Finishing specialist IBIS Integrated Bindery Systems has today announced a major investment in new demonstration and test facilities at its headquarters in High Wycombe, near London.

Recent contract wins for IBIS for the production of extended content label (ECL) booklets and also for automated, examination question-papers, including totally automated in-line print, finish, pack and distribution lines in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have underpinned the viability of IBIS systems for end-users.

These developments and the expansion of IBIS’s machine portfolio to include a new Smart Label-binder, which will be running at Hunkeler Innovation Days (HID), are spearheading new sales and a demand for more testing and customer demo facilities. The IBIS Smart Label-binder combines paperweight flexibility as low as 38gsm with its patented cold glue technology for binding at up to 100m/min, along with automated integration to profile laser cutting to create extended “tabs.”

This world-first technology for extended content labels will set new standards in label production, IBIS says. During HID, the Smart Label-binder will be on the Screen stand (Hall 2, P7) at Hunkeler Innovation Days in Lucerne, Switzerland, from February 24-27.

John Cracknell, IBIS managing director, says, “Since the formation of IBIS in 1999, we have always been a trusted partner in the production of examination papers, ensuring quality finishing and complete integrity of the finished product. Recent contract wins have resulted in a spike in demand for our products and services and increased integration with third party in-line equipment.

“IBIS’s crucial part in the evolving automation of exam paper production – covering everything from intelligent in-line finishing, stacking, pile banding, wrapping and labelling through to robotics – requires us to be ever-more flexible in our approach, continuing to tailor bespoke solutions for our clients, with quality and integrity of the finished product paramount in every system we supply.

“Further, following the announcement of the new Smart Label-binder for ECL label booklet production, we are increasing productivity and automation, by incorporating new in-house developments and additional in-line third-party equipment for laser cutting of tabs and for automatic stacking and boxing or palletising.”

Cracknell adds, “The new IBIS Customer Demo Centre, which will open in Q2 2025, is being specifically designed to host clients and new prospects. We will showcase to them the new possibilities of IBIS’s automated offerings, leading to process streamlining and ultimately, cost reduction combined with faster turnaround for clients.”