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Trade bookbinder in print finishing, Twin Loop Binding, has invested in new kit and moved to a new and bigger premise as it expands its business.

The company’s owner Wayne Rubin told Sprinter that he has traded in his Horizon BQ-470 for the Horizon BQ-480 perfect binder in a deal with Currie Group and recently purchased a Vimacor shrink-wrapping machine.

“We invest in where the market has taken us. We’ve got industrial punch machines, and we’ve now upgraded our perfect binder to the Horizon BQ-480,” he said.

“We’ve upgraded our collating towers and installed a booklet maker that can do saddle and loop stitching and it can do A4 landscape – there’s not that many businesses that can do this. We’ve also installed a shrink-wrapping machine to help with embellishment.

“We do perfect binding, wire binding, calendars with hangars, spiral binding, saddle stitching including A4 landscape saddle stitching, shrink wrapping, and assisting with case binding, amongst others. We are aiming to position ourselves as a one-stop-shop where people can send us work, and we specialise in all sized runs.”

Twin Loop has also moved to a new and more modern facility in Belmore, NSW. The company was previously based in Macquarie Park, NSW and Rubin said the move was a result of Stockland – the landlords – having to knock down the building.

“We’ve known about it for a while and were looking for a suitable premise to move to for a long time. We finally came across this new site in Belmore and what was the most appealing was its size – it is much bigger, especially the loading dock, and more spacious than our old site,” Rubin said.

“It provides us with so much potential to expand the factory and the business. We’ve got a lot more choice and opportunities to keep adding on and becoming more of a finishing house as opposed to just a trade bookbinder.”

The company itself has been around for 30 years. Rubin joined the business 20 years ago and has owned it for 10 years after purchasing it from his parents.

According to Rubin, the move to a new premise shows the company’s commitment to the industry.

“It shows that we’re here for the long haul. We’ve got the space now to install or upgrade equipment if we want to in the coming years. Plus, we can handle more work,” he said.

“The closure of Sydney Binding has brought in more work for Twin Loop Binding, especially in perfect binding with folded sections, as it was something we traditionally didn’t do. We are also seeing an increase in people coming to us for quotes for spiral and wire binding.

“We have seen new customers come to us. We can fill the void caused by the demise of Sydney Binding.”

Twin Loop Binding was also one of the companies that was owed money having dealt with Whirlwind. Twin Loop Binding was owed $10,000.

“The move to our new site is a start of a new chapter, we have closed the one with the disappointment of the bad debt of Whirlwind,” Rubin added.

Twin Loop Binding Twin Loop Binding in Sydney’s Belmore offers a range of services from PUR and EVA perfect binding, through A2/A3 wire binding, to saddle and loop stitching.
Recently introduced services such as drilling, shrink wrapping and cello glazing, are part of the company’s evolution as a one-stop finishing house, says managing director Wayne Rubin. The company also offers binding supplies and consumables.

Rubin says the pandemic has been challenging at Twin Loop, as everywhere. “We initially needed to put some of our staff on reduced hours, but fortunately our production hours are returning to regular levels. We continue to assist our customers wherever possible by absorbing some of our set-up charges and assisting them by passing on special pricing with our binding services and binding supplies,” he said.

As Twin Loop increasingly sees printers offering other printers a finishing service, it reminds its customers of its reliable and proven record of quality, meeting deadlines and confidentiality, adds Rubin. “We recently conducted a survey amongst some of our customers and the overwhelming response was they would prefer to focus on what has traditionally been their core business printing, especially since this is where they have invested in equipment.

“Perhaps now is not the best time for printers to be investing in finishing equipment if it’s not going to be fully utilised. “Another advantage of using a finishing house like Twin Loop Binding is that we have specialised and well-maintained equipment to provide timely and well-presented jobs.”

UTS also uses Twin Loop Binding, with the manager of printing and imaging services for the university saying, “We have always found them professional, responsive, easy to do business as well as the quality of their work is consistently well presented”.

