Pneumatics breathes new life into old books: versatile machine binds books on demand

摘要

Web sites, blogs, E-books, and other digital media have some pundits predicting the imminent demise of the printed word. But the fact is, digital technology may lead, to more books than ever in print. That's due to the rise of on-demand printing. Traditionally, old, out-of print books didn't offer sufficient sales potential to warrant offset printing in volume, and offset costs were too high to justify limited runs. "Short runs through high-speed equipment is not cost effective because setup can take a couple hours, even though the run time for a thousand copies may only be 10 minutes," says Jack Bendror, president of Mekatronics Inc., Port Washington, N.Y. "It has reached the point where hundreds of thousands of books are now out of print," he explains.