The Digital Bindery

Great Debate:
In-line vs. Off-line On-demand Finishing

By Jules M. Fried, vice president of Roll Systems

The debate over whether to finish in-line or off-line is not a new one to commercial printers. It has raged for some time, and the issues and trade-offs are familiar to most.

In-line systems, among other advantages, tend to reduce labor requirements, speed turnaround, improve integrity (by reducing opportunity for error) and require less floor space. Disadvantages include higher equipment cost, greater complexity (which leads to higher failure rates with reduced throughput; stopping the press because of problems with the finisher is very expensive) and the need to dedicate equipment to a single task.