Rubin attributes the success of the business to the longevity of the staff, sticking to a strict schedule, and thorough quality control measures.

He explains, “The secret of success is to look after your staff, and the longer you have staff, the more reliable and consistent their work gets.

“We have a meticulous system, I have been doing this for over 20 years, and I make sure things are flowing well, downtime is minimised, and that the staff follow the policy of the company: treating every job as their own.

“Customers realise that when they send us a job, they can rely on us to take ownership of the job. Often we find mistakes in print: bleed not the right way, smudges, even missing pages. We are not proof readers but we pick up on this. It is not a case of garbage in, garbage out, we run one or two books, test it, and if there is a problem we stop. There is no point trying to meet a deadline by powering through without the customer’s go ahead
first.

“That is why so many customers come back. Our guys have an eye for detail.”

One telling example was a book written in Japanese, in which Rubin's staff picked up on an error in the text, despite the fact that none of them can read or write in the language.

“That is when you know you have really good staff,” says Rubin proudly.

“We have a flat management system here, and my staff are always free to walk through the door. We have a close, intimate working relationship, and it needs to be for us to survive in such stressful, challenging times.

“Our staff come from all parts of the world, India, Iran, Ghana, New Zealand, Chile, Scotland, and it makes me feel like I am doing my share for a multicultural Australia.”

Rubin is also a migrant, having moved to Australia from South Africa some 22 years ago.

Speed to market

Twin Loop is known for its quick turnarounds, with most of its jobs coming in with only a couple of days notice. With books, customers generally book them in a few days in advance,
so fitting jobs in and adhering to the production schedule is key, says Rubin.

“Some of the bigger companies give us a week, or two weeks notice, which helps. The MIS system we have allows our staff to group jobs; sometimes the punching will be a certain size across work, so we might do all the A5 hole punching, and spiral binding together. Especially when there is PUR binding, we consolidate it as much as possible to maximise the life span of the PUR glue which allows us to bring down the costs for our customers.

“Each time we use the machine, we have to drain the tank, so it is key to get the maximum use out of each tank. If we have not scheduled PUR for the day, but a customer needs it, we will do it, it is just a matter of charging for the full setup, where normally we can split the costs between customers by bundling smaller jobs together.

“We score more than 90 per cent of our covers offline, (even though our perfect binder can score online) because we get a deeper score, which allows us to achieve a squarer finish, improving the quality of the job. It is great, because the customer looks at it and often says, ‘gee, this looks good’.

“We believe that we are only as good as our last job.”

Twin Loop Binding also sells binding supplies and machines, operating as a reseller. Rubin says they fit into the market today as a point of convenience, noting, “A lot of our machine sales are regular customers, that might want a small wire binder, or celloglazing machine, or a punch machine.”

Finding efficiencies

Rubin invested in an MIS system through Hexicom one year ago, purpose built for the business, and he has been ecstatic with the results, saying he’s achieved efficiencies of 40 per cent.

“We looked at three or four different software companies, but they were all geared up for the print industry, and we technically do not do any print. Hexicom despite being designed for the printing industry were able to custom make their MIS software to adapt to our manufacturing needs. All my staff are versatile, and the way we are set up is customer driven. We have a small staff, only nine people, but could deal with 45 customers a day, which is what makes our MIS software so important.

A lot of customers come in and are blown away, it looks extremely professional. All of our jobs are up on the electronic board, everyone can access them, track their progress, and follow it through from beginning to end.”

For Twin Loop Binding, success has come from following the needs of its customers.
Rubin says, “We try to listen to our customers and respond to their needs. A lot of people ask for A4 landscape saddle stitching, so we put in equipment that could handle that, and A4 landscape loop stitching.

“Some people are price sensitive, so we realised that perfect binding is not the right option for everyone, leading us to introduce saddle-stitching.

“In the near future we will be offering in-house celloglazing, as at the moment we outsource it. Our biggest threat is time, and for us to wait for it to go out and come back, it takes too long.

