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How Do I Choose the Right Bursting Machine for My Print Shop?
How do I choose the right bursting machine for my shop?
In this series of posts, “How do I choose?”, we will help you take a little of the guesswork out of selecting the best print finish product for your shop or office. It’s sometimes difficult to find the right machine to fit your needs when there are so many models.
An industrial grade form burster is essential to print shops who specialize in mailing or mail houses that have added digital printing to the mix. The ability to take on accounts with customers who do high-volume invoicing, grade reporting, or other applications where multiple forms are printed on one page.
First, know what your forms are printed on – cut sheet or tractor-feed paper? This is obvious, but knowing your limitations with the type of sheet you print on, could prompt you to make some other changes. Cut sheet forms have some flexibility in what type of machine they’re printed on in the first place, but you’ll find fewer errors in pagination and more options in burster machines for tractor-feed forms. For example, Lloyd’s has two table-top, and one high-volume cut sheet burster, but ten varieties of tractor-feed models.
The next crucial step in your comparison would be the speed at which your burster will operate. In the tractor feed category, the Low-Volume Series of Formax Bursters processes at speeds of 0 to 200 feet per minute. The Medium-Volume Series processes at speeds of 15 to 350 feet per minute and is capable of handling forms up to 17” long. The High-Volume Series operates at speeds up to 500 feet per minute. Your shops capacity for big jobs and happy customers is only limited by how much you can run efficiently in a day.
Also, consider the flexibility of you need in a machine. Do you need the ability to accommodate a longer form length? Do you need an imprinter add-on? A counter for audit purposes? Don’t just think about the here and now. Your business is growing. Giving your sales reps the more options to sell in the market place will keep your machines running more often and the profits will be … bursting your expectations.
If you have questions about the capability of any of Lloyd’s bursting machine models, feel free to contact us.
How Do I Choose the Right Binding Machine for My Print Shop?
In this series of posts, “How do I choose?”, we will help you take a little of the guesswork out of selecting the best print finish product for your print shop or office. It’s sometimes difficult to find the right machine to fit your needs when there are so many models.
It all has to come together sometime. All those pages in the presentation, the employee manual, the book, the instructional guide, the schematics… They’ve all got to have some sort of binding to meet the customers budget, the readers needs and a style that looks good. But, what kind of binding machine do you need?
Well, the answer to this one is a little trickier. You may even want more than one machine. First you need to determine the type of binding that you think you’ll use most often.
- Comb binders – cheap, effective. Plus, combs can be opened to add/subtract sheets.
- Coil/Wire binders – Comes in a variety of colors and materials. Allows the reader to lay the book open flat and turn pages a full 360-degrees.
- Unibind binding machine – Quick, slick and permanent. A steel spine at the back of the cover allows the paper edges to sink into a heated resin.
- Perfect bound machines – Most paperback books at your local retailer are bound with this method. It’s glue-based and leaves a nice sturdy spine.
Once you’ve chosen a couple binding methods that you’d like to offer at your shop, consider flexibility, speed and cost.
You’ll certainly find flexibility with a combo system. A single purchase will allow you to do both comb, wire or coil (depending on the machine). However, keep size in mind. With comb or coil systems, you may not want to limit yourself to standard 8 1/2″ x 11″, so investigate the machines that can accommodate 14″ or 17″ sheets. Speed is affected by manual or automatic operation and the number of sheets that can be punched at one time.
The most crucial consideration however, is the question of cost. What you can sell and what your customers are willing to pay for may limit your choices. A perfect binding system is expensive initially, but costs little in upkeep. The Unibind thermal system itself is inexpensive considering the nice end product, but supplies are comparitatvily high, per piece. So, remember not to merely look at the machinery that makes the binding happen. Look at the plastics and metals that make up the binding.
How Do I Choose the Right Document Inserter for My Office?
In this series of posts, “How do I choose?”, we will help you take a little of the guesswork out of selecting the best print finish product for your shop or office. It’s sometimes difficult to find the right machine to fit your needs when there are so many models.
