Established in 1944 by the United Nations, the World Bank’s mission is to combat poverty around the world. “The bank lends money for specific projects, which could be for infrastructure, education, sustainability, and many others. Because of that, much of the work we do here is very technical in nature,” explains Jimmy Vainstein, Printing Facility Manager, Printing & Multimedia Services, World Bank.

Today, the World Bank is headquartered in Washington, DC, though the organization manages more than 100 satellite offices worldwide, and employs 9,000. The volume of information exchanged is staggering. And much of it has to be published and distributed within a 24-hour print cycle.

The World Bank’s printing facility recently underwent some monumental changes. It moved to a new facility in Maryland and also merged with the organization’s multimedia group. Simultaneously, the printing group phased out offset entirely, in favor of an all-digital operation, and it began to “output” to both print and electronic formats. The new digital environment created a need for finishing equipment that could efficiently handle the digital output.

“We’re very environmentally focused, and we saw that digital operations were the way to go,” Vainstein recalls. The transition away from offset began in the past decade. A Presstek DI digital offset press (Booth 3417) and Kodak NexPresses (Booth 1221) were installed. A high-speed digital inkjet engine is on Vainstein’s wish list for the near future.

“We [also] installed an Océ ColorStream (Booth 400) web press back in 2006, embedded with in-line finishing,” he notes. More specifically, the printer has been complemented with a Hunkeler Roll-to-Stack/Roll-to-Fold combination line, with an AFC-744 Folder from Standard Finishing Systems (Booth 1244).

In fact, Standard Finishing Systems supplied many of the near-line technologies that support the high-speed digital print operations. It’s critical that the equipment that comes after the printing itself maintains the integrity and the speed of the workflow.

There are three perfect binders in operation, all highly automated: A compact Standard Horizon BQ-270C single-clamp solution, the Standard Horizon BQ-470 four-clamp binder, and a 15-clamp CABS 5000 perfect-binding system with 18 pockets/gathering stations, and an in-line three-knife trimmer.

Three three-knife trimmers—Standard’s HT-30 and HT-70 models—offer automated setups and quick changeovers. A Standard Horizon SPF-20 Bookletmaker has been equipped with two collating towers for producing up to 4,000 booklets per hour.

Rounding out the finishing technologies is a Standard Horizon StitchLiner 5500 Saddlestitcher, which eliminates signature folding by combining flat-sheet gathering, scoring, folding, stitching, and three-knife trimming in one integrated line. The system is also equipped with an HOF high-speed sheet feeder for digitally collated output of up to 27,000 sheets per hour.

Flexibility and efficiency are paramount to the finishing philosophy at World Bank. “We are always looking ahead, investing in bindery equipment early so we can prepare our operation for the next big step,” he surmises. “If we can leverage our finishing infrastructure, we’ll be able to be more efficient, more flexible, and above all, we’ll be able to offer a great service to our clients.” Like all Standard Finishing customers, the World Bank is able to leverage Standard’s demo facility in Andover, MA, where it can evaluate and test equipment firsthand.