“We want to move towards a one-stop-shop for finishing, bringing that celloglazing in-house, while getting another perfect binding machine that can handle A3.

“Most people do their own celloglazing, but we have a few key customers that store their covers here. For them to be cost effective, they have to do the work in bulk. With our own machine, we could do smaller runs for them, which helps in the long run, as they do not have to pay to store them. It also lets us have more quality control, using digital devices.

“Some printers have a lot of oil in them, meaning the celloglaze tends to lift. If we run a job, and it starts to lift, we need to put it on hold, show it to the customer, so that they then need to get it reprinted and finished with the celloglazing before we can bind it. “That is two-days wasted, and the deadline for the customer has not shifted. So we want to have more control of that process by bringing it in-house.”

Shifting industry

The way the market is moving is that everyone wants their work faster, almost instantly, says Rubin.
“We need to explain to people that things take time, but if we can cut back on travel times, courier times, it is a no-brainer that we have to do more in-house.
“For this particular business, we are really geared up for the digital market. We are not like the other binders that deal with runs of 20,000-30,000 we deal with runs of 5 to 5,000, with an upper limit of 15,000-20,000 for wire and spiral binding.

“In print, the runs are getting smaller, but more specialised. There is more print being done than ever before, but it is a different kind of print, it is moving towards printing on jumpers, street signs, cups, mugs, personalised items.

“The small run work is specialised, that people do not want to do in-house. It is perfect binding with folds, or die cut outs, they may be A6 size, or in sequential orders. They are the hard jobs that people send. We cannot pick and choose, we have to be able to do all jobs, and we do.

“So now there is a need for A3 perfect binding, there are not many people in Sydney who can do that work along with yearbooks, scrapbooks.”

Attributing success

For Rubin, as with many small-business owners in the industry, Twin Loop Binding is his only plan for retirement.

He explains, “We always looking for ways to improve, add-on, and add-value. We are moving to become more of a finishing house, not just a bindery. That is where the industry will take us, whether we like it or not.

“We keep adapting, and we are successful because I have no back up plan. I have to make this work. This is my livelihood, my passion, and this is why I am fussy with who I hire.

“The saddest thing is when people do move on, that might have been here for six or seven years, that have to leave for non-work related reasons.

“If you do not have the right people you cannot keep expanding.”

For Rubin and other small business people, who rely on the strength of the business as a long-term investment, phoenix operations can particularly sting.

He says, “Most people run good businesses, but it is always unfortunate when people do not pay their bills, close up, then reopen with another name.

“There should be stricter controls on companies closing and directors starting new companies.”

Beehive Industries, a Sydney-based social enterprise which operates a commercial printing, fulfilment and mail-house business to fund
the support of over 200 socially isolated senior citizens has been boosted by the installation of a Konica Minolta AccurioPress C3080.

The new press has already been put to good use producing a new cookbook ‘Share a Meal, Share a Conversation’ that not only provides easy
recipes, but also gives readers step-by-step instructions on how to connect with video calls to stay connected during COVID-19.

The enterprise has operated in Darlinghurst for nearly 50 years and now with its beefed up print capabilities is open to working with printers
that may be interested in partnering with the not-for-profit, which is also registered with the NDIS.

Beehive Industries CEO Brendan Lonergan says around 225 people – many with disabilities including mental illness – are supported by the operation with many helping pack jobs and fulfil mail-order campaigns.

In return they benefit from social interaction, regular meals, day trips on Sydney Harbour, playing Bingo and doing craft activities
with each other.

“We only get funded for about 14 per cent of the folks we look after so we need to find 86 percent of the funding through our commercial
business which does packaging, commercial printing and mail house services,” Lonergan told ProPrint.

Beehive already supplies print and mailorder for large organisations including Telstra, the NRMA, Racing NSW, Legacy and NSW government departments including the Department of Primary Industries and Environment.

But it has been slammed by COVID with the facility having to close its doors for 11 weeks while also losing $200,000 in government funding.

