Bindery Automation — Operator Friendly

"We can have two or three guys just handling the simpler stuff and keep them at a different pay tier. They make about 70 percent of the top operators' pay scale," Walecha says.

Walecha does sound one cautionary note when it comes to automated operations. "With all these built-in safe guards and automatic bad-product rejection, there can be a temptation to fall asleep a little at the switch and not watch the machine as closely. We have to stay on top of our operators about this, especially with the higher speeds we are running at now. It doesn't take long for your spoilage to jump way up."