Videojet Imaging Creates Direct Mail Growth

Within the space of a year, Glasgow Laminators Ltd has gone from being the largest print finishing and binding company in Scotland to one that sees its expansion firmly rooted in direct mail.

Within the space of a year, Glasgow Laminators Ltd has gone from being the largest print finishing and binding company in Scotland to one that sees its expansion firmly rooted in direct mail.

That confidence is borne by Glasgow Laminators' trust in the ability of its new Videojet Printpro digital imaging system to continue delivering such an excellent return on investment.

It represents a significant change of direction for the company which, before it bought Printpro, had no experience whatsoever in either inkjet technology or addressing.

One of the many reasons why Glasgow Laminators chose the Printpro was for its flexibility.

Although it is currently integrated with an STS poly-wrapping line with four inserting hoppers, the company is already considering using it off-line on a Cheshire mailing base to print postcards.

For the time being however, the machine's prime task is to address or personalise carrier sheets, pre-wrap, or to print directly onto the polythene, post-wrap.

Glasgow Laminators production manager, Ian Trengrouse said: "Because of its superb graphics quality, we can print things like full height barcodes, pictures and PPIs.

The controller also allows us to offer our customers postcode sorting on the stacker.

Another major benefit for Glasgow Laminators is the Printpro's ability to personalise items on the STS line in either portrait or landscape format.

"That means we can accept jobs that a lot of companies without binary inkjet printers have to turn away," confirmed Trengrouse.

Being new to inkjet, an important criterion in the choice of printer was simplicity of programming and operation.

Glasgow Laminators considered other printers but felt the Windows-based software featured on the Printpro was exceptionally operator-friendly, added to which it allows any Windows font to be used - a factor that has resulted in a number of jobs being secured against competition.

Tight deadlines are the norm in the direct mail industry and printer reliability was therefore another key issue for Glasgow Laminators.

The company acknowledged that in order to establish its credentials, it needed to have good support.

"Fortunately, our Printpro has been extremely reliable," Trengrouse continued.

"When we have needed help, Videojet technicians have either helped us by telephone or instructed the local service engineer to call.

Usually this has been on the same day and in the current climate, that is very impressive." Glasgow Laminators chose a single head Printpro but the company has the comfort of knowing that as the direct mailing aspect of its business grows, so too can the imaging system.

One option is to add additional printheads.

"At present we only use the basic mail facility but who knows what future customer requirements might be.

It's good to know that if we want to change our system to control the inserting hoppers, giving us fully selective capability, it's only a question of software upgrade," said Trengrouse.

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