Now, Lonergan is looking to gain some extra work to keep his team busy and engaged.

Yohei Konaka has now taken over the reins as managing director at Konica Minolta Australia after COVID-19 forced a delay to the start of his
official appointment.

Yohei replaces outgoing managing director, Dr David Cooke, who announced his resignation in February this year.

Yohei was due to start in April but pandemicrelated travel restrictions meant he was unable to fly out from Japan.

For the last six months, Yohei has been working remotely with Dr Cooke and the executive team at Konica Minolta Australia.

He has used this time to gain a more complete understanding of the Australian market. Konica Minolta said this experience has
given Yohei a “valuable head start as he sets “The print work we do also includes assembling material and mailing it out for customers,” Lonergan said.

“We like to keep the people we support actively engaged as the bulk of them are seniors living alone in housing commission, boarding
houses and homeless shelters.”

Beehive Industries also has large amounts of space for mail order campaigns and kitting work.

This can be attractive for printers that want to offer a full-service solution, but lack the physical space or staff to ensure the job can be done.

Lonergan said investing in the new Accurio has moved the business into a new league.

“Having the AccurioPress C3080 has gotten us into a new class of work because the print quality is fantastic,” he said.

It was this investment that meant it could produce the new cook book with Sydney’s Twin Loop Binding assisting with the binding.

The book was recently launched with the team from Konica Minolta, including outgoing managing director Dr David Cooke and production
and industrial print general manager Sue Threlfo, in attendance.

“We are proud to be associated with their commercial printing program which offers both an excellent printing, assembly and fulfilment
process, and also an opportunity for their members to learn the skill of digital printing,” Threlfo told ProPrint.

“The Share a Meal, Share a Conversation book is a great example of an excellent digital print job, and also a great story about bringing people
together.”

Lonergan says partnering with Beehive Industries gives printers increased opportunity to secure government contracts as many tenders now require suppliers to prove how they are generating a positive social impact with the work they do.

In a commercial print environment where volumes are slipping and many binderies have found themselves out of business, the companies that have invested well, maintained good customer relations, and moved into the short-run, on demand space have found their niche.

Twin Loop Binding is one of them, with the company first established in 1993, with current owner Wayne Rubin’s parents buying it in 1997, and Wayne joining in 1999, some 20 years ago.

Ten years later, Wayne and his wife Nicolle bought out his parents, who were looking to retire, and took over the business, adding a range of
binding services along the way.

Since then, the company has introduced plastic spiral binding, plastic comb binding, wire binding calendars with hangers or tent cards, saddle-stitching, loop-stitching and perfect binding (both EVA and the robust PUR), also investing in an MIS system to gain efficiencies in the way it operates, as a specialist in small to-medium runs.

To hear Rubin tell the story, “People say hard work makes good luck, but I think we have been very lucky. Everything has worked out well for us in regards to timing, and we have been fortunate over the years.

“When a competitor shut down, we traded in our EVA for PUR perfect binding, and today it represents about 40 per cent of our business, it has really grown.

“With PUR binding we can take any size run, from 50 to 500 and even up to 10,000, ideal for the digital space.

“Three years ago, another competitor shut down, and we picked up a lot of their customers, and one of their key staff, Chris Sullivan, a previous director there.

“The market has had a lot of consolidation, and dropped off along the way.”

One of the company’s competitors, Sydney-based Open Flat Bookbinding, is closing down at the end of March. At that time, Twin Loop will be one of two remaining companies in Sydney that can wire bind A3 (long edge) and A2 (short edge).

Rubin says, “It is sad. It helps us in some way, but now when things get really busy, there is only so much capacity available in the market.

“So we need to learn how to manage that as well. We need to keep investing, and making sure that we are getting continuous work from everyone. Sometimes all of that work can come in at the same time though, so we need to manage that work carefully. Production planning,
advising customers, is where I step in: Can I move this back, this job forward? It is almost like a chessboard.”

