Our Services
Our state-of-the-art prepress department, multi-press pressroom and complete bindery services have made Alaska Litho a regional leader in the industry since 1947.
With Macintosh and PC/Windows computers, we are able to handle nearly any job that comes our way. If you need design from the ground up, high-resolution scanning, or your files made ready for the press, we will move the job forward with both quality and speed.
From high-resolution scanning to full-color brochures, logo creation to poster design, we will make it happen for you.
We offer quality printing services at very competitive prices. If you have a prospective job and would like to receive a printing estimate from us, contact one of our customer service reps or fill out our online quote form.
Prepress Department
The prepress department can take a print job from conception to plate, or they can make sure an existing design turns out as it was intended when it is set up for the press. When you get a proof from Alaska Litho, it has been created by the prepress department. A prepress proof uses high-quality inkjet printers to simulate the final printed piece. This proof provides a chance to check that text, images, and colors are showing up as expected before going to press. The prepress department also runs digital presses and oversees variable data integration for things like marketing materials, making sure quality is high and deadlines are met.
Printing
Here at Alaska Litho we still have a hand-operated Heidelberg platen press, but we also keep up with cutting-edge technology to make sure we can offer the best solution to any printing need. We have two large-format, high-speed Heidelberg presses that can print on sheets up to 29 inches wide. We also have two Ryobi Duplicator presses and a Ryobi envelope press. Our shop uses direct-to-plate technology, and we have integrated digital presses with these traditional offset presses.
Digital presses offer quick turn-around and high quality without the set up costs associated with a printing press, making them ideal for smaller quantities. While the strength of the printing press is its ability to quickly create a large quantity of the same print, a digital press allows for not only smaller quantities but variety within the job. An example is one-to-one marketing, with the ability to use variable data input to provide personalized information making each piece unique.
Digital presses are also behind the Print-On-Demand and self publishing movement, which is revolutionizing the publishing industry. In 2009, for the first time, authors published more new books through self-publishing than the traditional publishing industry. At the end of 2010 Publishers Weekly, an international trade publication, began producing a supplement devoted to self-published books. Self publishing offers authors a cost-effective way to quickly produce their books, with the potential to earn more through book sales than a standard royalty. At Alaska Litho we work personally with authors throughout the process.
Custom-Cut Vinyl
We also offer custom-cut vinyl for stickers and signs. Our Mutoh sign cutting equipment is perfect for window displays, labels, vinyl stickers, vehicle graphics, car stickers, point of purchase, packaging, bumper stickers, safety signs, or billboards. The 60” Mutoh valuejet printer, using eco-friendly ink, also enables us to print wide-format displays on various materials to make trade show displays. We partner with ORBUS, a manufacturer of modular display materials, to offer a full range of solutions for exhibits, displays, and point of sale materials.
Bindery Department
Don’t let the simplicity of the name fool you, the bindery department offers many different options for finishing your print job. The Alaska Litho bindery department trims pages down, cuts them to special shapes with die cuts, scores pages, perforates pages, drills pages, and rounds corners. If you need your brochures or presentation materials folded you can choose from tri fold, half fold, z fold, gate fold, and double parallel fold.
We number, laminate, and emboss pages. We create pads. We even do hand collation and insertion if our automatic collating and insertion aren’t suited for the job.
And then of course there is binding.
Perfect binding is the most common type of binding for larger books such as trade, professional, or textbooks. Between 20 and 400 pages can work well with perfect binding. Once the pages of the book are gathered together they are ground down to expose fibers in the paper and adhesive is applied to the spine to attach a cover. The cover, scored to fit around the spine and allow the front and back covers to fold open, is clamped onto the body of the book until the adhesive dries. After the covers are attached the three exposed sides of the pages are trimmed to the right size.
Saddle-stitch binding is the simplest method to bind a book and is most common for smaller publications, up to about 76 pages. It is used for booklets, brochures, newsletters, catalogs, and direct mail pieces. These publications are stitched together with staples down the center and then folded to make the outside edge, or spine.
Spiral binding, also called coil binding, allows a publication to lay flat when opened. Holes punched down the side of the pages are thread with a plastic spiral. Wire binding also uses this method, but the pages are secured with metal loop wires instead of plastic spirals. Both bindings create a publication able to be used repeatedly, and the durability of the spiral or wire binding makes both an ideal choice for reports, presentations, proposals, and reference materials.
Comb binding is similar to spiral binding, using a hole puncher or paper drilling machine to create holes along the edge of the pages. The comb binding has a spine with comb-like teeth that fit through the holes and clamp together to secure the publication. However, the comb binding can be re-opened, so it is useful for publications that will have updates. Additionally, the publication will be able to lay flat, but it will not open back on itself, at 360-degrees, like the spiral and wire bindings.
Mailing & Fulfillment
Once your job has traveled through the process of design, printing, and finishing it is time to get it out into the world. Whether that is by direct mail, distribution in another city, or local use Alaska Litho can help you complete this final step.
We can process your mailing lists, prepare the job for mailing with inserts or other finishing, imprint mailing addresses, and deliver everything to the Post Office. Our ink jet mail system can imprint mailing addresses on standard jobs, or with Print Shop Mail we can customize every piece for direct mail.
We can seal fliers, pamphlets, brochures, leaflets, letters, and booklets with adhesive tabs for mailing. And we offer cellophane wrapping, banding, stuffing, and packaging.
With the ability to bar code and sort mail by zip code, we can get the best postal rates. We can also save you time by automating the process and getting everything in the mail for you.
If part, or all, of your job is not being mailed Alaska Litho offers free local delivery.
