Commercial Binders Report Making High-Value Connections at On Demand
By Patrick Henry, Executive Editor for WhatTheyThink.com
March 10, 2008 - On Demand is an exhibitor’s showcase for digital press and finishing equipment manufacturers, dealers, software and systems developers, consumable suppliers, consulting services, trade publishers, and...commercial binderies. Yes, that’s right: providers of binding and finishing services regularly take booth space at On Demand, and for a host of good reasons.
The show is a bustling crossroads for connecting with owners and prospective buyers of digital printing systems—people who, sooner or later, may be asking themselves whether using an outside bindery mightn’t be the best way to take care of the postpress for their book work. When local customers of the exhibiting binders drop by, the opportunity to acquaint these clients with new services is golden. And, when time permits, bindery personnel can venture into the aisles to do a little tire-kicking of their own: after all, this year’s edition of On Demand features more than 30 exhibitors in the bindery, feeding, and finishing services and equipment category.
We spoke with representatives of binderies with a presence at On Demand to find out what justifies the time, expense, and effort of exhibiting at a show that, as an exposition venue, is much more oriented to equipment vendors than to the end-users of that equipment. Here’s what they had to say.

Pete Merill-Oldham, Acme Bookbinding
Acme Bookbinding of Charlestown, MA, represented at On Demand by Pete Merill-Oldham, director of marketing and sales, traces its history to 1821. Today it operates a 100,000-sq.-ft. plant that offers edition, library, and on-demand binding services to a broad range of customers including publishers, printers, book designers, museums, academic institutions, corporations, and libraries. On-demand capabilities include short-run production on an integrated, computer-controlled adhesive binding system that produces hardcover books of exceptional strength and flexibility.
Merill-Oldham said that Acme has been an On Demand exhibitor for the last eight years, following the show as it has moved from Philadelphia to New York and Boston. (The event returns to Philadelphia next year.) He noted that the visitor traffic includes publishers, printers, self-publishers, and others of interest to Acme as it builds its business in short-run digital printing as well as bindery services. Digital printing is, according to Merill-Oldham, the fastest-growing segment of Acme’s business. He added that the company does some one-off and very-small-quantity bindery work, but that most runs are in the 50- to 500-unit range.