As you get into an in-depth study of printing, you will familiarize yourself with many technical terms and functionalities. Whether it is about book printing, packaging, or boxes, the term “Collate” is very common. We all know that as technology has been advancing, many changes are also coming across in the printing field. Thus, there is no need to intervene in manual operations during processing. Still, for the basic understanding, this guide will explain collate, how it works, and its major benefits. Let’s dive into the discussion below.
What Does It Mean to Collate?
By the term collate, it generally means that multiple copies of any document are being produced in a complete predefined order. The word collate means collection or assembly. Therefore, it is commonly used in printing work, where printing documents are assembled in a certain order to provide fast results.
There was a time when assembling the printing documents was a real headache. Performing it manually often leads to many errors. However, the collate technique has become a real saviour for printing companies to a great extent.
How Does It Work?
A collation software is present in the client’s operating system. To start your printing and locate the collate printing option, visit the print setting and open the dialogue box. Under collation, the substrate—such as paper—is loaded. The collation process then arranges the pages, assembles them into the required sequence as directed, and prints the multipage document concurrently.
This technique needs to be improved for mass page-by-page printing of papers. Everyone wants convenience today. Everyone prefers methods requiring the least time and the smallest investment. Imagine if a publisher wants a novel and wants to precisely get the edition to a minimum length. This is because the reader must turn the pages and follow the chronological order of the narrative. In this situation, collated printing becomes vital to prevent any mistake in printing pages.
Talk About Different Types of Collate Printing
The collation process has been divided into two main categories/types i.e. manual and automated collation. Both processes are of the same kind except for a few aspects. Below details will differentiate the both processes:
Manual Collation
In manual collate printing, manual filling of stock is important, as it must be filled for various stocks. Nevertheless, it gives similar results to the automated collation, but the time investment and effort are little.
Automatic Collation
On the contrary, front-end software is available in automatic coalition printing. This software draws the request to the system, pulling the printed substrate from a different stock. Automatic collation is quicker to process than manual collation, with few chances of facing human errors.
Collated vs. Uncollated Printing: What’s The Major Difference?
The collate printing procedure just requires you to direct the machine to print the copies in a predefined sequence. There is no need to modify the separate run for different stocks manually. The second copy begins to print automatically until the desired copy count is generated, when the first round of copies or printed documents is finished.
Conversely, in an uncollated printing method, you can only print a stack of the same kind of paper. Printing the page in consecutive order is not possible. Every stack of printed documents will be the same. This procedure makes it challenging when several stocks in the desired order are required at once.
Common Uses of Collate Printing
Collation is a process that is common in different industries and setups. You can use this method for:
- Collate printing is utilized in report printing since printing orders are needed.
- Collation is used to print slides whereby the specified order is printed parallel in several copies.
- The papers should be printed in chronological order in manual guidelines to provide logical understanding to the readers.
- Collated printing is also used for billing books to maintain accurate customer information.
- Like cardboard boxes, retail boxes, etc., collate printing is applied in custom boxes whereby several copies of a specified box are produced simultaneously.
What Are The Advantages of Using Collate Printing?
Savings On Costs
Compared to the rest of the traditional printing methods, collate helps in saving so much of your money. It brings the printing results, which contributes to cost reductions. Performing it with manual sorting will cut down the costs of labor expenditures.
High-Quality Results
Each page created will bring the results with excellent precision and consistency. This is because of collated printing functions through automation operations. You will see accurate formatting with correct placements of each page inside books or magazines. It is free from all sorts of errors.
Easy Access
The collation procedure in printing machines is straightforward and easily applicable. As such, it enables those not yet familiar with the operation to produce papers of great quality simply and fast.
Reduces Time Investment In Production
The collated printing function lets papers be produced much faster than could be attained using traditional methods. This is justified since it would take a lot of time to eradicate the necessity for human sorting. Collation drastically reduces the requirement for reprinting when everything is automatically set from the start. This is why gathering relevant data for every copy set is optional.
Does It Have Any Drawbacks?
No doubt, collate printing has numerous benefits for maintaining document integrity. It enhances work efficiency and reduces errors. However, this printing method still has certain disadvantages that a user should know about. It has a printing speed, which is quite slow. You have to print each document to print one document at a time. Compared to uncollated printing, it has a slower speed that is visible when printing large documents.
In addition, the consumable cost can increase with time. In the consumables, we add ink cartridges and printing paper. But still, collated printing is excellent when it comes to quickly browsing through the content of multiple documents. You won’t find this quality in the uncollated printing method.
FAQs: More Insights To Know About Collated Printing
What are the benefits of using automatic collation?
Automatic collation reduces the printing process’s time, human effort, and error.
Is it possible to collate with any type of printing task?
It is used when any specific stock in a particular order is required to print.
What is the meaning of collate in the printing world?
Collate is all about printing a stock collection in a certain order.
What happens if you don’t collate?
If you do not wish to, you can skip this procedure! Collate printing is not a default process. You must give your printer instructions to include this process. However, the lack of collation may somewhat complicate your printing process and demand more expense. Long runs will also be rather difficult.
Is collation suitable for single and double-sided printing?
Yes, it is possible to do both ways.
Conclusion
So this was an end of discussion about how collate printing works and how it has become an important part of the printing work. No doubt, it enables you to efficiently perform printing in less time and with little effort and that too without any human errors.