Transforming the way we do business!

UC Library Bindery

Located at the Berkeley campus, UC Library Bindery serves all ten University of California campuses.

The UC Library Bindery was established as a department of the University of California in 1908. Over the years, the department has made changes to keep pace with the continued growth and evolving needs of University of California library collections.

Since July 2011, the Library Bindery has been undergoing a radical operational redesign to ensure its relevance and value to the University of California libraries and campus community.

Doe Memorial Library

Library Bindery’s redesign initiatives followed the tenants of Lean process improvement methodologies; removing waste from its systems to create value for its customers, engaging its staff by emphasizing their importance, and investing in staff development.

June 2011

Break-even

$56,619

$300,000

$600,000

Defici

t co

ndit

ion

The result of this collective effort is retention of high quality products and significantly improved financial health.

June 2012

March 2013

June 2013

2011 2012

2013

The operational redesign began at the heart of the operation; how books are bound. Customers and staff participated in developing new criteria for bookbinding based upon proven industry standards. This resulted in a shift toward a higher percentage of books successfully being bound on the automated adhesive binder.

Why the shift? With the same cost input, adhesive binding results in more than twice the output without any reduction in quality and durability.

Our customers benefitted from this change and the associated savings.

Hailing preparing books for binding

Adhesive bound books finish trimmed prior to cover application

Journals loading into the adhesive binder

Improving quality control through process analysis and process change.

Before After

Finished books ready for final inspection Somchanh inspecting books for errors

Spot inspection of final product In-station quality inspection throughout production line.

Rework processed with minimal attention to root cause analysis

Regular staff analysis of customer returns and systematic error tracking establish a new performance benchmark the shop will monitor going forward. Between January 1, 2013 and May 1, 2013, out of 27,438 items completed, 42 items were returned with errors, establishing a non-defect return rate of 99.85% as the new standard to meet or exceed.

Cursory assessment of staff performance with minimal utilization of production data to provide objective analysis.

Performance management program initiated providing all staff their production data with which to assess their performance, set targets for improvement, and develop a plan for skill development.

Library Bindery staff’s dedication and hard work has made all of this possible. Staff are motivated to develop specific skills for professional development, which benefits the operation.

Staff have demonstrated commitment to the operation’s success by volunteering to work a second shift assignment on a rotating basis. This has resulted in a 20% increase in productivity while increasing direct labor costs by only 1.5% .

Additionally, staff have embraced the opportunity to lead operations thereby developing their leadership skills.

Library Bindery continues to look to the future and develop conservation and digitization services creating growth opportunities for staff. The opportunity to integrate digitization into the binding process will allow Library Bindery to be a full service provider.

Library Bindery staff tour the Conservation Lab in the Doe Library. Library Bindery staff learning the workings of a cradle book scanner.

Other established customers include: California Office of State Publishing Stanford University

We are pursuing new partnerships with: Museum of Vertebrate Zoology San Francisco Public Library

For over 100 years, the Library Bindery has maintained a tradition of excellent service preserving the treasures housed in the University of California library collections.

Our nimbleness, ability to adapt to the changing needs of our customers, skilled staff, and forward thinking position the Library Bindery to be a relevant business partner of the UC system for years to come.