In order to meet the increasing spiritual and cultural needs of the general public, China’s publishing and printing industry has a strong momentum of development. The number and type of book publications have been increasing year after year. In 2002, 171,000 kinds of books were published, and in 2003 about 190,000 kinds, and the quality of book binding was increased. The requirements are getting higher and higher. The printing industry has greatly improved its printing technology and production capacity in order to meet the needs of the publication of books and periodicals. Some large companies have added new equipment and introduced new technologies and materials to shorten the book publishing cycle and improve the printing of books. The quality of the binding has made a great contribution.
In spite of this, the quality of book printing is still not optimistic. In particular, the quality of bookbinding needs to be solved urgently. This article just to do a preliminary discussion and analysis of the current common binding quality issues.
Book binding quality status
In order to guarantee the quality of books, on the one hand, the relevant quality inspection departments require the major printing and printing companies to send inspection books on time. On the other hand, the quality inspection departments of the state's books and periodicals directly conduct random inspections on the market to understand the quality of book printing. Judging from the test results of the Printed Products Supervision and Inspection Center of the General Administration of Press and Publication, the current overall level of books in China is not high, there are many problems in the accuracy of text, printing ink, and binding quality, and even the media often publishes errors about books and texts. Open plastic pages, missing posts less posts report.
In the books with quality problems, the quality of products that are caused by the binding problem after printing accounted for more than 60% of the products. For example, the folds of the folded pages appear to be wrinkled; the misprints, in-line posts, multiple posts, and fewer posts appear on the pages; The pages are off, the back of the book is uneven, and the post line is curled; the cover is curled, the plastic film is opened, and the corrugation is wrinkled; the hardcover book shell is warped. From this we can see that the binding problem is dragging on the quality of books, and it also reflects that the current level of post-press binding in China is lagging behind.
Analysis of binding quality problems
There are reasons for the quality problems of book binding, and most of them are caused by the collaboration of publishers and printing companies, the management of printing companies, and unreasonable and unscientific technology.
1. The book cycle is not scientific
Market competition is becoming fiercer, and so is the book market. In order to occupy the market share, publishers will shorten the book publishing cycle to an infinite extent, especially in the printing and binding stages, and some even require one or two days to book. In such a short period of time, it is natural to go to a book to reduce or shorten the processing of some processes. For example, a paperback book starts to collate without compaction of the binding sheet; Page layout; cover film is not enough time to cut the cover. This kind of production method makes the books and periodicals not be able to perform according to the normal operation procedure; The employee is tired of working overtime and will naturally have more quality problems. This also reflects that some publishers are currently eager for quick success and only attach importance to the economic benefits of the publishing house and do not attach importance to the quality of printing and binding.
2. Improper use of materials
In order to reduce costs, publishers use low-price papers with rough surfaces, inconsistent whiteness, and falling powder. Even some coated papers are foamed and layered; on the other hand, they lower the wages and squeeze profits from printing and binding. Space, resulting in some printing and binding companies in order to survive, had to buy inferior binding materials or inappropriate materials, resulting in book binding quality problems. For example, due to the quality of adhesives not meeting the standards or not changing according to the seasons, the adhesives of coated paper and plain paper are mixed, resulting in frequent failure of binding of the pages.
3. Poor equipment and manual operation are not standardized
Due to the large number of equipment involved in the binding process, general enterprises, especially small-scale binding enterprises in townships and towns, have no ability to configure all equipment. Many processes are still completed by manually operated or extremely low-level automation equipment. The operation is not standardized and there are too many variable factors. Lead to bookbinding quality problems. Such as hand-folded four-fold page does not break, it will produce eight-folded folds; hand-locked lines will not evenly produce book block quality problems; some of the binding plant does not have three-sided knife, use big knife to cut the book, so that the book back break; hardcover on the shell without mold It is difficult to ensure the quality and consistency of the product by hand rinsing with a round back.
4. The quality of workers is low, and the technical level is uneven
Except for some large printing companies, many small and medium-sized printing companies do not do their own binding. Most of them are completed by private enterprises in townships, making post-press binding a intensive process with low output value, low profit, and high labor intensity. Workers in these enterprises have low cultural quality and lack formal training. Second, they do not attach importance to product quality. In addition, there are many manual operations in the bookbinding. To get a good job, you must have certain operating experience to achieve a higher level of technology. However, there are small-sized bookbinding companies. Because of their low salary and high liquidity, there are a large number of newcomers who learn from scratch every year. The technology does not have continuity and the quality is naturally not guaranteed.
