Mergers Offer Way to Keep Pace with Economic Change

Transcription

1 Formerly The New Library Scene a PUBLICaTION from HBI and THe LIBrary BINdINg INsTITUTe VOLUME 8 ISSUE PGA Blvd. Ste. 600 Palm Beach Gardens, FL Mergers Offer Way to Keep Pace with Economic Change Four major family binding businesses, two by two, joined forces in the last year to survive and prosper in the Digital Age. In September 2012, Acme Bookbinding and the HF Group combined to form HF Group, Sign at the Acme Bookbinding plant of HF Group Acme Bookbinding during the 2013 HBI/LBI Fall AcmeBinding is Conference in Boston. now branded as the binding division for HF Group. Edwards 2012 HBI/LBI Fall Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan, as did Jay Fairfield, CEO, and Paul Parisi, Brothers and Malloy merged to form Edwards Brothers Malloy, President of HF Group. com. These companies aim to remain profitable in a volatile publishing environment that has HBI/LBI members toured both the Edwards experienced the bankruptcy of Borders Bookstores; the struggling of Barnes & Noble stores; bor, Michigan, and a tour took place at the HF Brothers and Malloy plants while in Ann Ar- the rising popularity of e-books; and challenged Group-Acme Binding plant in Charlestown, school textbook budgets and schools attempts Massachusetts on October 11, 2013, during the to use online resources HBI/LBI Fall Conference. This edition of ShelfLife printed compliments of Library Binding Service. CEO John Edwards and Vice President of Operations Bill Upton of Edwards Brothers Malloy participated in a panel discussion on this topic at the Acme Bookbinding and the HF Group The book manufacturing industry has experienced rapid change as the Internet Revolution has necessitated new products and services, said Paul Parisi, President of Acme, in Sep- Summer

2 Mergers Offer Way to Keep Pace with Economic Change (continued from page 1) tember 2012, when the merger between the two companies was announced. With this merger, Acme and HF Group not only leverage their strengths in mature markets, but increase their capacity in growing markets. Acme and HF Group, while growing and investing in these new markets, will continue to preserve historic treasures, build tomorrow s collectibles, convert analog to digital for wider access, store and secure data, deliver a book that memorializes a life, or a creative dream, and with a product that always brings a smile. Panelists Paul Parisi, John Edwards, Jay Fairfield, and Bill Upton discuss their merger experiences during the 2012 HBI/LBI Fall Conference in Ann Arbor. Jim Heckman, Vice President of The HF Group, said, By joining forces, our new company will increase manufacturing scale so that we can be the best provider for the continuing demand for high-quality traditional book products, but more importantly, strengthen our capability in growth areas such as short-run digital and on-demand books. Acme s company roots go back to 1821, starting as the J. G. Roberts Company, making it the oldest continuously operated book bindery in the world, while HF Group, headquartered in Chesterland, Ohio, is more than 50 years old. Both companies have invested heavily in technology to diversify their product mix and to maximize efficiency. Acme has focused on the trade binding segment, coffee table hardcovers, and softcover bindings. Acme owns and operates the Harcourt Bindery division, producer of hand-tooled leather bindings and custom clam shell boxes, and its AM Sulkin division serves city, county and municipal registries. The HF Group has diversified and grown its historical preservation services through ECS Conservation, and RecordSave, its county records restoration division. The company also owns Book Partners (digital book production), Digital Conversion Solutions (book, paper and document conversion), and AssureVault (records and data storage and management). HF Group (the former Heckman Bindery, Inc. and ICIBinding Corporation) operates production, sales and transportation facilities in Pennsyl- 2