It’s one thing to upgrade the speed and efficiency of your office by choosing the right folding machine, but you can take invoices and other direct mail to a new level of automation with a document inserter. Because you’ll be investing significantly more on an inserter than you would a simple folding machine, it’s important that you weigh the benefits of each tier of functionality.
More than speed, which varies slightly between models, document inserters are primarily distinguished by the number of items that may be inserted into mailing envelopes. When shopping, you may consider that at this time you only ever insert an invoice, a form letter and a return envelope into 90% of your mailings. In that case, the Formax 6202 is a perfect machine for your operation.
However, you must consider growth in your business, change in operating procedures, and things as simple as the two-page invoices that make up only 10% of your mailings take all afternoon for two staff members. What is the opportunity cost there? What’s the phrase about being as strong as your weakest link? Don’t let a little bit of underused functionality get in the way of what could be a fully automated process.
Then, consider what your office could do with an even more advanced inserter. A new strategy with direct mail may add a significant line of revenue to your budget. What value could you add to your customers? To your employees?
Answer these questions and shop Lloyd’s for the best deal on document inserters. The models we carry all have warranties and are virtually maintenance free.
How Do I Choose the Right Folding Machine for My Office?
In this series of posts, “How do I choose?”, we will help you take a little of the guesswork out of selecting the best print finish product for your shop or office. It’s sometimes difficult to find the right machine to fit your needs when there are so many models.
Lloyd’s has 15 paper folding machines to choose from, but which one is right for your office? This is an investment, so there are several things to consider.
A folding machine in your corporate office will save time and money by automating the folding of your invoices, letters and other documents. Tabletop paper folding machines fly through thousands of sheets per hour and quickly become an incredible asset to productivity.
The first question to ask yourself is what are you folding now and what might you be folding in five years? Sort of a silly question I know, but it may be that invoices and contracts are the only thing you’re putting in the mail right now and they only require a typical “z” type fold. But, perhaps next year the company brochure will change and you’ll handle it’s printing in-house. It would be a shame to find out then that your folding machine can’t handle the custom fold required and you have to pay to have it done elsewhere. In this case, application and flexibility are key.
Speed is always an issue as well. The speed in which your machine is cranking out a folded finished product can vary significantly. An economical choice may fold 7,200/hour, but you can more than double that in other models. And you must also consider set-up time. A are easy to set-up, but simply take more time than an automatic programmable tabletop folder like the next level up.
Remember, the idea behind the paper folder is to save staff time (and boredom) in manually folding documents for daily mail, newsletters, and brochures. Find the right folder at Lloyd’s by asking yourself the right questions about its potential application in your office today and in the future.
How Do I Choose the Right Paper Cutter for My Office?
In this series of posts, “How do I choose?”, we will help you take a little of the guesswork out of selecting the best print finish product for your shop or office. It’s sometimes difficult to find the right machine to fit your needs when there are so many models.
What are you cutting at the office? Yes, I know someone has to cut the cake for the secretary’s birthday, but that’s not what I mean. It seems we all end up doing some sort of paper crafts once and a while. Trimming down those photos for the traveling exhibit, cutting out stacks of pamphlets to fill the marketing rack in the reception area, slicing up that spreadsheet that mistakenly printed on the ginormous paper in the bottom drawer.
Every office needs a paper cutter, the only question is, which one?
Paper cutters basically come in two flavors these days – Guillotine and Rotary. Like many other items in this series of posts, you need to consider volume and speed. But, you also need to take into consideration the safety of your staff and how accurate cuts need to be.
Guillotine paper cutters are commonly found in offices. They’re sharp, can cut through multiple sheets with ease, and there are some great measurement guides on the working surface. Multiple sheets at a time speaks to the volume necessity, but often works against accuracy. The clamps and lockable gauges of the Kutrimmer tabletop trimmer assist with accuracy, but its most impressive additions are safety features. Different models of guillotine cutters basically allow for larger sheets and more working space.
The most accurate cuts will always be made with Rotary cutters. My personal fav is sold at Lloyd’s. The Roll-Blade rotary trimmer not only has great measurement guides and a self-sharpening tungsten blade, but it also cuts through cardboard and some plastic with just as much accuracy a it does with paper. And, unless you’re really trying, it’s virtually impossible to cut yourself with this rotary.