David Spiel

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

Computerization is making cutters easier to use and helping in-plant managers deal with the steady decline in skilled operators. For cutting machines, technological innovation seems to have reached a point past which most further improvements and features seem superfluous. Indeed, today's machines operate about as quickly, efficiently and safely as anyone can reasonably expect. One factor, however, promises to influence the design of these machines for the foreseeable future: The lack of skilled operators to run them. "I haven't yet spoken to a single plant manager who hasn't said it's hard to find skilled help," says David Spiel, vice president of Spiel