3 Mergers Offer Way to Keep Pace with Economic Change (continued from page 2) vania, North Carolina, Ohio, Indiana, Texas, Washington and Hawaii. Both Acme and the HF Group have experience in digital short run and print on demand book manufacturing, producing myriad book products including travel books, yearbooks, children s books, photo books, and books for the selfpublishing author. The combined company is committed to further investment in its digital and on-demand production, which it currently serves from its facilities in Boston, Massachusetts and North Manchester, Indiana. Edwards Brothers Malloy In February 2012, Edwards Brothers and Malloy combined to form Edwards Brothers Malloy, the nation s fifth largest book manufacturer, with approximately 800 employees and combined sales of $102.5 million. The company maintains its headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with eight sales offices located across the United States. Edwards Brothers Malloy will have three offset facilities Edwards Brothers plants in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Lillington, North Carolina, and Malloy s operation in Ann Arbor along with nine digital sites in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Edwards Brothers Malloy will also have Edwards Brothers Global Print Solutions. This allows publishers to print and distribute books with one order, one file, and one invoice around the world. As Edwards told Publishers Weekly, I think the book manufacturing industry has seen more changes in the past three years than in the previous fifty. We ve never seen such tremendous Participants examine machinery during the Malloy plant tour in Ann Arbor in October pressures and fundamental changes to our industry Jay Fairfield, President of The HF Group says, affecting all fronts: costs, margins, turnaround, Publishers, scholastic and library markets, content, formats, simply everything. booksellers, printers and binders are all looking for partners and service providers who evolve, Like Acme and the HF Group, Edwards Brothers grow and remain financially strong as industry and Malloy are companies with deep local roots. paradigms change. The heart of this merger and Edwards Brothers has been in business in Ann the partnership among the Parisi, Heckman, and Arbor since It was Ann Arbor s first shortrun publisher, specializing in printing orders that Fairfield families is our combined experience, manufacturing resources and leadership in our average 2,200 copies for publishers, authors, core markets as well as in our growth markets. scholarly societies, industrial firms, universities, 3

4 Mergers Offer Way to Keep Pace with Economic Change (continued from page 3) and others. It remains the area s third largest private employer. Malloy was a book printer with 200 people at its plant in Scio Township. Former Edwards Brothers employee Jim Malloy founded it in 1960, and the Upton family bought it in Edwards Brothers global digital printing platform to our customers. Our customers can now turn to us for print on demand (POD) service and use gps Global Print Solutions TM to print closer to their international customers. In 2009, the economy imploded in conjunction with the advent of the e-book--two perfect simply a book manufacturer though we are still As Edwards summed up, We are no longer storms, Edwards told Bertie Bonnell of the Ann good at making books we are a supply chain Arbor Observer. Sales were down about 10 percent. Edwards began looking for a partner. He asked himself, Who was hard-wired to be similar to me? Since we re a family business, it can get complicated. One name kept popping up Malloy. They have a great reputation for service and a very strong financial foundation. He made a lunch date with Bill Upton, former President of Malloy, to introduce the idea of a merger. Upton, facing his own challenges his company had a strong market in elementary and high school text- Anne Parisi, Debra Nolan, and Paul Parisi in the conference room at the Acme Bookbinding plant during the tour in October books, and public school book budgets were cut manager and an inventory management and sharply in was willing to listen. delivery company. We can save publishers a lot of expense and time being a trusted supplier with Edwards, former President and CEO of Edwards Brothers, is now CEO of Edwards Broth- full responsibility for their print orders. ers Malloy. Upton is now the Vice President of Edwards Brothers Malloy isn t stopping with an Operations for the new unified company. Edwards organizational merger. The company closed its Brothers brings a strong network of digital printing main publishing plant on State Street in Ann and distribution sites, while Malloy has advanced Arbor in July 2013 in order to expand its digital internal customer service technology. Upton commented that Malloy can t wait to introduce the of consolidating its Ann Arbor operations. printing services. The company is in the process Some 4