Customers of Twin Loop Binding were enthusiastic in their praise of the company, with Blue-Mountains based Springwood Printing saying, “It is not often you come across a supplier that you can just send the work to and you know the job will be completed when you require it every single time. Even in peak times like December, those almost impossibly short timeframes are completed without fuss.”

DPS Print Production, who have used Twin Loop Binding for seven years, says the same, noting, “We trust them with all our perfect binding work and wire binding and have 100 percent confidence that they will take care of the job and provide a quality and affordable end product. We have no problem in recommending them to our colleagues."

Print Media Group says, “Twin Loop Binding are a reliable and reactive business partner, that work with us to ensure our client’s needs and
deadlines are met.

“Twin Loop not only fulfil most of our book binding requirements, but also provide us with consumables such as binding wire, coil and plastic and also laminating and cello films so we can do our own book binding as well as servicing our machines.”

Twin Loop Binding in Sydney’s Belmore offers a range of services from PUR and EVA perfect binding, through A2/A3 wire binding, to saddle and loop stitching. Recently introduced services such as drilling, shrink-wrapping and cello glazing, are part of the company’s evolution as a one-stop finishing house, says managing director Wayne Rubin. The company also offers binding supplies and consumables.

Rubin says the pandemic has been challenging at Twin Loop, as everywhere. “We initially needed to put some of our staff on reduced hours, but fortunately our production hours are returning to regular levels. We continue to assist our customers wherever possible by absorbing some of our set-up charges and assisting them by passing on special pricing with our binding services and binding supplies,” he said.

As Twin Loop increasingly sees printers offering other printers a finishing service, it reminds its customers of its reliable and proven record of quality, meeting deadlines and confidentiality, adds Rubin.

“We recently conducted a survey amongst some of our customers and the overwhelming response was they would prefer to focus on what has traditionally been their core business printing, especially since this is where they have invested in equipment.

“Perhaps now is not the best time for printers to be investing in finishing equipment if it’s not going to be fully utilised.

“Another advantage of using a finishing house like Twin Loop Binding is that we have specialised and well-maintained equipment to provide timely and well-presented jobs.”

The owner of one of NSW’s largest trade binders, Sydney Binding, says he had to make the tough decision to close the business due to the twin impacts of a general downturn and a coronavirus-sparked dry up of work.

Peter Halters has told Sprinter that virtually no work came through his door in April and with the outlook for the coming months looking just as gloomy he decided the best course of action was to close the operation.

“It’s all a bit of a mixture between a downturn and the coronavirus and I just couldn’t see an end to it to tell you the truth,” Halters told Sprinter.

“I think a lot of people are tricking themselves if they think there is going to be an end to this quickly. “It was OK beforehand but the work just stopped. March was OK but in April there was virtually nothing and it was going to just be that way for the next few months, I could see that.”

Sydney Binding specialises in perfect binding, folding and saddle stitching and was formed in 2016 after the merger of the long-running McPherson Binding and Graphic Bookbinding.

Halters was a director of McPherson Binding and at the time said the merger was induced by a drop in consumer demand and a slowing market for bookbinding services. The market conditions prompted Halters and Graphic Bookbinding director Emeh Freelingos to join forces to create Sydney Binding.

Halters said he and two dozen employees would now finish up any work they had on hand and going through the process of arranging to sell the company’s bindery equipment. A letter has been sent to customers telling them Sydney Binding would not be taking on any new work.

“It would probably be all done in the next week I would think,” he said.

Halters said some of the bindery equipment had already been sold but there were still a few items remaining.

He was unable to say if that equipment had been bought by another Sydney operator and nor was he able to comment on the plans of the purchaser.

The closure of Sydney Binding significantly reduces the operators providing high-volume perfect binding trade services in NSW.

Twin Loop Binding, owned by Wayne Rubin in Sydney’s Macquarie Park, provides perfect binding services, along with saddle stitching, plastic spiral and laminating services.

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