Quite a few people have expressed surprise that we write about bindery and printing issues that don’t directly relate to the products we sell. For instance why would I write about guillotine cutters when our products fit folding and scoring machines, saddle stitchers, perfect binders and web presses? The question is a reflection of the tendency in printing to isolate ourselves departmentally—post-press, press, pre-press, production, sales, shipping, mailing, and so on.
Yet when you look at the big picture, it’s obvious that all these departments are connected. The first few times I had to “fix the job in the bindery” showed me clearly this was true! When one department does poorly, the business as a whole suffers. Our tendency to isolate within our department or specialty can quickly blind us to the big picture. It sometimes causes us to ask the wrong questions which lead to the wrong conclusions.
