DeHART's Customized Printing Offers New Opportunities to Printers The Advantages of DeHARTs Print On Demand Services Complete Services: Beginning to End Return to Home Request Information
n the current competitive publishing environment print
on demand services (POD) have a number of advantages over traditional
long runs of printing. By putting a number of services under one roof,
DeHART's is one of the few on demand printers offering a broad range of
capabilities and services.
The advantages of on demand printing revolve around shorter print runs and custom publishing, including the ability to change content from one book to the next. While these advantages don't apply to every book on a publisher's list, the returns are great enough to warrant examination of how the on demand model fits a publisher's business. For the cases where POD works, it works quite well.
Shorter Time to Market
Printing a book using conventional methods can take up to 20
weeks, while printing a book using on demand printing takes 5
to 10 days or less. Shorter turnaround times give publishers
review copies to begin marketing and pre-release promotions,
more time to complete a project before going to the printer,
a more efficient use of capital, and an ability to include late-breaking
information.
Smaller Inventories
Traditional mark ups and the lowest price per unit in
the print and store model have previously required long return
on investment. These models are less relevant in the new on demand
environment. Publishers who invest heavily in inventory find
their money is tied up, sitting in a warehouse, rather than working
for them.
In addition to unit costs, publishers are calculating the cost of maintaining a warehouse with utilities, insurance and personnel overhead, outdated books, scrap, the cost of borrowing money and other factors to arrive at the total cost of a book. When total costs are factored in, on demand can actually save a publisher money.
Shorter Print Runs
On demand is useful for quantities of one to 2,500, or more.
While individual copies may cost more, the overall cost is much
less. Short on demand runs are useful for review copies and galleys,
limited editions and test runs and especially for out-of- print
books. The on demand model allows publishers to print smaller
quantities, more frequently, to keep their capital working for
them. This also prevents waste due to obsolescence of printed
material.
Customized Content
Traditional manufacturing requires that each book be exactly
the same. But professors want to pull content from a variety
of sources - articles, web sites, chapters from various books
- to build customized textbooks. And they want the most up-to-date
information, particularly in textbooks for computers, labs, health
education, financial courses and multicultural readings. They
only need a small quantity. With on demand printing, publishers
can order customized content, make frequent revisions, keep information
up-to-date and still realize healthy returns.
Standard Sizes and Papers
Although on demand sizes are a good complement to standard book
sizes -
5 1/2 x8 1/2, 6 x9, 7.5 x9 and 8 1/2 x11 - the flexibility of
the on demand model allows books of other sizes and varying thickness.
Web-fed and sheet-fed digital presses allow for a variety of
papers. A variety of bindings are available, including case,
perfect, wire-o, spiral, comb and loose leaf. And the quality
is outstanding: In 99.9% of the cases you'll be unable to tell
the difference between on demand and offset printed books.
Color Covers
One of on demand's greatest achievements is the ability to print
offset color in small quantities. DeHART's Heidelberg DI press,
with it's all digital workflow and computerized controls, makes
printing shorter four color covers economical. Put this together
with a lay flat film laminate or UV coating and the book is ready
to go out the door.
Quality
Quality covers, coupled with 600 dot per inch black and white
text, produces a product virtually indistinguishable from an
offset book. DeHART's goes one step farther in striving for perfection
by adhering to internationally recognized ISO 9002 quality standards.
In addition to documenting processes and training employees in
quality standards, each job is checked by two full-time inspectors
at every step in the process to insure that the customer receives
a high-quality product.
DeHART's Printing has gained years of experience from working with Silicon Valley software publishers. As trade publishers begin to require print on demand services, DeHART's is bringing its experience to bear, using innovative and creative solutions to business problems faced by the publishing industry. Some publishers are already using on demand printing in some way in two thirds of the books they produce. See what on demand printing can do for you.
Newsletter written & edited by: Don Monkerud Designed by: Amie Forest/Forest Design Original printed on: DeHART's Heidelberg Quickmaster DI