5 Mergers Offer Way to Keep Pace with Economic Change (continued from page 4) equipment also will be moved to its facility in Lillington, North Carolina. Other innovations include a new inkjet press in Ann Arbor, taking over the operation of an in-house digital print center in New Jersey, expanding the digital print hub for its Print Local SM program in Oxnard, California, upgrading presses in most of its nine digital print centers, improving the EDI capabilities for its print on demand and gps Global Print Solutions programs, and creating a new customer web portal for handling online transactions for It s a very difficult decision to make, Edwards told Book Publishers Northwest. My grandfather built the State Street plant (which is closing). But like most book printers, we ve seen a decline in longer run offset business. At the same time our digital operation is growing at a 20% clip, so that is where we need to be investing for the future. Having two large offset facilities this close together that are not fully utilized just doesn t make sense and we need to redirect resources to the side of the business that is growing. Like the for-profit companies joining together during these changing times, HBI/LBI, www. hardcoverbinders.org, is considering a merger with BMI, the Book Manufacturers Institute, In addition to library binding, HBI/LBI members are now printing books, like photo books or trade books, and providing services such as print on demand and/or short runs. BMI members have always printed books, traditionally in larger quantities. They, too, are adjusting their product, service mix and, like some HBI/LBI members, are now making books in smaller quantities and offering print on demand services. Leaders from both associations have been discussing the possible merger which would be effective January 1, By Werner Rebsamen The very first binding of digital printed items started with the introduction of the DocuTech from Xerox in the early 1990s. We covered the introduction of such endeavors in a previous issue of ShelfLife. How we convert digital printed items into marketable products is an interesting topic, with enough material for an entire book. However, as ShelfLife is a publication dedicated to the love of books, we shall concentrate only on the digital print binding options. Earlier Efforts for Binding Digital Printed Items Almost immediately after the introduction of the DocuTech, this writer was invited by a NYC textbook publisher to consult on print on 5

6 (continued from page 5) The all-new Hunkeler Book Block Solution system processing and converting printed webs into folded and glued book block. Photo courtesy of Standard Finishing Systems. demand (POD) textbooks for universities. The idea was to sell professors certain pages, which were copyrighted by the publisher, and have faculty add some content of their own. Binding such texts, however, proved somewhat problematic. Digital color printing was virtually non-existent at that time, or so expensive, it could not be considered for printing an attractive cover. That was, of course, about to change. The folks at the Xerox research facility, just down the road from our university, were eager to find solutions for binding their DocuTech printed items. The challenge of side-stitching collated sheets was solved easily. Adhesive binding required intense research and was solved with a hotmelt coated tape. Our LBI book testing laboratory at RIT completed many performance tests, including tensile page pulls. Despite the lack of any spine preparations, the final quality of that DocuTech tape binding is simply remarkable. All I have to do is to look at the 1992 LBI 168 page publication Technically Speaking, which features 50 of my earlier articles. After over twenty years of referencing this publication, no pages have come loose! Working in partnership with others was common for Xerox. At an event at the Hyatt hotel in Roch- ester NY, over 100 partners were present. Those companies, working closely with Xerox, developed many interesting concepts. One example was in-line perfect binding and trimming. Another that was featured at a Chicago show could either perfect bind or saddle stitch pages coming off a DocuTech, all in-line. I recall questioning the ROI on such a considerable investment given the relatively low productivity of the DocuTech printer. This was a common discussion item among print-finishing experts. In fact, at the next big printing event at the McCormick Place in Chicago, you could no longer find such a versatile, but highly priced in-line binding system. All of that changed as the industry developed faster digital printing equipment. As for binding hardcover books, Xerox s printfinishing experts consulted with LBS, Flesher and me as part of their development process. Their dream was to produce hardcover books coming off a DocuTech. Those of us familiar with all the tasks of bookbinding understood how complex this was, and provided Xerox much needed information and education. Ultimately, Flesher and LBS developed a desk-top hardcover binding system, displaying it during the 1994 Des Moines Digital Print Binding 6

