Integrated Book Technology Powers Up New Print-on-Demand Center With Océ Inline Digital Book Factory
TRUMBULL, CT—October 22, 2009—Océ, an international leader in digital document management and delivery, announced today that Integrated Book Technology, Inc. has installed an Océ Digital Book Factory in the Books International distribution center in Dulles, Virginia. The integrated on-demand digital production line, the first of its kind 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 to 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 production line includes an Océ VarioPrint 6250 digital duplex cutsheet printer to print book pages, and a CP Bourg perfect binder to marry book blocks with perfect-bound covers. 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 complete 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.”
“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,” said IBT Director of Technology, Stephen Pratt. “Instead of picking and packing, we print and manufacture to order. This saves time and money because publishers are paid as books are manufactured reducing costs and risk, while at the same time improving 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.
About Océ
Océ is a leading international provider of digital document management technology and services. The company’s solutions are based on Océ’s advanced software applications that deliver documents and data over internal networks and the Internet to printing devices and archives -- locally and around the world. Supporting the workflow solutions are Océ digital printers and scanners, considered the most reliable and productive in the world. Océ also offers a wide range of display graphics, consulting and outsourcing solutions.
Océ employs around 22,000 people, with 2008 revenues of approximately $4.3 billion, operates in around 100 countries and maintains research and manufacturing centers in the Netherlands, the United States, Canada, Germany, France, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Romania and Singapore. Océ North America is headquartered in Trumbull, CT, with additional business units in Chicago, IL; New York City; Boca Raton, FL; Salt Lake City, UT and Vancouver, BC. North American revenues represented approximately half of Océ’s worldwide business in 2008, and employment is approximately 10,000. For more information about Océ, visit www.oceusa.com. Outside the U.S., consult http://global.oce.com.
