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News
October 2011
On October 5-7, Houchen Bindery Team Members John Salistean, Angie Pekarek and Susie Hultgrien attended the Hardcover Binding International/Library Binding Institute 2011 Fall Conference. This year’s conference was held at The Grand Hotel in Minneapolis, MN.
The highlights of the conference included visiting our friends at Campell-Logan Bindery, Creative Memories, Muscle Bound Bindery, and Thompson Reuters, as well as a visit to the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. On the way to Minnesota, we made a special stop in Des Moines to visit our good friends at Library Binding Services (LBS). Thanks to all of these companies for opening their doors to us, and the rest of the HBI/LBI members!
We had a great time at this year’s conference! HBI/LBI is going strong, and we look forward to many more years as a part of this association.
April 29, 2011
The Houchen Bindery Team would like to
extend a special thank you to our friends at Library Binding Service for
visiting our plant on April 29, 2011. Fritz James, Lang Wightman and Rob Mauritz made the trip to our facility for a plant tour and to speak to our
team members. They were accompanied by Werner Rebsamen, the Technical
Advisor to the Hardcover Binding Institute/Library Binding Institute. The
focus of the tour was on our new state-of-the-art Standard Horizon BQ-470
PUR Perfect Binder. The experts at LBS were interested in seeing how their
Universal Endsheet product is being put to use for hardcover binding and
re-binding.
April 15, 2011
Houchen Bindery: Going Green and Making a Difference
Like many companies, we are conscious of our impact on the environment in our daily operation. Houchen Bindery is committed to re-using and recycling materials whenever possible.
Smarter Use of Paper: Paper - and we use plenty of it - is a renewable resource, and we are a major paper recycler. Each year, we send over 25,000 cubic feet of paper, binders board, and even plastic to be recycled. We see recycling as an important way for us to do our part in preserving resources. Along with recycling, we also find ways to re-use materials. Binders board, paper, and books of all varieties come to us in truckloads and in cartons. Rather than just recycling all of our used boxes, we recently began an initiative to donate many of the containers to the Food Bank of Lincoln.
Helping Feed the Hungry: The Food Bank of Lincoln works with the Center for People in Need to sponsor mobile pantries at five sites in Lincoln every week. This program, called Neighborhood FOOD, is held at community gathering places in some of Lincoln's poorest areas and currently serves approximately 1,300 families per week. On the best of weeks, families are able to take home an assortment of canned food, dry goods (such as boxed dinners), frozen meat, salvaged produce, and baked goods; and occasionally personal care items. These items can serve as valuable income extenders for struggling households. The boxes from Houchen which are re-used in this program make a difference beyond just the conservation of resources.
January 28, 2011
Houchen Bindery Adds New PUR Perfect Binder
We are pleased to announce that we have recently installed a new PUR Perfect Binding machine. This new perfect binder is capable of producing books as small as 5.71” x 4.4” up to 12.59” x 12.59,” and a maximum thickness of 2.55”
PUR Adhesive (Poly Urethane Reactive) is well known to be stronger than EVA glue, which is the standard Hot Melt glue used in traditional perfect binders.
PUR is good for many reasons: · Works well with coated text paper · Works with covers that have a coating in the spine area · Effectively binds thin books or thick books · Books requiring frequent or rough usage · Temperature extremes- PUR adhesive has a much lower freezing point and much higher melting point than most adhesives. So in the winter, your book won’t snap in the freezing cold or in the summer it won’t melt if you leave it in a car during the day · PUR Binding actually uses less glue to adhere your book, creating a cleaner looking binding edge than some EVA glues on traditional perfect binding
November 9, 2010
At the Fall 2010 HBI/LBI Conference in Springfield IL, Jeanne Drewes from the Library of Congress made the announcement that LC has decided to fund some improvements in the ABLE software. The software being used currently is not meeting the needs of the LC, and ABLE, with these modifications will do so.
The most important three improvements addressed are to be 1. Security; 2. Error Reduction through using ZLink and ILS linking; and 3. Enhanced Reporting and Management. It has been decided that all ABLE users will be asked to stay on the one version. Therefore, when these improvements are released, we will all be the beneficiary of these changes. SB Stone is the developer of these upgrades and is in the process of the re-write currently. Release date is scheduled for March 2011.
What does this mean to ABLE users? For the most part, very little. The enhanced security may be an issue at the Library of Congress, but it is not a large concern to most libraries. The improvements in ZLink may be of some help, if your library is using a system compatible with the developments written for LC. Finally, the improvements in the exporting of data may be an improvement to those libraries who have felt the reporting available within ABLE to be limited.
We are told that the average user will not experience difficulty, or the need for re-training due to any of these changes. More information will be made available in the near future.
September 20, 2010
In June of 2010, Soren and Judith Petersen decided to retire and sell the assets of their company, Atlantic Bookbinding, Atlantic IA, to Houchen Bindery Ltd. We have been in touch over the years and had expressed to them our desire to help serve their customers when they decided to stop binding.