7 (continued from page 6) Symposium. A major text book publisher commented on this new system, The Flesher Short Run Book Assembly Station, with the LBS premade, three piece cover and pressure sensitive endpapers, is the perfect method of binding for out-of-print course text books and many others. A case bound book automatically increases the perceived value of most all documents. Unfortunately, looking back almost 20 years, we realize that many of those early endeavors were in vain. One must wonder why. Is it because pressure-sensitive materials are more expensive? The photo book industry is now using such materials extensively. A more likely explanation is that many people shied away from such a hardcover binding concept because of the need for additional equipment such as a perfect binder, a trimmer, and other tools. In addition, as covered in an earlier ShelfLife article on digital printing and binding, LBI s president, Greg Campbell, reminded everyone that library binders are best equipped to bind one book at a time. Some binders then put digital equipment into their facilities and started serving the POD business most successfully. Hunkeler s Digital Finishing Solutions As digital printing started to become more popular, it also called for smart solutions for paper processing. In 1994, this writer had the pleasure of visiting a company based in Switzerland called Hunkeler. As a Swiss bookbinder this name was very familiar, as this company started out as early as 1922, supplying small and unique machinery for binderies. In the 1990s, Franz Hunkeler realized that there was limited growth potential with small bookbinders gadgets and machinery. He recognized very early the future growth with digital printing, and started concentrating on systems feeding digital printers and those that would convert the printed sheets into signatures/sections for binding. Hunkeler hosted their first Innovationdays Open House in 1994 at their factory in the village of Wikon, to feature state-of-the-art digital printing and paper handling. Honestly, I was shocked to see those haystacks at the end of an IBM digital web press. Static was a big problem, as electrostatic printing units require zero moisture paper to print on. But, as with any other tasks of engineering, in time, all those problems were solved. Pre-glued book blocks, coming off the Hunkeler Book Block Solution System, are easily fed into any high or low speed perfect binder. Photo courtesy of Standard Finishing Systems. Hunkeler Innovationdays now hosted in the picturesque small city of Lucerne has grown into an international event that attracts over 5,000 professionals from every print segment, and where the major digital print manufacturers introduce their latest technology married with 7

8 (continued from page 7) The popular and versatile Muller Martini SigmaLine Digital Book production system. Photo courtesy of Muller Martini. state-of-the-art finishing from leading suppliers like Horizon and Muller Martini. The last Hunkeler Innovationdays was in February 2013, and they are held every other year, so make plans for 2015 (more information at As stated earlier, those static haystacks of printed sheets now come off much faster and wider digital print web presses in the form of pre-glued book blocks. The all-new Hunkeler Book Block Solution system includes the PF7 Plow Folder and SD-7Stacker, producing ready-to-bind glued book blocks from digital webs up to 30 inches wide. This system is capable of running at speeds up to 650 feet per minute, which translates to over 4000 books an hour. In summary, glued and pressed book blocks can easily be transferred to an in-line or near-line perfect binder for book finishing. Personally, I appreciated the stackers pressing station. Getting the air out of fluffy, printed signature is one of the most important factors. Decades ago, this writer initiated a slogan: Well pressed is half bound! The slogan then was used for advertising pressing units and went around the world. Muller Martini s SigmaLine Digital Book Production During drupa 2004, Muller Martini, the world s largest, Swiss-based print finishing company, introduced an all-new concept for the 21st century, an in-line printing and binding concept, capable of producing either saddle-stitched or perfect bound booklets or books. Ever since, and after many improvements, this SigmaLine digital book manufacturing solution is having an enormous success. Book manufacturers, responding to publishers needs for short run solutions, are installing SigmaLine systems in record numbers. As I write this article, Muller Martini announced another installation at Courier Corp. in Ken- 8

9 (continued from page 8) dallville, Indiana. Courier needed to expand their existing digital book printing and binding capabilities. Their latest SigmaLine is their fifth system and is connected to a HP T-410 inkjet Web Press. In short, the innovative SigmaLine technology interconnects prepress, digital printing and finishing in a unique, total system that permits fully automated production from a PDF to a finished book in a single operation. Called the SigmaLine Digital Book Production System, it features the highest degree of automation and includes a wide range of capabilities, such as cross-cutting/folding, gathering, perfect binding, cooling, trimming and others. Needless to say, such a SigmaLine total solution requires a substantial investment. Muller Martini recognized that and is now offering modular, custom-made solutions. One of their modular configurations is the Scalable SigmaLine, which includes perfect binding, cooling and trimming. Designed for soft cover binding, I believe the system could also process books designated for hardcover binding. The solution would be to use an LBS Universal The SigmaTrim, available as a stand alone unit, is capable of handling books of different lengths, widths and thicknesses - fully automatically! Photo courtesy of Muller Martini. 9

