We specialise in printing catalogues in medium and high volumes. As a large catalogue printing house, we offer an effective and comprehensive project implementations.
Contact usWhy is it worth working with us?
We select a printing technology appropriate for a specific catalogue.
We are able to carry out even the most difficult project.
We are a part of a global Elanders Group corporation.
Elanders catalogue printing house
We specialise in printing catalogues. Our machine park is fitted with offset reel and sheet-fed printing machines. The availability of both technologies allows us to optimise the costs of the project for which we select an appropriate technology. Our printing house is located in central Poland, 70 km from Warsaw.
Our capabilities:
Sheet-fed printing
sheets/month
Web printing
folded sections/month
Our technology
Heatset web printing
Our production facility is fitted with four-colour reel machines, among others The Rotoman 55, which prints with a speed of up to 55,000 folds per hour. The range of printed paper is 42–130 gsm.
Coldset web printing
Our printing house also offers offset web printing in coldset technology for lower quality publications in monochrome quality.
Sheet-fed printing
We also have Heidelberg Speedmaster XL sheet machines for printing the most prestigious catalogues, at lower volumes or with non-standard technical specifications.
Optimising the costs of catalogue printing
If the technical specification of a catalogue does not precisely match the technical capabilities of our reel machines, our customer service representative will recommend you appropriate changes as to allow the work to be printed on the reel machines. The alterations may relate to the colours, paper weight or changing the format. In some cases, only a change of Pantone colour to the appropriate CMYK division will make it possible to complete the order on the reel machines.
If the paper weight for the planned catalogue exceeds the technical capabilities of the reel machines, we should consider paper with a lower weight, matched with the technical capabilities of the reel machines. Such changes will often not cause visual changes in the selection of the catalogue.
A good example is 150-gram CFP. When changed to 130 g paper, we are able to produce the catalogue on the reel machines, and the printed catalogue will also look excellent.
It often happens that the designed catalogues have non-standard formats. The basic one printed on reel machines is A4 format, but there is a possibility of achieving a number of intermediate, often non-standard formats between A6, A5 and A4.
It is also worth comparing the costs of printing a specific catalogue using reel and sheet printing technology and with large savings, and so deciding to introduce changes and to carry out the printing on the reel machines.
Why is web printing of catalogues cheaper?
Paper purchased in reels is cheaper than sheet paper.
The print is carried out at much higher speeds compared to sheets.
After reel print, we receive ready-made folds.
We choose web printing technology, if:
The minimum volume of the catalogue is 10,000 copies.
We wish to achieve print of high quality and an excellent replication of colours with a concurrent lower unit cost of print.
The format of our publication matches the capabilities of the web offset printing press.
The waiting time for reel paper is acceptable for us – the production time is approximately 4 weeks after ordering time.
LOWER VOLUME OR NON-STANDARD SPECIFICATION
In the case of volumes under 10,000 copies or a non-standard technical specification, such as an atypical format of the catalogue, the weight of the paper for the inner pages above 130 g, or a colour palette including special Pantone colours (i.e. 5+5), the inside the catalogue must be enriched, e.g. selective UV lacquer, so the catalogue is printed on sheet machines. Elanders printing house has Heidelberg Speedmaster XL machines, which can print up to 8 colours in a single pass
DIGITAL VOLUMES
Volumes such as 50, 100 or 500 copies of catalogues qualify for digital print. It is therefore worth looking for a small, proven digital printing house in your neighbourhood. Elanders printing house has a production minimum which reaches up to 1,000 copies.
Printing catalogues and paper type
Depending on the technical specification and the volume of catalogues, we will recommend an appropriate type of paper for the implementation of the entire project. We cooperate with multiple paper manufacturers and distributors in Poland, as well as in Europe and we are able to provide paper that matches your needs.
We must remember that the waiting time for reel paper or higher volumes of sheet paper from production is approximately 4 weeks. Sheet paper required in lower volumes and in standard formats and weight types can be available on a daily basis.
Sheet papers and reel papers can be covered and non-covered. Covered papers may be glossy, half-matte and matte. The papers also differ by weight. Web offset printing suppliers also purchase reel paper at weights between 42 g and 130 g. We purchase papers often at weights ranging from 42 to 300 gsm.
