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Automation is Vital to Finishing Success highly automated to address the changing needs of the marketplace," he says. "A key to success when automating a product is to make the interface user friendly and easy to use; faster setups equate to more profits on each job. "The ability to store a job in memory and recall it instantly is also important, particularly when it is a more complicated job that may be run on a regular basis," adds Dubuque. "Another benefit of products that have intelligent automa- tion built in is the ability to more easily train a new operator. Another trend we continue to see is the move towards JDF workflow integration. Fully integrated JDF-driven workflows, from creation to finishing, can deliver real cost savings." "Press automation has allowed a printed product to go from file to printed sheet much more efficiently," says Rollem International's Western sales manager Doug Sherwood. "In the case of Web-to-print, a print job can be pro- The Sterling® Digibinder and Digibinder® Plus will bind more types of digital stock than any other entry level perfect binder on the market.The machine is completely self-adjusting.There is absolutely no set up. Go from thick books to thin books without any change overs! The Sterling Digibinder Bind up to 360 books per hour. Bind up to 2.25 thick. Bind offset or coated stock. Bind books with oil infused stock. Bind book blocks for case binding. Bind pads. The Sterling Digibinder Plus Vacuum Waste Removal Extra Heavy Duty Roughing and Notching Stand and Safety Cover For more information, visit MyPRINTResource.com/10008067 22 QUICK PRINTING / August 2013 duced simply from a downloaded file to a website that goes directly to the digital press. To continue the process, the bindery must incur the same automation to be able to take the printed sheet to finished product with the same efficiency." QP: How are bindery/finishing capabilities adapting to meet the increased interest in direct mail marketing? "We are seeing some increased interest, not just in traditional direct mail marketing, but also in more eye-catching mailers such as pop-up mailers which are trending in the UK," says MBO's King. "Every marketer wants their product to stand out from the crowd, so we have made sure to include a pop-up mailing solution at PRINT 13 in order to bring exposure to such a product." "A very popular application we are now seeing is in the photo book space where customers are looking for personalized perfect bound photo books," says Standard Finishing's Dubuque. "This is a nice fit for many of today's highly automated perfect binders. Another example can be seen in the saddle-stitching area. Solutions are now available that can produce variable sheet-count booklets using barcode scanning or mark reading technology. With this type of technology, personalized booklets or magazines can be produced with different messages for different customers from booklet-tobooklet." ODM's Jacobson agrees about personalized photo books. "The one-off book market concept—digital library, printing, and binding one book at a time on demand—has been around for many years," he says. "Doing a personalized book is the mainstay of photo books, so I would say that this market is still advancing." "Personalized marketing and the ability of variable data has really opened the doors for new and creative products," says Rollem's Sherwood. "Personalized marketing pieces are targeted to specific groups of people, so it is important when completing a product that jobs can be finished and put in mail sort or track order. For example, a product now can be cut, glued, taped, and folded as well as collated and/or sorted in one process." Adds Rollem's Mid-Atlantic sales manager Allen Hammer: "As far as the print world is concerned, personalized marketing is direct mail. Computers and digital presses have allowed businesses the opportunity to present information that is pertinent to that particular con- w w w. M y P R I N T R e s o u r c e . c o m