6 Inline Finishing Options For Production Printers

How can your business gain control of the quality of its print jobs? Utilizing inline finishing capabilities can not only improve the quality and professionalism of your finished products, but it gives you the ability to take more creative liberties with the finishing options it includes.

 

In addition, Inline finishing options allow you to run a complete job, from beginning to end, without requiring any manual steps.

LDI Connect’s Print Production Solutions team works with prospects and clients to identify their production print needs and recommend viable solutions that help them reach their goals. 

 

This article will provide an in-depth view of inline finishing and six standard inline finishing options available for customers wishing to bring their production printing in-house. By the end of this article, you will better understand how inline finishing can impact the quality of your print jobs and help your business.

 

What Is Inline Finishing? 

Inline finishing is an integral part of the production printing process. For inline finishing, the finishing equipment is attached to the production printer, which allows the user to create booklets, brochures, and other printed media directly through the printing device.

 

Inline finishing automates the printing process by providing finishing options that bring your product to life. A wide variety of finishing options are now available to connect directly to the digital production printers of your choice. 

 

Let’s cover six inline finishing options that a production printer can accomplish.

 

What Are 6 Inline Finishing Options? 

Suppose your company is looking for a way to achieve high-quality finishing options in-house. In that case, it’s essential to know which inline finishing options are available and what they are capable of.

 

Each production printer has its own set of finishing options. While various options may overlap from product to product, some offerings to specific models and manufacturers may overlap.

 

Below are a few of the most common inline finishing options and what they can do:

 

1. Stapling 

 

Stapling is often the first choice for inline finishing. 

 

Staples are the most used binding method and provide an economical way to combine pages into a readable document. When using an inline stapler, the user can adjust the positioning and quantity of staples required for each print job.

 

Inline production staple finishers eliminate the need for manual labor. There is no need for an end-user to manually staple pages together when a typical production finisher can staple up to 100 sheets of paper or more with options for multiple staple positions. 

 

2. Folding

The Inline Folding option provides multiple paper folding options. These options include half-fold, tri-fold, Z fold, gatefold, accordion fold, and double parallel fold.

 

While inline folding on a production printer is not recommended as a substitute for high volume mailing operations, it can provide flexibility for book creation with inserted Z-folded pages as well as convenience sheet folds for inserts and shorter run jobs.

 

3. Booklet Maker

The booklet maker option integrates both stapling and folding options in one step. This finishing option is ideal if you’re looking to bring outsourced brochure printing in-house.

 

Readability and professional-looking documents are critical benefits of incorporating an inline booklet maker.

 

An essential part of creating a booklet is making sure the pages are laid out correctly when printed. This part of the printing process is called imposition and is easily handled by advanced print drivers or incorporating print workflow software in your document creation process.

 

Square-Fold booklet makers take standard booklets up to an even higher level of quality.  By integrating a square fold option on your booklet maker, you can give your output booklet a clean squared spine and lay-flat appearance. Think of the look of a magazine versus a brochure, and you will get the idea.  

 

4. Cover Inserter 

Also referred to as a document insertion module or interposer, a cover inserter enables you to place a sheet of heavier stock paper that’s pre-printed into a document as it’s printing. 

 

For example, a user can insert a colored piece of paper as a separator sheet to create a visual divide from one section of your printed product to the next. In addition, this feature can also be used to insert the front and back cover page of a booklet.

 

Covers could also be inserted to wrap around a perfect-bound book. A benefit of cover insertion is lower print costs with the ability to insert color pages on monochrome print engines.

5. Trimming 

An inline trimming option can bring your documents to the edge of perfection.

 

Trimming is often offered as two options, face trim, and top and bottom trim. By incorporating both, you will have the ability to produce full-bleed edge-to-edge printed booklets in an integrated end-to-end process.

 

Trimming can be an essential function for printed pieces that require a high-quality look that stands out from standard documents.

 

6. Advanced Book Binding

Inline finishing can even be used for even more complex book compositions. Some other advanced book finish options are perfect binding and wire binding.

 

Perfect Binding

Inline Perfect Binding creates a softcover, glue-bound book. This inline finishing option is excellent for printed media such as catalogs, course books, paperback books, magazines, and more.

 

The pages are glued at the spine with a wraparound cover, and then the other sides of the book are trimmed to give a “perfect” finished edge.

 

Wire Binding

Inline Wire binding automates the process of binding documents with double loop metal wire.  This wire can come in multiple colors and allows for documents that have 360-degree page rotation, heavier covers, and a clean, professional look. Wire binding requires the use of an inline punch module.

 

Wire binding is ideal for calendars, manuals, presentation materials, technical publications, notebooks, menus, and training materials.  

 

What’s Next? Ready To Implement Inline Finishing Options? 

Now that you know six standard inline finishing options, it may be time to consider the type of print jobs your organization requires. Your print jobs can help determine what additions you’ll need to your production printer if you require inline finishing.

 

Suppose your business does not print a large quantity of promotional printed media, brochures, flyers, or booklets. In that case, inline finishing may not be necessary for your business. However, if your business requires a streamlined approach to printing large quantities of printed media, inline finishing would significantly improve your business.

 

At LDI Connect, we can help evaluate what it is you identify what it is you’d like to accomplish from inline finishing equipment. We can recommend inline finishing equipment for your particular business needs.

 

Contact an LDI Connect representative today to learn more about inline finishing and what options best fit your company.