New Bedford, MA -- If you're looking for a "novel" way to drive sales and profits back into your shop, offer your customers an additional service or tap into the growing market for short-run, just-in-time softcover book production while generating an impressive return on investment (ROI), C.P. Bourg may have the "perfect" product – and they can prove it with a new ROI Analysis tool.

The company, a world leading developer and supplier of innova-tive in-line and near-line document feeding, binding and finishing equipment, developed the ROI Analysis tool for its Bourg BB3002 PUR perfect binder, and it is offering the tool free of charge on request via e-mail.
 
The Bourg BB3002 PUR is the first single-clamp PUR perfect bin-der to fully automate short-run manufacturing to bind all types of books and manuals from directories and training materials to corporate, retail and personal titles. The Bourg BB3002 PUR enables fast, economical production of professionally-bound "books of one" or of hundreds, on demand.
 
The market for on-demand book publishing is soaring. Bowker, the official ISBN agency for the U.S., recently projected that 285,394 books were produced in the U.S. in 2008 on demand, a "staggering" 132% increase over the 2007 total of 123,276 titles. The 2008 level reflected the second consecutive year of triple-digit growth in the on demand segment, and 462% above 2006 levels, Bowker reported.
 
To tap the power of PUR adhesive for short-run digital or mixed-production workflows, Bourg engineers collaborated with Nordson to develop new communications links between the proven Bourg BB3002 EVA Perfect Binder and the precision Nordson VersaPail melter, and extended key aspects of Bourg's proven BB3002 feature set to deliver optimal PUR gluing efficiency and effectiveness while maintaining a safe operating environment.

A single operator using the highly automated Bourg BB3002 PUR at 70 percent of maximum output can routinely produce 350 professionally-bound soft-cover books per hour. Finished books can range in thickness from two sheets (8 pages) to 2.36 inches, and have cover dimensions with or without wings from 3.5 x 3.9 inches to 12.59 x 15.15 inches to meet its full-rated cover spec of 28 x 15.6 inches – the largest format in its class.
 
"Several engineering innovations optimize the Bourg BB3002 PUR binder for short-run book production from digital printing, making it the first single-clamp PUR perfect binder that can produce orders for single books or hundreds in a way that is highly profitable and environmentally friendly," said Richard Trapilo, Executive Vice President and General Manager, C.P. Bourg.
 
"These innovations allow operators of virtually any skill level with minimal training to manufacture books of even different thickness and length one after another automatically, without operator intervention other than to load the book block and cover stock," Trapilo explained.
 

Bourg BB3002 PUR ROI Analysis Tool
The Bourg BB3002 PUR ROI Analysis Tool is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that provides constants for cost of the binder, financing, PUR usage and electricity, and allows its user to supply their own anticipated system utilization, labor cost, price per bind and daily utilization. The ROI analysis tool then calculates revenue and gross profit per hour and per day. It also generates a breakeven analysis, expressed in books per day, minutes of system use per day and days per year.
 
For example, operating a Bourg BB3002 PUR at 70 percent of maximum output producing books one-half inch thick on average and charging $2.00 per bind – not including revenue from set-up charges – will generate revenue of $700/hour, or $5,600/day – of which $5,164.40 is gross profit. In this scenario, the Bourg BB3002 PUR owner needs to produce approximately 218 books per day to break even, which would be achieved in 38 minutes!
 
PUR adhesive is extremely attractive for ultra-short-run bookbinding for its ability to create a strong bind on a variety of digitally produced color or coated stock creating book that lays flat and books can be exposed to a wide temperature range. With a Bourg BB3002 PUR binder, commercial printers, bookbinders or in-plant service providers of virtually any size or type can address market or enterprise demands for truly economical on-demand book production.
 
The Bourg BB3002 PUR ROI Analysis Tool can be used on any computer able to open and run Microsoft Excel application files. To request a Bourg BB3002 PUR ROI Analysis Tool, send an e-mail containing your company name and contact information with "Bourg BB3002 PUR ROI" in the subject line, to [email protected].