Graphiscan, a printing, direct mail, and graphic communications company with three locations in and around Montreal, Quebec, has been in business for more than 30 years and has been producing case-bound and perfect-bound books, including photo books, for more than 20 years. Books represent about 60% of the company’s business, with general commercial print making up the rest, and the company currently employs 120 team members. “We started binding books by hand,” explained Alex Legue, the company’s Director of Operations. “We started old school, and as technology evolved, as the market evolved, we have been committed to keeping up.”
Legue reported that some customers were leery of moving from a sewn binding, which is a nice finish but time-consuming, to glue binding. “We have tested the PUR binding every which way,” he said, “and it is just as strong as a sewn binding. We have been able to convert most of our customers to this newer technology.”
Until recently, Graphiscan was using a Standard Horizon BQ-470 Perfect Binder with an offline HT-30 Trimmer in its book binding operation. While they were very happy with the quality of the books, whether perfect- or case-bound, it became increasingly difficult to keep up and to meet customers’ shorter lead times as their volume grew. “We were able to do about 350 books an hour,” Legue said. “But as we began doing shorter runs and more book-of-one jobs, we knew we had to find a solution that would give us more automation and increased throughput without sacrificing quality, not only keeping up with demand, but also giving us room to grow.”
In addition to the BQ-470 Perfect Binder and HT-30 Trimmer, Graphiscan also runs several…
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