Indiana
native Jeff Combs, President of Perfect Binding Corp. and Discom Technologies,
is an unusual man. This inventor, with two patents and seven pending, prefers
to live life on his own terms. Flowing blond hair and casual style make it easy
to see Jeff Combs is concerned with more than business. As a matter of fact,
his focus this summer will be on a totally different track…helping terminally
ill children. The unconventional entrepreneur will donate a percentage of sales
from Discom’s Compact Disc Display Unit to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of
Indiana. He is also preparing to test market a TV commercial in order to help
his efforts. Combs, who hasn’t taken time to have a family of his own, states,
“It is hard to imagine there are children in this world that will never have
the opportunity to see their dreams and ideas come true. For the families of
these children, they only have one wish…that is to see a smile on their son or
daughter’s face”. And if there’s one person who believes in the birth of ideas,
Combs is it.
At
33, Jeff Combs is a twenty-one year veteran of the Graphic Arts industry. His
father, Gary Combs, started the Perfect Binding Corporation and still remains
the company’s CEO. Family members pitched in during summers and on the
weekends, and word of mouth built the company into a one hundred person
operation that grosses $4 million in annual sales. It was there that Jeff got
his first taste of the business. Soon he discovered a passion for the equipment
and how it functioned. Jeff learned his way around the bindery and eventually
began searching for ways to make the equipment more productive. Jeff never
outgrew his love for the bindery and went on to major in Supervision and
Industrial Technologies at Purdue University.
It was this ongoing fascination that led him to become president of PBC
and sparked the idea for his first patented invention, the Glue String
Eliminator.
The
Glue String Eliminator is being hailed as the saving grace of perfect binders
everywhere. Previously, binders had to contend with those long messy strings of
adhesive that trailed from the product after it passed over the glue pot. That
excess glue is often responsible for jamming machines and creating unnecessary
spoilage. The Eliminator, a type of heater, catches and removes excess glue
directly after the application. This invention, which led Combs to be inducted
into The Who’s Who of American Inventors, is offered exclusively by Kolbus
International, a German manufacturing company. A new addition in 1999, Kolbus
offers The Glue String Eliminator as an option on all its binding
equipment. Compared to the $1-2 million
price tag of a piece of Kolbus equipment, Combs’ heater is an inexpensive but
effective option, raising the cost by a mere $10-15,000. A small price to pay
for a clean and productive end result.
Discom
Technologies, another Indianapolis based company, was formed by Combs in
December 1998 in order to keep his inventions separate from PBC. With Discom
underway, Combs was back at the drawing board creating his next invention. The Bind-In CD Holder is a clear vinyl
sleeve that makes including CDs into bound books a reality. This invention,
made for sewn or saddle-stitched automation, encases a CD and allows it to be
machine inserted at virtually any place in a book, replacing the time-consuming
method of hand inserting discs into the front or back cover. This sleeve also
makes it possible to insert more than one CD at the same time and perforations
allow it to be torn out without damaging either the holder or the book. Previously, blank cardboard sleeves were the
norm, covering the product’s printed information. The clear sleeve allows the
customer to see the whole disc, another selling feature. Due to an overwhelming response, Combs now
offers a “one stop shop” for CDs, supplying everything from printing to
replication of discs. He is also designing a line of equipment to produce the
bind-in sleeves. According to Combs, “These sleeves have been a godsend” and
are currently being used internationally. The Printing Industries of America
agrees, awarding Combs the Premier Print Award for Special Innovations. Major
companies such as MacMillian Publishing, Quebecor, and RR Donnelly have also
taken notice.
The
CD revolution has sparked more than one idea for Discom. Its newest product,
The CD Display Unit, is a padded vinyl binder designed to store, transport and
display compact discs. The two-ring
binder includes 12 sleeves, each holding a CD and its corresponding booklet, or
2 CDs. The unique design allows it to
serve as both a carrying case and a desktop display. It is this product’s sales
that will spawn the donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, fulfilling Jeff’s
lifelong dream to “give back and help other people”.
Along
with its products, Discom has patented a faster method for gathering machine
pockets with its Quick-Release Gathering Attachment. In the binding business,
set-up times are a major expense. Although newer equipment reduces set-up,
gathering machine pockets can still equal tedious, time-consuming work. The
side-guide screws have to be loosened, moved and re-tightened for each job.
With the Quick-Release Gathering Attachment, the binder operator simply lifts a
lever, moves the side guide to the right placement, releases the lever and the
guide locks itself.
When
asked what’s on the horizon for Jeff Combs, he replied with a laugh,
“Hopefully, I’ll slow down!” His drive to produce new things allows little time
for anything other than work. Currently, he hopes to finish his new line of
equipment, continue to build both businesses, maintain his ongoing commitment
to Make-A-Wish, and maybe, just maybe, get some sleep.
For
more information and video clips, visit their website at www.discomtech.com