Though co-workers can be wonderful, you could be thinking
that some of them are a pain in the neck.
Like 'em or not, they're here to stay. You might as well
decide how they can help you or how you can avoid being
distracted by them. So say business writers Jonathan Littman
and Marc Hershon in their often-humorous book, which is
about dealing with various types in order to "get what
you want out of your job." So far, their I Hate People ...
has gained great reviews.
They do make a point when they say the person who has your
best interests at heart is probably the one sitting in your own chair.They recommend "solocrafting," which means moving forward with your work under any conditions.
What they advise:
Stop talking. Start doing. Stop asking (for whatever). And,
make them (the supervisors and co-workers) believe in you.
In other words, the writers of this humorous book are champions
of the entrepreneurial spirit in day-to-day shop or office life.
They also say teams with more than three to five competent
people are not very effective and can stifle your creativity.
Whether or not that's the case, the authors admit they don't
have all the answers.
You might find the book controversial, but at least it will
get you thinking.
******************************************************
******************************************************
Point of View
If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to it.
~ Jonathan Winters
One of the best ways to persuade others is with your ears,
by listening to them.
~ Dean Rusk
******************************************************
Folding Aqueous Coated Jobs...Feedback Part 2
Last week we touched on a few emergency techniques.
This week: equipment and environment.
Equipment
Working with aqueous or any challenging stock will tend to
highlight any flaws or worn items on your folder. For example,
a feed table register belt gets worn and glazed over time.
Normally it might not pose a problem, but present it with a
very slick stock and the problem appears. Often it's a
simple matter of cleaning, (be careful with the chemicals
you use!) or it may be time to replace (see last weeks
suggestions.) You may also find that the side guide and
register marble combinations may need to be
finessed with a slick stock.
Your fold rollers may be working just fine...until that aqueous job.
Again, more frequent cleaning with recommended roller wash
may do the trick (more on roller washes next week.)
MBO and Stahl both make use of an "open cell" foam
as a high-grip alternative to traditional polyurethane or
urethane and steel combo rollers. The downside is that the
rollers wear faster. Kepes, a manufacturer of post-press
specialty items and replacement parts, has taken the
foam roller one step further.
Their High Density fold roller has a simple design twist
fold roller. It can use
either foam or urethane,
and has the added
advantage of
decreased
marking problems--there is no steel-to-steel overlap to
cause marking as the rubber wears down. (image above)
With a high-density design for extra grip, plus urethane for
longer life (compared to foam) you now have a good,
high performance upgrade that will help with tough stock.
Questions on the fold roller issue? Give Mark a
call at 401-364-3735 or email info@technifoldusa.com
and we'll point you in the right direction.
Environment
There have plenty of books and studies done on the
Pressroom environment; suffice it to say that
humidity and temperature differences play a vital role
in the successful printing and finishing of any stock.
A few readers wrote to say that they use humidifiers
and/or vaporizers to control the relative humidity in
the vicinity of the folder. Some swear by the use
fabric softener in the mister to help with the register.
But let's back up a bit. Paper is hygroscopic: it will either
take up moisture or release moisture into the environment
to reach the same state of humidity as the surroundings.
When it stops releasing or absorbing moisture, it is
at equilibrium. For best printing (and subsequent
finishing) results, paper should be at this state of
equilibrium before printing. Also, the paper should
be at the same temperature as the pressroom.
Sounds easy, right? Well, relative humidity changes with
the air temperature. Warm air holds more moisture than cool air.
A 70 degree room will hold more moisture than a 55 degree room,
hence the term "relative humidity." In the US, relative humidity
(RH for short) can vary form 10-90% depending on
location and time of year.
To add to the mix: humidity and moisture content
where the paper is manufactured make a difference in
how the paper will perform. Sooo...to simplify things,
most paper companies manufacture so that the end
user (the printer) gets best result at an RH of about
40 to 50%. Got all that?
If you haven't already done so, a study of your
press and bindery environment is a good place to
start. If no standards and controls exist,
a changing environment will make it harder to
troubleshoot any other items. For instance, say
your RH is 25% one day and 45% the next. How
will that affect job print quality, aqueous coating
and drying? A job that runs perfectly one day may be
totally different and mis-register the next. The operator
ends up fighting a "folder" problem that is really a
relative humidity problem resulting from variations in
drying, tackiness, curl, etc.
It's a complex subject. Avoiding it will cost you
tens of thousands of dollars over the years, not
to mention endless aggravation. Paper manufacturers are a
good place to start, and there are usually very specific
recommendations for preparing various papers for
printing.
Although no single source will give you all the answers
you need, (unless you get very lucky,) by instituting
standards, you chip away at the seemingly endless variables
that can affect your production.
Next week...manufacturer recommended solutions for
cleaning fold rollers.
******************************************************
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment