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The Genesis of a Book at
Gregath Company, Inc.
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Production:
Printing
 When a manuscript enters
production, each individual page is hand set at the plate
maker on printing plates. The plates then proceed to the press
room.
The press operator
then etches each plate and hangs it on the press. The
operator manually adjusts paper speed through the machine, ink flow
and many other factors that affect the quality of the book.
While many of the new machines highly automate this process - we feel
that having a person monitor the quality as it is offset printed is an
vital quality control step that is missing in many automated systems.
If the press operator
 decides a page is not the best it
can be (within standards), a new plate (sometimes even new half tones) for the page is ordered and
the page reprinted.
After the offset printed pages dry,
each page is checked for pagination, blanks, defects that might
have gotten past the press operator, etc. If anything is off
standard, a new plate is ordered and that page is reprinted,
allowed drying time and then the new pages checked.
For all types of bindings, except saddle stitching, the quality checked pages are then collated:
changing the individual stacks of page 1/2, 3/4, 5/6, etc. into a text
block that is sequential (1-6, 1-6, 1-6). Saddle stitched books are
collated and bound in the same step by machine.
Digital
Printing
Though there are many more variables
that affect processes in digital printing, this is a standard book production
process example.
Once the digital
manuscript has cleared pre-press it is ready for production:
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If printing from Camera Ready Digital
files (electronic manuscript): The file or files are sent to the digital machine
directly from the pre-press/check-in computers.
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If printing from a
CRDPM: The hard copy manuscript pages are loaded
into a mechanical document feeder of the digital machine.
 The text block is
printed out from the digital machine already collated. Depending on the
size of the book and publication quantity, the digital files may be printed out
in smaller page sequences/sections and hand collated in preparation for binding.
Additionally, special items such as 4-color, specially folded pages, slick inserts and card dividers are
added by hand as well - as required.
Forward to
Binding
Page Last Updated:
April 13, 2012
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