Bindery Automation — Operator Friendly

"A printer may have a certain volume of perfect-bound books to produce, but they can't justify going out and buying a $1 million-plus binder. As a result, they can't produce the same quality or achieve the speed of production we can," Markovits explains.

Such automation capabilities do have a potential downside, though, he admits. "The electronics have become critical because of the intense turnaround times and the speeds at which the work must be produced. However, if the computer goes down, a servomotor burns out or a relay circuit blows, you can't make any manual adjustments. At a time like that, you wish you could grab a wrench and make the adjustment by hand so you can get on with the job."