|
 |
To tackle a difficult folding job, Rickard Bindery came up with a different fold sequence that featured three accordion folds followed by three over and over folds.
|
Are you looking to get a leg up on your competition? If so, become a problem solver. Despite often being at the end of the work flow process, those of us in the bindery know that what often makes the difference between winning and losing a project is coming up with a fully automated option for the client, even if it means tweaking the specs. Heresy you say? True printing sales reps have clients who are not accepting of the changes even when those changes will allow the project to be done by machine or more efficiently. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.
Today, we’re going to highlight one project that could have had a much easier path to completion. Luckily, all parties worked together to get to a reasonable solution.
The Challenge: We took on a complicated job and told the designer up front that the project was headed in an impossible direction. The designer had planned for six over & over folds (also called roll or barrel folds) at right angles to the first fold. We knew we would have problems with this design, experiencing severe wrinkling or blowing the sheet totally apart. The designer, however, was determined to do it this way. Complicating matters were the panel sizes had been planned with only 1/16” differential.
The Solution: Since this project was already printed and on our floor, we proposed a different fold sequence. Three accordion folds followed by three over & over folds would work much better because accordion folds don’t put any stress on the sheet. The piece was then folded by machine.
The Result: From where we started, this project exceeded expectations. Our customer understood that the new folding sequence yielded a superior product that worked as intended. The good news? Our customer appreciated our redesign and kept the format for similar projects.
Folding Design Tips That Sales People Can Pass To Designers
Help your customers reach their objectives. The most valuable tip we can provide is to suggest doing what happens in our office on a daily basis: Fold it yourself. Grab the correct size and thickness of paper and test the fold by hand. Design challenges and trouble spots become immediately apparent when you do this. Some common things you may discover include:
- If the project calls for a gatefold made at right angles to initial folds, some wrinkling will occur. The thicker the stock the more severe the wrinkling will be.
- Never use more than four over & over folds at right angles to the first fold. That’s because you’re wrapping one sheet of paper around itself and it has to give along the fold line of the first fold.
- Stock selection. As simple as it sounds, just folding something by hand lets you know if the paper choice is a good one. When dealing with large panel count, (i.e., more than 60 panels on a pharmaceutical fold or 10 panels on an accordion fold) the stock choice becomes critical.
The Rickard Advantage
At Rickard Bindery, we encourage our customers to involve us before their project is designed and printed. We routinely save our customers time and money by offering expert advice to prevent them from making a poor decision. Occasionally, customers come to us with difficult designs that other binders have turned down. That’s when we look for alternatives to achieve the designer’s goals.
All folding applications require careful planning and an experienced production partner to turn out properly. At Rickard Bindery, we have more than 80 folding machines, allowing you to take advantage of our micro-mini to oversized production capabilities. Let us help you plan your projects for efficient and attractive folding.
|