10 (continued from page 9) endsheet instead of a cover and, with it, produce a book block ready for hardcover binding. HBI/ LBI members saw such a system in operation while touring a very modern book manufacturing, Thomson Shore in Ann Arbor, Michigan. During a recent tour through the POD facilities at Bridgeport National Bindery, we observed yet another configuration with the SigmaTrimming Center. With this system, each book could be a different length, width and thickness and be trimmed on all three sides with absolutely no make-ready at speeds up to 1,000 books each hour. Hardcover Binding Solutions Hardcover binding is an area where we have seen most of the changes. Binding one book at a time is no easy task. It s a complex matter and in earlier times, required extensive education in the trade for the privilege to become a certified bookbinder. A masters degree called for additional schooling, usually evening courses for a period of five years. It is amazing how much our interesting and beloved trade has changed. Today we set-up complex machinery via touch screens. Servo-motors make all the adjustments, even on the fly; that is, when the machine is in operation. Previously, one needed many years of experience to adjust, for example, the casemaking glue (protein) to achieve the right viscosity. This used to be done picking up a small amount of the adhesive and pressing the fingers together to judge the tackiness required to make the turnins stick to the boards. These days, computers adjust the temperature and add water and with it, automatically adjust the viscosity and tackiness. But as Bruce Jacobson, Executive Vice President of the Bridgeport National Bindery stated, perhaps the biggest secret in the POD and Library hardcover binding trade is the development of the necessary software. The key to the entire process is not in the printing and binding equipment. Those components are readily available, and the manufacturers of those will be happy to sell you whatever you want. The real keys to success are in the unseen production software systems that allow the quick production demanded by today s market. Other successful binders have made similar comments. Nevertheless, those newer, cleverly engineered machines do make all the difference. Just look up some videos on the internet of how books used to be printed and bound. Then compare them with today s technologies. If we were to still print and bind them like we did just few decades ago, we could never produce an individual book for such a low price. Consider the example of gold-stamping titles onto a hardcover bookcase. We used to set each title by hand, one letter at a time; inserted the brasstype into a heated clamp, the latter being a part of a table top hot stamping machine, placed a gold foil into position and with a hand lever impressed the title. Then came the labor-intensive HBI and the Library Binding Institute (LBI), publisher of ShelfLife, reserves the right to refuse copy which is not in accordance with HBI/LBI s established policies. Specifically, HBI/LBI endorses no machinery, equipment, material or supply or supplier thereof; other than the ANSI/NISO/LBI Z Library Binding Standard, HBI/LBI endorses no method of binding. Copyright 2013 by HBI and the Library Binding Institute. Subscriptions to ShelfLife are available through most subscription agencies or you may write directly to HBI/LBI, 4440 PGA Boulevard, Suite 600, Palm Beach Gardens, FL ShelfLife is published quarterly in Spring, Fall, Summer and Winter. Annual subscription rates are $29.00 for domestic subscribers, $31.00 for Canadian subscribers, and $36.00 for international subscribers. Subscribers must submit a missing issue claim within 90 days from each specific issue s date of publication. If these terms are not adhered to, the publisher will be unable to fill the request. All manuscripts are welcomed for publication review. ShelfLife is indexed in Library Literature and Information Science Abstracts, ISSN