Houchen Bindery has been trying to have a conversation with every Atlantic customer, to explain the transition, and the difference in binding and procedures. I f you have not had that conversation, please call or email at once, so we can establish a good working relationship.
Our best wishes to Soren and Judith.
May 25, 2010
It is always a sad day when a friendly competitor can no longer remain in business. The economic squeeze of rising costs, and the decision to not purchase more modern equipment has caused the owners of Texas Bindery Services to decide to cease operations. To assimilate the customers from such a custom operation as TBS is a daunting task, but one we are well-equipped to take on. We have successfully acquired over a dozen binderies in our 33 years of operation, and our team is committed to making this transition as smooth as possible.
So what can you expect as a former customer of TBS? Houchen Bindery Ltd will have the binding database transferred from their site to ours shortly. We will do everything we can to match your previous bindings and turnaround times, at the same price as before. We run our own delivery vehicles in the same area of Texas as TBS, and of course the mail in traffic and comic books can be handled as easily from our location as theirs. Please look over our website to learn more about how we can serve you.
The larger libraries will be contacted soon and asked to complete a Customer Profile questionnaire that will ensure our facility produces your orders to your exact specifications.
If you have further questions please contact Angel Dale at email@houchenbindery.com or 800 869 0420
February 15, 2010
Heartland Print Gallery
Each year, the Printing Industry of the Midlands holds an awards banquet called the Heartland Print Gallery. In 2009, Houchen Bindery, Ltd. entered four book projects into the 2010 Heartland Print Gallery awards competition. On January 30th, 2010 at the awards banquet held in La Vista, NE, Houchen Bindery, Ltd. was awarded two Gold awards and one Silver award.
Houchen Bindery Ltd. won a Gold award for Foil Stamping (Ward's Results book), a Gold and Silver award for digital printing work on two different children's books we produced.
October 29, 2009
Houchen Bindery Beginning Professional Award
For the last 25 years Houchen Bindery Ltd has sponsored the Beginning Professional award with the Nebraska New Members Roundtable group at the Nebraska Library Association. The award is given to a beginning librarian or media specialist who has made significant contributions to their library in the early stages of their career. Also in conjunction with the NMRT, Houchen Bindery Ltd has sponsored their Mentor of the Year award. Both awards feature a cash stipend funded by the Bindery.
At the October 2009 meeting, Houchen Bindery Ltd President H. Damon Osborne was awarded a plaque in recognition of those contributions. Houchen Bindery is proud to be a sponsor of these awards and looks forward to many more years collaborating with the NLA.
August 21, 2009
Each year, Houchen Bindery recognizes and thanks team members for their commitment by awarding Savings Bonds to those who have reached 5-year milestones with the company.
Congratulations to some of our long-time team members. Houchen Bindery appreciates all your years of service and looks forward to many more!
Ann Kosek - 25 years Angie Pekarek - 20 years Terry Burtis-Wolfe - 15 years Vicki Carroll - 15 years Dan Kallhoff - 15 years Linda Watson - 10 years Linda Davis - 5 years Cathy Houston - 5 years Cathy Janousek - 5 years Melissa Kleitsch - 5 years Ed Millsap - 5 years Bernie Stych - 5 years
July 25, 2009
Houchen Bindery Gives Centennial Backpack Program a Lift
This summer the Houchen Bindery team worked to raise funds to help jump start the Utica Centennial School Backpack Program. The program is similar to others around the country, where backpacks full of food are given to students who qualify for free/reduced price lunches. Houchen Bindery teamed up with Centennial High School’s FFA chapter to host a pancake feed to raise money. The proceeds from the event, put on with the help of The Pancake Man (http://www.pancakeman.net/) combined with free-will donations from Houchen team members to raise $1910.70 for the new program. Congratulations to the Houchen Bindery team for helping make a difference in the Utica community.
Houchen Bindery team members, from left, Nancy Mogee, Sara Ogren, Damon Osborne and, right, Connie Osborne and Centennial FFA member Sid Kment, second from right, present donations for the Centennial backpack program to program coordinator Shannon Henry. The above picture appeared in the York News-Times on August 26, 2009.
March 18, 2009 Houchen Bindery Ltd would like to inform all our ABLE and LARS customers that in May of 2009, ICG-Holliston the producer of our F-Grade Buckram cloth will no longer produce 5 colors. These colors are 488, 494, 538, 719 and 958. We have designated replacements for the colors and you can find more information here: F-Grade Buckram List.
January 2009
Houchen Bindery Adds New Perfect Binder:
Houchen Bindery Ltd has added a new standard perfect binder to the factory floor, enhancing our already strong niche in the short-run edition and library binding market. The machine features high quality production perfect binding with fully automated operation and touch screen simplicity. From single edition POD book production to orders of several thousand, the perfect binder allows us to provide more binding methods and solutions for our customers. This machine can handle a wide variety of paper stocks and can even handle books as thin as 1 millimeter.
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News at Houchen Bindery Ltd.
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