Bindery
Booklet
Hotmelt glued binding
PUR glued binding
O-wire binding
Hard binding on request
Cutting out registries on request
Perforation
Finishes
Drilling holes
Automated inserting on or under the cover
Inkjet and personalised covers
Automatic or manual foiling of single copies
Printing catalogues and finishes
Catalogues are not only a promotional tool, but also an important part of a company’s image. Intense use by the clients requires not only strong manufacturing, but also care for the quality and aesthetics, even after a long period of use. That is why, in order to ensure durability and an aesthetic look of our catalogues even after a couple of months, we also recommend the use of finishes. These additional components not only protect the cover against damage, but also give the entirety a very elegant look. Elanders printing house offers the majority of finishes, which we prepare by ourselves or using our proven subcontractors.
Laminating with foil
Laminating makes a printed catalogue look elegant, but it also protects a cover against being damaged quickly. The foil can be glossy, matte, soft touch or anti-scratch. Matte or soft touch foil is often combined with a contrasting, selective UV lacquer that gives the entirety an interesting look.
UV lacquering
UV lacquer can be applied on the entire cover or only selectively on specific parts of the cover. Selective UV lacquering can also be flat or embossed. Embossed lacquer is not only visible, but also decisively tactile.
Hot stamping
The process involves the application of various types of foil in metallic colours, which produces an exclusive visual effect. We can select from a range of foil colours – silver, gold, and holographic. Hot stamping is used in plenty of premium catalogues.
Embossing
Embossing is most often connected with hot stamping. A selected component of a cover adorned in metallic foil is also embossed or recessed. Embossing can also be used without hot stamping as a non-standard decorative element.
When we do not have the budget for special finishes, we recommend the application of dispersive lacquer. It should not have a significant impact on the visual effect of the cover, however it should protect the paint against getting rubbed off.
Printing catalogues in various language versions
Elanders is a proven catalogue printing house that often deals with printing catalogues in various language versions. If a catalogue can be printed to be issued for multiple markets and in various language versions, the print is carried out with the appropriate discs being exchanged. Depending on the manner of preparing the files, as a rule, each language version involves changing the colour to black, while the remaining colours constitute a common part for the remaining catalogues.
However, it often happens that we replace a set of discs for each language version. For an inexperienced printing house, printing catalogues in multiple language versions is a significant challenge. A printing house taking up such a task should own appropriate software and possess experience in this field, which translates to appropriate procedures implemented at each stage of the printing, storage and covering processes.
Printing 20 language versions, often non-distinguishable visually, often with a significant number of cover types for each market, may cause a printing house without the appropriate experience to not be able to manage such a challenge, and the client will receive catalogues with components with mixed languages. Elanders printing house, which is a part of an international corporation, renders services to a number of international clients and prints many catalogues in a number of language versions.
A readable catalogue with index tabs
In order to ensure a readable division of the catalogue into segments, the client can design the catalogues to include index tabs. The index tabs may be visible or hidden under the cover. The client can select from various shapes of angled index tabs, flags or thumb index tabs, as well as panoramic, step, shaped index tabs as well as special forms. Index tabs make it easier to actively use the catalogue and they are also going to make the catalogue visually more interesting. It is worth considering using index tabs to divide the catalogue into clear and defined sections. If we have a limited budget at our disposal, it is worth considering using different colours for marking different sections of the catalogue. Elanders, as a professional printing house of catalogues, only cooperates with proven companies that specialise in die cutting index tabs, guaranteeing the final, excellent quality of the catalogue. By placing an order to prepare the entire work including the index tabs, we take over the responsibility for the proper and timely performance of the order.
A cover with a wing/ flap
We offer the possibility of producing catalogues with a winged cover. The flap can be of varying length and may be placed both on the front as well as on the back cover. A cover that has a wing may be longer, even or shorter than the inner blocks.
A cover with a flap that is longer or even with the inner blocks requires an additional process, i.e. a longer production time. If you decide for a cover shorter than the inner blocks, i.e. for folding a wing at approximately 5 mm from the block edge in order to avoid cutting it during covering, the process of such a cover should be shorter and cheaper.
Additional services
When selecting a printing house for printing such a catalogue, it is worth determining whether the specific company offers additional services, such as: singular foiling of catalogues or addressing and sending single copies to the final recipients. At Elanders, we offer foiling single copies of catalogues in transparent or black foil, addressing in the form of printing the address on the foil or on copies of the catalogues and in the case of black foil, an address label in the form of a sticker, and mailing via Polish Post.