Bill Gaddy, Senior Director, Production Engineering
Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. NY, USA
"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-personalised 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 personalised booklet production.
Overall the Smart-binders perform well. We will certainly look to
IBIS when we require further finishing solutions in future".
Tommy Morgan, Innovative Output Solutions (IOS) Head Of Operations,
UK
"Our new Smart-binder has already proven to be an effective
high-speed saddle-stitcher for our personalised work and is better
enabling us to meet our time-sensitive customer commitments for high
quality bound documents".
Steve Ellithorpe, Operations Manager, O'Neil Data Systems, Inc.
Los Angeles.
"We recently took delivery of our second IBIS Smart-binder which
was up and running within 48 hours of delivery. In addition to the
ease of start-up, we were extremely pleased by the performance enhancements
on the new Smart-binder compared with our older model Smart-binder.
Speeds had improved substantially due to several new innovative designs
incorporated into the new model. We are now in the process of upgrading
our older model with the new features. Both our Smart-binders have
proven over time to be solid performers and are operating at peak
production rates."
and late 2011 Steve Ellithorpe, wrote:
"We have built up years of experience in running four IBIS
Smart-binders at our production site in LA. These machines proved
to be solid performers and capable of operating at peak production
rates over a long time periods. Our first thought, therefore, when
setting up a new O’Neil facility this year in Plano, Texas was
to look to IBIS for additional finishing equipment.
We recently installed two additional Smart-binder systems in Plano
which are now operational and contributing well to the effective start-up
of this large new production site. We are pleased to have become
one of the largest users of IBIS Smart-binders in the USA."
Mr Hees, Print Manager, R & V Insurance, Germany
R & V produce large numbers of individually personalized insurance
documents, each up to 128 pages thick. These are made using the Smart-binder
SB-3’s unique ISG cold gluing system (which offers many advantages
over wire stitching for this application) and multiple-bin selective
feeding of a cover sheet with cut-out window. According to print manager,
Mr Hees, the system performs "trouble-free".
Markus Esser, Esser printSolutions, GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany
“We are constantly searching for new possibilities which our
customers can profit from. One example is the manufacture of handbooks,
brochures and product operation manuals with variable “On Demand”
content. The first IBIS saddle-stitcher (Digi-stitcher) system was
installed at Esser PS 13 years ago and was replaced with a Smart-binder
about 9 years ago. These machines enabled us to fulfil our requirements
in the optimum way. We have been pleased with the Smart-binder performance.
To expand our digital finishing capabilities IBIS are now installing
an additional IBIS Smart-binder , the latest model ‘Plus HS’,
which will be fed from a Hunkeler unwinder, web cutter and MBO folder
at web speeds up to 180 metres/min”.
Herb Lamonda, OPC Director, Farmers Insurance, Los Angeles, USA
“The addition of three IBIS Smart-binder systems in-line with
Océ web printers has greatly improved our look and feel of
the insurance policy documents and the mailing of these to our customers.
The change from a side-stitched document to a professional looking
3-side trimmed saddle-stitched booklet has significantly enhanced
the professionalism of the end-product. The booklet lay-flat from
the Smart-binder greatly assists the insertion into envelopes. The
Smart-binder has also enabled us to reduce paper weight which has
resulted in a large postal cost saving to Farmers.
During peak periods the three Smart-binders are used round the clock
and their robust , heavy duty design lends itself well to our demanding
performance requirements."
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Smart-binder SB-3
O'Neil Data Systems' two Smart-binders
Mr Hees, R&V Insurance, Germany
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