Exam booklet production: Case Studies
The following customers are using the IBIS Smart-binder exclusively to produce exam booklets
Case study 1: UK
In 2008 this customer purchased the first 6 SBs for exam paper production. 3 were installed in-line with cut-sheet printers and 3 in-line with web toner printers. Since then the SBs fed from the web printers have each produced over 60 million booklets. In 2014 this customer ordered two more SBs which were installed in-line with ink-jet web printers and in 2015 two further in-line SBs were ordered. By July 2015 we will have installed 10 in-line SBs at this site.
Case study 2: Japan
In 2006 customer ‘TF’ ordered their first SB systems to produce examination test papers for Japanese students. These machines operate ‘off-line’ using high-pile sheet feeders which are fed from color-printed sheets using a loading trolley system. During the period 2006 – 2010 IBIS installed a total of 9 SBs at this site in Tokyo, all of which are used to produce exam test papers of variable thickness and with dynamic sheet perforation. All exam booklets produced by TF are bound using the SB’s unique ISG cold-glue system instead of being wire stitched. Every booklet has a separately-fed cover sheet which is personalized and ‘matched’ to the inside sheets.
Case Study 3 USA
This US customer has special requirements for finishing exam papers in-line with ink-jet web printers and uses three ‘customized’ SBs for this purpose.
Case Study 4: Africa
Over the last 5 years, a number of SBs have been installed at customer sites in Tanzania, Malawi, S, Africa and Zimbabwe to produce exam papers in-line with web printers. We are finding increasingly that countries such as these which in the past have chosen to have their exam papers produced in other countries (such as in the UK) are now preferring to bring production back to their own country. The extra security resulting from Digital web printing with in-line IBIS finishing is contributing to this change.
This testimonial statement is from Altron Document Solutions, S.Africa:
James Kelly (Head of Sales):
Two
of our very large Education Customers in South Africa have been producing
excellent volumes on their IBIS Smart-binders, even during Covid-19, when
they completed around 10-12 million booklets with high system productivity
and minimal downtime. One site has 2 Smart-binders running in parallel
which massively improves productivity and provides redundancy. For high
volume, mission critical, time-bound applications we never look further
than the IBIS Smart-binder.
Jan 2022: All good with the Smartbinders at WCED,
KZN Education and Print on Demand (POD Cape Town). We ran huge volume
across the 3 sites in the Q4 2021 period and the equipment performed very
well. 
Case study 5: Brazil
This customer ordered a SB system to produce exam papers from pre-printed rolls (near line solution).
Case study 6: New Zealand
This customer has one SB system, together with Sheet Buffer SBS-100, cover feeder and an additional insert sheet feeder, which is used to produce exam papers at their site in Wellington, NZ. This operates in-line with an ink-jet web printer at up to 127 m/min web speed.
The following feedback was received from Canon regarding this installation (Canon Australia has renewed the service contract for Printlink's print line for a further three years):
Herbert Kieleithner, National Manager for Digital Web Press Technology at Canon:
The customer is very happy with all equipment in the print line and the
line remains very productive. The annual work of the New Zealand examination
booklets and various government booklet applications using the IBIS Smart-binder
is a high volume key application.
Peter Brown (Customer Service) comments:
We
have had an IBIS Smart-binding system under service contract for over
two years. During this time we have received excellent support and communication
from IBIS for service and spare parts. The IBIS Service team have been
dedicated and responsive to our service requirements in New Zealand and
there has been nothing that has been too much trouble for them to assist
us. As an example, we had a component failure incident late last year
on the SBS-100 sheet buffer which resulted in an outage for our customer.
IBIS was able to supply us a replacement part, door to door within 24
hours. This was an outstanding response when freighting parts to New Zealand
is taken into consideration and our customer was extremely impressed.
We have also received exemplary support and feedback from analysing log
files for us to improve the customer experience regarding operating the
Smart-binder.
Case Study 7: UK
In 2013 we installed two SBs at this site to produce exam papers. One is operating in-line with a cut-sheet printer and the other in-line with high speed web printer. For this customer we developed a special corner hole punch which is installed in the SB trimmers..
Case Study 8: Turkey
In 2014 we installed one SB in-line with an ink-jet printer to produce exam paper at this leading printer on the University campus in Ankara, Turkey.
Case Study 9: Abu Dhabi
In 2018 we installed one SB in-line with an ink-jet printer to produce exam paper in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Case Study 10: Saudi Arabia
In 2023 an order was received from a customer in Saudi Arabia for a SB to run in-line with a digital web printer in order to produce examination booklets. This line was installed in Riyadh together with the optional DMP-10 sheet perforator and booklet stacker BSS-10.
In 2024 this customer ordered a second, identical, IBIS SB line with perforation and booklet stacking.
Case Study 11: China
In 2022 an SB was installed at a customer site in Tianjin City to produce examination booklets, fed from a Tecnau roll unwinder and web cutter. This customer is now considering to purchase a second SB.
Case Study 12: Malaysia
In Oct 2024 two SBs were installed in-line with Canon Colorstream web printers at a customer site in Kuala Lumpur to produce examination test booklets. Each booklet includes an answer-sheet which is perforated to allow tear-out.
The finished booklets are piled into stacks using IBIS‘s in-line BSS-10 stacker fitted with a bar-code reader to create variable stacks as defined by the numerical data in the printed code on each booklet. Any incomplete stacks are automatically rejected while good stacks are in-line banded, flow-wrapped, bagged and labelled. IBIS exam booklet wrapping overview
Case Study 13: Dubai
Early in 2025 two near line SBs were installed to produce A4 examination test booklets. These are each fed from a Tencau unwinder and web cutter and include in-line modules after the SBs for ink-jetting, answer sheet addition, stacking, wrapping and labelling.
Videos:
Smart-binder producing A4 exam booklets at 130 m/min
View
Exam booklets production with Smart-binder, with wrapping View
Case Study 14: Malaysia
In Summer 2025 one off-line SB (fed from a high-pile sheet feeder) was installed at a customer site in Kuala Lumpur to produce examination test booklets.