Bound To Last
The company reports that its DocuColor 2045 produces color covers at near-offset quality, while the Docutech 6180 turns-out all black-and-white text at a rate of 180 ppm. AGS' in-house bindery also allows publishing customers to choose from perfect, plasticoil or wire-o binding to finish print on-demand products. Its print on-demand system is not limited to electronic files, though. If a publisher has backlisted titles, legacy data or out-of-print hard copies, AGS can capture those assets digitally. From a secure online library, publishers can then view titles and order the amount of books required when needed.
AGS client Don Parham of Bernan Press (www.bernanpress.com) admits, "It may be possible to save a few dollars here and there by going with the lowest bid each time, but turnaround is often twice as long and quality assurance is an unknown."
C.J. Krehbiel (www.cjkrehbiel.com) also touts digital capabilities when it comes to book production, and specifically, binding. The company's in-house capabilities consider both standard and customized trim size on a variety of book production projects. The company claims that its in-house bindery is one of the largest in the Midwest, able to accommodate even the most unique of requests. Hardcover adhesive and smythe sewn, saddlestitch, wire-o, spiral and mechanical binding are options that make a final printed product a professional piece.
The company adds that an important aspect of book production is being able to control waste to reduce cycle time, increase velocity and thus save time and money.
At Port City press (www.portcitypress.com), once a book is printed, the company's custom-designed layflat binding service is used to perfect bind. Other binding and finishing options include film lamination or press varnish, schoolbook perforation and three-hole drilling.
Right here, right now
But for those publishers who are interested in the latest binding alternatives, Marsh Technologies introduced PerfectBook, a machine that jogs, binds and trims paperbacks in lot sizes as small as one. The PerfectBook series of machines have Web page interfaces that allow users, either on a local area network (LAN) or on the Internet, to send a book package to the machine. From there, the process is automated, resulting in a printed, bound and trimmed book with black-and-white internal pages and a four-color cover. The PerfectBook can produce a 200-page book in less than two minutes.
