Standard Finishing Systems

BY ERIK CAGLE When is a floor model saddle stitcher not a saddle stitcher? When does it become a perfect binder? Ask Bob Morton, president of Best Graphics, one of the nation's leading bindery product distributors. Best Graphics will be introducing the Best Osako 612 UB 'reverse stitcher' to the U.S. market later this year. The innovative machine will produce books that appear to be perfect bound, despite the fact they are produced on a stitcher. In essence, it's the look of a perfectly bound book at saddle stitcher cost; but there's more to it than the bottom line. The reverse stitcher is designed

Paper cutters do not advance as quickly as press and prepress systems, but competition for the cutting-edge is heating up. BY ERIK CAGLE In an age when high-tech gizmos have proliferated the commercial printing landscape, the paper cutter stands as a testament to meat-and-potatoes machinery, joining such luminaries as the internal combustion engine, the hammer and the light bulb. Monitors and computer automation have managed to sneak their way onto the old school tool, but in the end the cutter remains what it was 25 years ago—a cutter. John Porter, division manager of LDR International, the distributor for Itoh in the United States,

How profitable are digital press investments? Not very—if on-demand postpress support is lacking. Finish-on-demand is just as important as its glamorous partner, as any on-demand printer can well attest. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO The finishing component of on-demand digital printing is every bit as important as is the high-tech print engine that drives the most elite of digital presses. If the finishing finesse is missing, despite the best performance power of the finest digital color press, a digital print job is not only at risk of not being on-demand, but not being on time. As more traditional offset commercial printers and short-run shops go

How profitable are digital press investments? Not very—if on-demand postpress support is lacking. Finish-on-demand is just as important as its glamorous partner, as any on-demand printer can well attest. BY MARIE RANOIA ALONSO The finishing component of on-demand digital printing is every bit as important as is the high-tech print engine that drives the most elite of digital presses. If the finishing finesse is missing, despite the best performance power of the finest digital color press, a digital print job is not only at risk of not being on-demand, but not being on time. As more traditional offset commercial printers and short-run shops go

BOSTON—A city renowned for its historical tea parties, its commons, the Charles, the Pops, the Celtics...and variable image binding. Well, maybe you won't find quite that description in a Frommer's Guide to New England just yet, but that may change if Edinboro Offset has anything to do with it. In the past two years, this commercial printer has doubled in growth, due in part to a determined attitude—and a process it terms "variable image binding." Founded in 1947, Edinboro Offset—whose original owner was one of the first people to own an offset press—maintained its small-to-midsize status printing jobs for a targeted market of