5. Poor production environment
In the printing industry, we all know that the prepress working environment is the best, followed by the printing shop, and the bound production environment is the worst, while the production environment of the individual binding enterprises in townships and villages is even worse. Some of the binding plants are located in simple adobe houses, some of which are even semi-open; and most of the plants do not have heating in the winter and require coal burning stoves. Such conditions cannot guarantee the quality of products at all.
6. Management is not in place
The enterprise lacks a complete set of quality management system and lacks an effective monitoring mechanism. Some companies are reluctant to set up full-time quality inspectors and purchase necessary equipment to save money, and they are unwilling to improve the existing labor environment. Enterprises lack professional technical training and quality education for employees.
7. Low wages
As some publishers have repeatedly reduced the price of printing and binding work, the profit margin of enterprises has been continuously reduced, and some of them even can only maintain capital, thus creating a vicious circle for the quality of binding. First, companies do not have the money to invest in equipment and improve the labor environment. Second, companies cut down costs and do not use suitable binding materials. Third, workers have low incomes, lack of enthusiasm and initiative, and unstable workers.
Improve the quality of binding
In order to improve the quality of book binding, the publishing and printing industry will develop healthily and provide readers with quality spiritual and cultural products. After understanding the problems, the printing and binding industry should start from related parties and strive to improve the quality of binding.
1. emphasis on the binding process
Quality is the life of a company. It runs through every aspect of production. It is necessary to improve and ensure the quality of products. The person in charge of a company must first attach great importance to the quality of products and the survival and benefit of the company. If the quality of the bookbinding is improved, the overall quality of the book will increase significantly. Secondly, we must pay close attention to the training, education and management of employees, and formulate a complete and effective quality management system, so that the quality of the employees is truly in my heart, the benefits are in my hands, and the importance of product quality is recognized, and the quality will be improved. Quality is the top priority for business management.
2. Pay attention to science
Book binding has its own characteristics. If it violates the binding rules during work, it will naturally not achieve the quality it deserves. For example, folding a four-fold page must break, release air, in order to make the signature level, uniform thickness; 70g/m2 thick paper can only fold three fold or two fold, in order to ensure that the page alignment and page image alignment; The folded signatures must be bundled and pressed to match the pages; the copperplate paper must be dry enough to fold, match, and cut; otherwise, the graphics and texts will adhere; the film products must be compacted and cured after a certain period of time; Book shells should be naturally dry, not artificially dried and so on. Failure to speak scientifically in the production of violating the operating procedures and not paying attention to minor links is the main reason for the quality of the products. In addition, in terms of processing time, printing companies should negotiate with publishers according to their specific processes, and clearly point out the quality problems that may be caused due to insufficient time, in order to obtain a more adequate processing time and ensure the quality of binding.
3. Use high quality and suitable binding materials
In the binding material should be used as much as possible on the quality of the road material, which is the basic guarantee of product quality. There are many ways and means to reduce costs. They should not be reduced to materials. Otherwise, publishers rejecting products or receiving prices at lower prices will bring greater losses to printing companies.
4. Increase equipment investment and improve production environment
There are many binding equipments, and binding companies can do everything within their power. However, specialized equipment should be used as far as possible in the main and key processes. In this way, not only the production efficiency is high, but also the products are standardized and unified. For example, many bookbinding factories have already switched to folding machines. In fact, long-term considerations are not necessarily higher than the labor cost, and the quality of folded thick paper, folded pages, and rolled pages is better than manual folding. In addition, the improvement of the labor environment can have a multiplier effect in improving the quality of processed products after printing.
In fact, there are many factors that affect the quality of binding, and there are many factors. As long as you grasp the key links, focus on key technologies, and start small, you will certainly greatly improve the quality of current books. It is hoped that each and every enterprise and every employee can really attach importance to binding quality ideologically, study in a down-to-earth manner, and solve books and magazine binding problems, so as to provide readers with more and more exquisite spiritual and cultural products.
Analysis of Current Book Binding Quality