a quantity in an inexpensive, efficient manner. Instead, an on-demand book printer could fulfill the requirement."