Spiral Binding

Put simply, plastic coil binding saves money. And better yet, customers love the way it looks. by Mike Llewellyn IT MAY NOT be branded "the wave of the future." It may not have industry commentators calling it a revolution. But plastic coil binding has developed a solidly loyal following over the past few years among in-plant managers. Dave Opp is one of them. Opp is manager of corporate printing and literature distribution for Storagetek, a software firm specializing in data storage and disaster recovery systems. Opp feels the bindery can play its own role in disaster recovery. "Binding is critical," says Opp, speaking

As the cost of laminators drops, so does their size, the need for training—almost everything. Except quality, say these manufacturers. by Mike Llewellyn "Price is just about everything at an airline," reveals Bill Zieske, director of Printing Services for Alaska Airlines. So when his Seattle-based in-plant picked up a GBC 5270 laminator in 1998, a good price was the number-one priority. Zieske says his shop uses the laminator to handle a variety of tasks, from placards that end up inside the aircraft to much smaller identification tags for airline employees. Zieske's experiences parallel one general trend in laminating equipment, according to industry experts, and

If you want to keep your high-quality posters looking good, laminate them. Silicone Laminating Rollers Banner American's MightyLam 2700 laminates from .0015˝ to .010˝ gauge film and mounts materials up to 3⁄16˝ thick, easy-to-set heat controls, and a variable speed control for operating at speeds up to 10 feet per minute. It also features a safety shield, drop-down bottom idler for easy loading, silicone laminating rollers, reverse switch, adjustable slitters, forced air cooling, LCD readout, adjustable supply roll tension and variable speed control. Three Models Available CodaPro 44 laminators, from Coda, are available in three models. The CodaPro44 with double heated rollers will

If the books you print need to lay flat, plastic coil, spiral and double-loop wire binding may be the best choices for you. by Chris Bauer JUST ASK manufacturers of spiral wire or plastic coil binding equipment what advantages their products have over other finishing techniques. You will get a lot of good answers. "Undoubtedly, the greatest advantage of spiral binding is that when opened, the book lays flat," points out David Spiel of Long Island City, N.Y.-based Spiel Associates. "Lay-flat perfect binding was supposed to put an end to mechanical binding, but it hasn't because it doesn't really lay flat. Books bound

Bringing laminating in-house increases quality, improves productivity and lowers costs. IN THE print-on-demand equation, laminators are often the forgotten quotient, says Alan Parkhill, vice president of sales and marketing at Banner American. While many in-plants have been quick to embrace digital printing, most have not taken the next step and purchased the finishing and laminating equipment needed to ensure that their operation is truly print-on-demand. "It's not print-on-demand if you send out your laminating work to a trade shop," says Parkhill. When an in-plant farms out its laminating work it loses control, not only over the quality of the job, but the timing

Print 01 featured numerous innovations in prepress, offset and bindery technologies. Find out all about them in part two of our show report. &002;by Bob Neubauer Walking the show floor at Print 01 was a printer's dream. Presses were churning out color posters, software was being demonstrated on large screens for small crowds, books were being folded, stitched and trimmed—wherever you looked, something was happening. Though the September 11 attacks brought the show to a halt, show management said about 66,300 people attended overall. Vendors reported a number of sales. Heidelberg's NexPress subsidiary sold more than 70 NexPress 2100 presses, part of

Having a wide-format color ink-jet printer in-house can provide a valuable service to your customers. To be successful—and stay alive—you must provide your customers with better service than commercial printers. That means giving the customers what they want, when they want it. For Tino Castro, this meant purchasing a 12-color 52˝ ColorSpan Displaymaker 12 wide-format color ink-jet printer last year. "For the past two to three years I've seen [demand] increase," says the printing services manager for the County of Riverside, Calif. In the past, customers would come into his 20-employee shop with work orders for posters or banners and Castro would have

Not only does lamination protect your printed work, it gives a professional look to your posters, displays and trade show materials. by CHRIS BAUER TWO OF the hottest industry trends—wide-format and on-demand printing—are also two of the markets laminating equipment companies are looking at to bolster sales. In the wide-format realm, says Adam Horwitz, product manager for General Binding Corp., lamination improves jobs like posters, point-of-purchase displays and training materials. In-plants that purchase wide-format printers, he says, should also get laminators. "If they don't purchase a laminator, their prints won't have the longevity," Horwitz says. "If you look at a laminated print, it