Whitney Woods was established in February 1992 as a hand-enclosing direct mail business but the hand skills required by that service were soon put to wider use when we started to supply the print industry with eyeletting and hand finishing services in the spring of that year.

Having been established during one recession and survived, we have just had our 17^th anniversary and we are holding our own through the current downturn. This sets us apart from many hand-finishing businesses who are often bullied into working for next to nothing and as a consequence they cut corners, work with inexperienced cheap labour and eventually cock-up and are forced out of business. We have insisted on being paid a fair rate for a job well done and done on time. This hasn’t always endeared us to certain print companies but we are still here when so many other long-established hand finishers and eyeletting businesses are not. We have a reputation for being thorough, supplying good work and a very reliable service.

 The only machines in our factory are paper drills and eyeletting machines, so apart from drilling and eyeletting, every job is done totally by hand. Even the eyeletting machines are hand-operated and are best-suited to the assembly of information discs, parking discs and wheel charts. We actually produce millions of discs like this each year – all on hand-operated bench top machines. We can handle orders of 250 to over 250,000. We also eyelet tags, swing tickets and luggage labels and there are many rather unusual eyeletting application, too. Eyelets are occasionally used as a binding tool; they are used to capture elastic in some applications and at other times they might be purely decorative. Whatever the eyeletting application, Whitney Woods is happy to look at the job.

 When we talk about hand finishing there are a number of functions that could apply to the term. We still do a lot of hand collations prior to drilling and inserting into ring binders. We do a lot of hand gluing, from spot gluing to making up pockets in capacity folders to hot melt gluing cartons and so on. We do a lot of hand inserting such as making up information packs, handling direct mail and putting loose inserts into wallets etc. To see the full range of services on offer we recommend that you visit our dedicated hand-finishing website.

The company was formed in 1992 as a hand-enclosing mailing house with just one account – P&P plc – a Rossendale-based computer company. What we had to offer was staff with excellent project management skills and workers with a high degree of manual dexterity.  It wasn’t long before we started to offer our services to the local print trade and soon we earned a reputation as high quality hand-finishers.

 Much of the work on offer from the print industry was of a promotional nature and so it followed that we should find a way into the business of manufacturing promotional and marketing pop-up products. The passage from one type of business into another has been a totally natural progression which has caused barely a ripple of change in the basic way that we work.

 Following on from the manufacture of pop-ups and interactive mailers for the Business-to-Business market, it made perfect sense to manufacture the same type of product for the retail market which led to the formation of our greetings card division and also to our plans for the paper crafts market. Offering printed product supplies is simply a by-product of all these activities.

 The basic job description of the workforce remains the same as it was in 1992 –the utilisation of a high degree of manual dexterity working with paper and card to create something new. It’s a description that could be applied to many different services and manufacturing functions so who knows where it might lead to next? One thing is for sure; with such adaptability, the working week is never dull as there is a great deal of variety in the jobs that we handle from one hour to the next.

As hand finishers, Whitney Woods has been supplying print finishing, hand finishing and eyeletting services to the print industry since 1992 making it one of the longest established specialist hand finishers in the UK. We have a reputation for being very thorough and for producing high quality hand finishing services. We have the capacity to handle high volume eyeletting jobs though we are equally happy to handle small quantities. Our speciality in the eyeletting arena is handling eyeletted discs, information discs, wheel charts and parking discs though we also handle tags and swatches and unusual eyeletting jobs such as using eyeletting as a binding tool.

 There are many print finishing jobs which still have to be done by hand and we handle most of them. Hand finishing jobs such as hand folding, hand collating, hand gluing and hand inserting are all covered at some length on our hand finishing website. We pride ourselves in the variety and quality of print finishing services that we offer. We are not frightened to ask questions or to raise doubts over the specification of any job. If we can foresee any problems we will discuss them with you rather than to carry on regardless. Whilst some printers have found this to be a pain, they are very grateful when they see that a reprint has been averted!

 When you ask for a quote for a hand finishing or eyeletting job we send you a very precise description of what will happen. The same applies should you need a price for our mailing house or marketing services. The comprehensive detail on the quote cuts out any misunderstandings and does not allow for assumptions. Our quote is typical of the standard of hand finishing work that you can expect from us – very thorough with attention to detail. The same can be said of quotes for eyeletting where we discuss hole sizes, the act of clearing waste from holes and the job of stripping out die-cut pieces from a sheet. The quote will be delivered by email or by fax and will be done within a couple of hours of placing the request.

In most standard print jobs all of the folding operations are done mechanically but in promotional print the creative minds of designers often throw up logistical problems meaning that certain products must be folded and assembled by hand. It could be something fairly commonplace such as a fortune teller or a starburst fold or it could be a custom designed piece that needs special care and attention. We have been doing hand-folding since 1992 and all of the products in our range of automatic pop-ups and interactive mailers are hand folded and assembled by hand.

 Hand-folding does not mean Hand-creasing

 It is not unusual for a job spec to be put forward where the product needs hand-folding but if it is produced on paper – say 80gsm to 100gsm - we should point out that when paper is die-cut and creased; the crease is usually of very little use when trying to fold. In our experience, art board doesn’t crease properly at any weight under 250gsm. Uncoated stock creases better at lower weights and a 225gm will crease perfectly well for hand folding. For paper weights we strongly recommend that you consider using micro perforations rather than creases though in some instances, particularly if the final folded product is bulky, this might not be suitable. We urge you to make proper mock-ups to test the product before going too far down the line with production and we are always happy to discuss a project with you in order to try to avoid pitfalls.

 If a product has not been creased or perforated and it is left for the finisher to crease by hand, the finished result will look as if it has been done by hand. The process takes ages, costs a lot and after all that, results are often disappointing.

 Hand Folding and Inserting everyday objects such as Folders with Business Cards

 Of course, not every job is as complicated as a picture dissolver or an extender card and we often handle everyday print jobs such as the assembly of tab lock folders and inserting business cards into diagonal slits. A lot of simple mailers are designed for a simple hand fold with an interlocking fastener as are some document wallets. Many of our promotional bottle collars have an interlocking device that can only be done by hand such as our collar and tie, bottle balls, and bottle banner products. We are happy to look at all jobs of this type.

We have an opportunity for you to add our “back to basics” services to your portfolio. We offer traditional hand finishing and eyeletting services. The only machines that we have in our factory are paper drills and hand-operated eyeletting machines. In fact, eyeletting is probably our biggest niche market with eyeletted discs being our forte. We do millions of them each year; we handle high-volume orders and we can do it quickly. We are known by printers throughout the length and breadth of the UK as a highly reliable company that produces both quality hand work and quality eyeletting services.

 However, there is a catch. Unlike many other hand finishers and eyeletting companies we don’t work for nothing and we refuse to become busy fools. Our work is charged out at a fair price, we do it right and we do it on time. We assess each job at the quoting stage and point out any pitfalls before they happen. If we can’t do it, we won’t take the job on. If we can’t get the price that we want, we don’t take it on.

 In times like these, printers and finishers in the industry come and go. Phoenix companies spring up overnight only to fail again with alarming regularity. It may be comforting for you to know that we have been in business since 1992 and over 75% of our workforce has been with us for over 10 years. We believe that we have a good balance of sound business practices and proactive marketing policies that have allowed us to grow and prosper whilst others have fallen by the wayside. If you feel like you could help to build on that solid base then please get in touch. You can see details of our company on our hand finishing website and you will also find contact details there, too.