The need to increase our booklet-making capabilities took us to the IBIS Bindery Systems factory outside London UK and also to printers who already use IBIS's unique 'Smart-binder' saddle-stitcher. We were impressed by the Smart-binder's durable construction, its innovative design features and the many performance improvements compared with IBIS's older model 'Digi-stitcher'. As a result of this we purchased last year two new off-line IBIS Smart-binder systems which IBIS installed at our facility in Long Island, NY. Both machines are fed from IBIS high-pile sheet feeder. One was fitted with an in-line Knife folder and Tabbing system, and the second line directly feeds a CMC Inserter and enveloping system. IBIS customized both machines to meet our specific needs relating to our direct mail applications.
Our new Smart-binders give us some unique benefits compared with other more conventional saddle-stitchers. The fold quality is second-to-none because the Smart-binder individually folds each sheet, instead of folding 'groups' of sheets as our other stitchers do. That means that the finished booklets lie flatter and are easier to insert into an envelope. IBIS's 'patented' ISG cold glue binding option replaces the need for wire stitching. This provides numerous benefits, in addition to helping the booklets lie even flatter and giving a stronger bind. ISG cold gluing allows the book thickness to vary from minimum to maximum on-the-run and has a much lower maintenance cost compared with wire stitching.
For short run jobs, and particularly when making books of one, book thickness must vary continually on-the-run. The IBIS Smart-binder is designed very much with this in mind by reading a bar code on each sheet and then tracking sheets and booklets through the machine. The Smart-binder trimmer is capable of handling all book thicknesses without needed any adjustment and so is ideal for our VDP workflow. Other saddle-stitchers available in the marketplace require to be stopped for adjustment if the booklet thickness changes by more than a few sheets.
A further advantage of the Smart-binder is its ability to stop and restart without losing any booklets that are in the machine. This is essential for individually-personalized booklets which have to be reprinted if rejected. Other saddle-stitchers purge themselves automatically and can reject quite a large number of booklets on restart which makes them unsuitable for personalized booklet production.
Overall the Smart-binders perform well. We will certainly look to IBIS when we require further finishing solutions in future.
Bill Gaddy