When your business is looking to take the step of binding its documents and presentations in-house, you will have some tough choices to make concerning which binding machine manufacturers to trust. Here we will take a quick look at the five binding machine companies who are generally considered the best in the industry, and give you the inside scoop on each of their areas of expertise.

1. Akiles: Relative newcomers on the scene, Akiles has quickly made a real name for themselves, specifically in the world of coil binding and wire binding machines. Their CoilMac and WireMac machines are well-built, full of great features, and are in fact becoming the market's gold standard for wire and coil binding machines.

2. General Binding Corporation (or GBC/Ibico): Widely considered to be the king of the industry, both in size and in scope. For the last fifty years or so, GBC has ruled the binding and laminating industries, and their comb binding machines have long been considered as far and away the industry standard. GBC is also well-known in the industry for their development of a highly-regarded line of modular binding equipment. If you are searching for comb binding, you cant go wrong with either their Combind C250 or even better, their Combind C800Pro. If you are looking for modular units, you should consider the MagnaPunch or MP2500ix.

3. PDI Rhin-O-Tuff: In a relatively short time, PDI has positioned itself as a true competitor to the GBC line of modular binders. Solidly built and reliable, the Rhin-O-Tuff machines are designed to take on more pages, and thus bigger jobs, at one time than any other binding units on the market. Rhino has the competitive advantage of manufacturing the only twenty-four inch punch available on the market. Known as the HD7500, it is made specifically to bind calendars and other similarly large documents.

4. Renz: Provides tough competition for all of the binding machine manufacturers out there. The star of their line is their extremely innovative and labor-saving coil-binding machine that includes a built-in wire crimper, eliminating the need for manual hand-crimping with pliers. Renz is also unique in that it offers oval-hole punching of documents, something that is either prohibitively expensive or nonexistent in other machines.

5. Tamerica: One of the few binding machine manufacturers out there that offers a full line of binding machines, Tamerica has made a name for itself by offering machines that are built well and for ease of use. Their coil inserter is one of the best and most unique on the market, offering specialized stops at both ends that keep the coils from twisting out of their booklets.

Though there are other respected binding-machine makers out there (such as Wilson Jones and Fellowes), the five discussed represent the best in the industry, and do the lion's share of the business. This primer is only a starting point, however, and if you have any questions further questions about binding machines and their manufacturers, you should never hesitate to talk to us.