With the advent of digital printing, it became possible to create booklets and books that were truly personalized, at reasonable cost. Financial and insurance firms, medical care providers, and educational testing companies jumped on this opportunity to turn out highly-individualized material for their clientele.

However, with this came the real risk of a recipient receiving someone else's personal information. In many counties there are severe penalties for this type of data mix-up, and companies need a fully accountable finishing system. So printing personalized, variable-data booklets requires more that just a machine with good mechanical design and function. The U.S. HIPAA law covering medical patient data is stringent, and many printers and transactional firms avoid this work because of potential liability.

For both saddle-stitched and perfect-bound booklets, sheet-level tracking and reporting is needed. Barcoded sheets must be accurately-read, and then tracked through the entire finishing system. Missing or out-of-sequence sheets must be flagged and dealt with. Furthermore, a reliable booklet tracking system must verify and time-stamp each booklet, reject any incorrect booklets and provide accurate data on any defective/rejected booklets for re-print.



The IBIS Smart-binder 'Plus' was designed from the ground up as a saddle-stitcher for variable data booklet production. The Smart-binder's well-integrated combination of barcode or Datamatrix reading, software, and sensors track printed sheets, and each individual booklet, through the entire saddle-stitch process for verification.



Within the IBIS Smart-binder 'Plus' operating software, a detailed log file is created while the machine is running which logs multiple data points for evaluation. This log file can be ported to in-house information systems, and may also be used for machine performance evaluation and troubleshooting. Most importantly, the tracking and logging software is integral to the Smart-binder PC based control system, and is not an external "add-on" that is an extra cost to the customer. Competitive machines use external monitoring 3rd-party software.

This makes the IBIS Smart-binder the ideal machine for variable-data finishing, with full sheet and booklet-level accountability. For data-critical, personalized booklets, the IBIS Smart-binder is 'the one'!

Don't hesitate to contact us for further information.