Muller Martini

In August, the Church of Scientology opened a massive, 185,000-square-foot in-plant in Commerce, Calif.

WITH CELEBRITY practitioners like Tom Cruise and John Travolta among its members, Scientology has gotten its share of media attention over the years. The growing church, founded by L. Ron Hubbard in 1954, boasts more than 9,000 churches, missions and affiliated groups worldwide.

Though inkjet presses may have stolen some of the thunder, new bindery equipment was everywhere at Graph Expo. The crowds were consistently large in the bindery booths, and vendors were very upbeat about the show.

A year after the disappointing attendance levels of PRINT 09, this week's Graph Expo 2010 seemed like a real trade show again. The aisles were full of people, who massed around new products, and kept vendors busy with demos.

It's hard to believe, but Graph Expo will begin in just nine days. Though the absence of such regulars as Heidelberg and Komori has been duly noted, the graphic arts trade show will still be bursting with new technologies for in-plants to peruse.

IPG Editor Bob Neubauer takes a road trip through Oregon, visiting three in-plants along the way.

AFTER STARTING up an extensive digital in-plant almost three years ago, the Church of Scientology has decided to replicate this success with an even more ambitious in-house printing operation. Just a few months from now the church plans to open a new offset printing plant in Commerce, Calif., 15 minutes from downtown Los Angeles.

THOUGH PRINT 09 may have gotten off to a slow start, the crowds eventually showed up. And when they did, many of them headed right for the bindery equipment. Nowhere was that more true than at the Standard Finishing Systems exhibit, which was bustling with activity on the third day of the show, even as other booths appeared to be on siesta. Mark Hunt, director of marketing for Standard, thought he knew why.

CHERYL BUXTON is pretty up-front about the fact that some of the equipment in her Topeka, Kan., in-plant is older than the employees who run it. In June, the director of the Division of Printing and Surplus Property for the state of Kansas replaced a 30-year-old stitcher with a state-of-the-art Muller Martini Bravo-Plus saddle stitcher with AMRYS (automatic makeready system).

To help you pick the perfect binder for your in-plant, and get the best performance out of it, we consulted the folks who know this technology the best.