11 (continued from page 11) task to put each letter back into the type case. Now, if we tour a sophisticated bindery, you may see several, fully automated stamping machines in operation. The cloth to be stamped is fed automatically, stamped and cut to the exact dimension as dictated by the computer. Only a single person is required to operate as many as five stamping machines made by Flesher, a Colorado based machinery manufacturer. Cutting the boards for book cases used to be labor intensive. GP2 s new version reads a bar code, cuts the board automatically to size and feeds them into their casemaking machine. This includes an inlay, or strip for the spine. To combine the cover with the book block is called casing-in. That used to be a sticky finger operation. On one of the latest casing-in devices from ODM, an operator s fingers never even gets close to the adhesive. Automation is the key, and the operation of hardcover binding machinery needs to be such that unskilled people are able to operate them successfully in no time. For digital print establishments with large photo or other POD book jobs every day, Muller Martini developed a hardcover casing-in system, the Diamant MC Digital, specifically to guarantee efficient finishing of digitally printed photo books or others like-sized/ one-off products, in ultra-short run, down to a single copy. This well engineered hardcover binding system is capable of coping with varying book block thicknesses. If there is a considerable difference in thickness, the machine quickly adjusts itself without interrupting production. Major changeovers are accomplished in a flash. Throughout North America, there are several such sophisticated hardcover casing-in lines in daily use. Automation all the way down to hand operations. No longer does an operator need to have skills to adjust the temperature, water content and viscosity of the glue. Photo courtesy of Mekatronics, Inc. As stated earlier, the topic Digital Print Binding Options is so complex and extensive, we easily could write a book about it. In future editions of ShelfLife, we will revisit certain areas and give you in-depth inside information on many of those exciting hardcover binding systems. Special thanks for input to write this article go to: Mark Hunt, Director of Strategic Alliances, Standard Finishing Systems Andy Fetherman, Director of Digital Solutions, Muller Martini USA 11

12 membership application Company: Mailing Address: City: State: Zip: Country: Phone: Fax: Website: Contact Person: Contact Membership Category Select One ACTIVE MEMBER An Active Member shall be any individual, company or organization residing within or outside of the United States whose interest lies in the hardcover binding of books. This includes those engaged in various types of book manufacturing including soft cover binding, edition binding, trade binding, photo books, yearbooks, print on demand, and ultra short runs. This also includes publishers. Dues: $350 for every $250,000 in total book binding* revenue; $995 min/$3,500 maximum * Revenue should be included for all book market related services including pre-press, digital archiving, printing, binding, fulfillment and distribution, etc. ACTIVE INTERNATIONAL MEMBER An Active International Member shall be any individual, company or organization located outside Continental North America whose interest lies in the hard cover and/or soft cover binding of books. This includes those engaged in various types of book manufacturing including edition binding, trade binding, photo books, yearbooks, print on demand, and ultra short runs. This also includes publishers. Dues: $395 ASSOCIATE MEMBER An Industry Partner (Supplier) shall be any company which supplies a product or service related to the production of hardcover bound books. A member in this category is automatically a member of both the hardcover binder and certified library binder divisions. Dues: $500 NONPROFIT MEMBER A non-production Nonprofit Member shall be any 501(c)(6) or 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is related to the hardcover binding of books. Dues: $500 *Dues Amount Owed Please indicate here. $ I attest to the accuracy of the information provided including calculation of dues. Signature: Print Name: Date: Payment Method Select One o Check- Please make checks payable to Hardcover Binders International. o MasterCard o VISA o AMEX Card Number: Name on Card: Exp. Date: Billing Address: Code: 4440 PGA Boulevard, Suite 600 Palm Beach Gardens, FL PH: FAX: *Dues are deductible as a necessary business expense but not as a charitable deduction. MEMBEr SHi P BENEF its Benefits of MeMBership include: Park City, UtaH u Subscription to ShelfLife, HBI/LBI s quarterly publication u Subscription to Endpaper, HBI/LBI s monthly newsletter u Member discounts on conferences, seminars, and publications u A company listing on the HBI/LBI website and in the membership directory u Access to members only information on the website which includes back issues of ShelfLife, Endpaper, and Werner Rebsamen articles u A membership certificate reflecting your membership in good standing For more information, contact Debra Nolan, CAE, at , dnolan@hardcoverbinders.org. 12