Inkjet & Digital Printing
Integrated Book Technology, Inc. Powers Up New Print-on-Demand Center with Océ Inline Digital Book Factory
Friday 16. October 2009 - Rapid turnaround, outstanding halftone quality, and generous input capacity let IBT Global print books to order for leading book distributor
Océ, an international leader in digital document management and delivery, announced today that Integrated Book Technology, Inc. has installed an Océ VarioPrint 6250 digital duplex cutsheet printer, with Océ PRISMAproduction software, a Challenge three-knife trimmer, CEM DocuConverter, and GPSquared case binding system in the Books International distribution center in Dulles, Virginia. The integrated “book-of-one” digital production line, the first of its kind to be implemented in the United States, is used to print books to order in quantities as small as one for the world’s premier book publishers.
Integrated Book Technology, Inc., known as IBT Global, is a world leader and pioneer in providing complete, full-service digital book manufacturing services publishers. The company has made a name for itself by producing short runs of scientific, technical, medical and professional books, scholarly monographs and elementary, high school and college textbooks quickly and cost-effectively. The company serves a client list of more than 250 publishers around the world including more than 40 university presses. IBT Global has teamed with Books International, Inc. a global book distributor, to launch a burgeoning print-on-demand operation that prints books to order in quantities as small as one and as large as several hundred.
Installed in December 2008, the IBT “book-of-one” production line comprises an Océ VarioPrint 6250 digital duplex cutsheet printer to print book pages, a CEM DocuConverter to split/merge the pages into book blocks, an Océ CS650 Pro color system to print color covers. A CP Bourg perfect binder marries book blocks with perfect-bound covers, while a Viadek system to read barcodes and deliver the covers and book blocks at the same time. A Challenge three-knife trimmer trims book blocks, and a GPSquared semi-automatic case binder helps produce hardcover books. Océ PRISMAproduction software imposes files and enables a smooth, efficient workflow. “We worked with Océ to develop a solution combining a fast, powerful print engine and the post-processing equipment we needed to build a completely inline print-on-demand book line,” said IBT Global Chief Technology Officer, William Clockel. “Océ architected the solution, assembled the vendors, and put all the pieces together for us.”
“With the Océ solution, IBT Global has the first true book-of-one’ inline cutsheet manufacturing system,” said IBT Director of Technology, Stephen Pratt. “When we receive an order for multiple titles with different trim sizes and stocks, we can print the books one right after another to keep the order together. Instead of picking and packing, we print and manufacture to order. This saves time and money because publishers are paid as books are manufactured, which reduces costs and risk and improves cash flow and profit margins.”
“We are proud to partner with IBT Global to help meet its book publishing customers’ print-on-demand requirements,” said Mal Baboyian, President, Production Printing Systems, Océ North America. “As schools and colleges purchase fewer books, publishers no longer have to print more books than they need or maintain costly inventories of books that sit on shelves unsold. The combination of speed, quality and input capacity makes the Océ VarioPrint 6250 system an ideal solution for book printers like IBT Global who are looking to print books on demand in quantities as small as one.”
Today, the IBT Global print-on-demand operation runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, printing an average of 200,000 to 250,000 pages or 700 book units per day. Powered by Océ Gemini Instant Duplex technology, the Océ VarioPrint 6250 system features a speed of 250 duplex prints per minute, eight trays that support different types and grades of paper and a monthly duty cycle of 10 million impressions. In addition, operators benefit from features like an intuitive graphical user interface, simple paper and toner changes, and advanced ergonomics, which reduce operator maintenance to an industry-leading minimum.