When e-readers and tablets first came on the scene, many early adopters prematurely declared that print was dead. There was just one problem: books are one of the most perfect inventions in the history of mankind. And that’s as true today as it was in the time of the Gutenberg Press. Of course, some things have changed; rather than printing presses, modern bookmakers rely on tools like binding equipment, paper punching machines, and wire binders.
Print is one of the largest industries worldwide. It is eight times larger than the video game industry and significantly larger than auto manufacturing as well. This is likely because print comes into play within most of these industries. Instructional handbooks are important for a variety of reasons. Many industries provide stapled paper booklets in lieu of real handbooks. While it’s not necessary to create a leather-bound masterpiece for simple instruction or employee guidelines, a well-bound, laminated handbook is absolutely suitable and practical, as it stands up to wear, tear, coffee stains, and won’t lose pages between reads.
Here are four essential machines that are necessary to produce well-made handbooks that stand the tests of time:
Printers
Of course, there’s no handbook without a printer. Industrial printers can produce double-sided pages quickly and with ease. Companies that include instructions for use or assembly in their products need to turn out a whole handbook for each product, which means that the pages need to be printed out in massive quantities. Printers often become jammed, so make sure that you have a proper printer that can handle printing mass quantities of paper at once.
Laminator
Laminators create wear-free finishes to all paper pages to be included in the handbook. The plastic coatings stand up to many views and flips and will not bend or become stained. Laminating the pages of your handbooks will keep them in good condition for future use and make them less likely to be lost in the shuffle.
Paper Punching Machine
Automatic paper punching machines are high-speed machines designed for short run binders, digital, and commercial printers. Some paper punching machines are capable of punching through tens of thousands of sheets of paper every hour, making an extremely efficient use of time and effort.
Coil Binding Machine
Coil binding machines are used to insert plastic coils into the punched holes, then crimp the ends of the coil. This prevents the coil from coming loose and unraveling the book’s binding. Hundreds of books can be bound per hour using these machines, which makes it easy for commercial industries to mass-produce instructions to put in their product packaging, or turn out many copies of guidelines for employee use and reference.
By using all of these machines, it is possible to turn out high-quality instruction manuals and handbooks that will be easily referable by the owners of a company’s products. For superior bindery equipment of all kinds, contact Spiel Associates, Inc.
