Your book or brochure is finished. The samples look great and the job is on the way to your customer. Then the phone call from the dark side is received. The job showed up and is full of scuffs and scratches! What the heck happened!
In the simplest terms, transit vibration is the movement that takes place within a carton, or palletainer, while product is shipped, generally via truck, to the final destination. This movement causes product surfaces to rub against each other, causing scratches and patches of surface coating or ink to rub away. The end result is a cosmetically defective product.
Transit vibration marking can usually be tracked back to the coating on the surface of the product. Aqueous coating, for instance, is a popular choice among printers due to the luster and relatively inexpensive cost. However, aqueous coating is also very soft and prone to mark easily. If an aqueous coated product is subjected to transit vibration, the end result is often very messy. Surface coatings that include metallic inks or dark color, full ink coverage are also highly susceptible to transit vibration marking.
There are several options a printer may choose to minimize the potential for transit vibration damage:
- UV Coating tends to stand up well, but is an expensive option.
- Most film lamination choices will protect against transit vibration issues. Again, this is an expensive option.
- Shrink wrapping the product prior to shipment is a relatively cost effective option and can be performed by the bindery service provider. Product can often be wrapped in convenient quantities, reducing the price of protection even further.
Allied Bindery performs a rub test on all book, magazine, catalog and booklet covers in an effort to determine if transit vibration may be a problem. If it appears that a product may be negatively impacted by transit vibration, we will contact you to discuss protection options.
We encourage you to contact your Allied Bindery Representative to discuss project planning issues such as the prevention of transit vibration marking. Our experience and ideas will likely save you money or help avoid the creation of a production problem.
A core value of Allied Bindery is to communicate on an on-going basis with our industry friends. Our objective is to share insight and observations considered valuable and helpful for our customers, helping you to provide an ever-increasing value proposition to your customers.
Allied Bindery is a premier trade bindery located inMadison Heights,Michigan, celebrating 20 plus years of servicing your bindery requirements.