Thought Leadership

Article by Kevin Marks | July 2022

How Digital Inkjet Printing Unlocks Productivity and Labor Efficiency across the Print and Finishing Work Cell

Kevin Marks Vice President, Print BlueCrest

By Kevin Marks, BlueCrest, and Marc Johnson, HP

Three years into the headwinds of a global pandemic, many printers are facing challenges not previously imagined. Whether it’s paper or envelope shortages, labor availability, or other rising costs, print shops are increasingly looking for ways to increase productivity and efficiency within and across the print and finishing work cells.

Transactional Print and Mail Communications

In the transactional space, the rising cost of production drives the need to investigate and invest in more efficient equipment and processes. By switching to production level Inkjet Printing systems such as the BlueCrest IntelliJet, transactional print shops can consolidate and replace the higher operating expense of multiple toner printers. Clients report significant savings in supplies, maintenance, and leasing expenses.

Additionally, transactional printers are beginning to find ways to grow their capabilities to include new applications and services. For instance, a shop that only prints billing statements is very busy on certain days of the month. How can they improve the utilization of the print and mail systems for the non-peak periods? Successful companies are growing their revenues and improving their operating margins by application expansion, including cross-selling messaging on the statement, new customer acquisition mailings, and even mail finishing insert production.

Case Study: CSG

CSG is a national communication solutions provider with roots in the cable billing industry. Nearing the end of the reasonable-use life cycle of their printing systems, CSG looked to innovate and remain on the cutting edge.

Their seven first-generation inkjet printers—some in place for more than a decade in their Florida and Nebraska operating centers—had served CSG well. However, CSG was concerned about their rising maintenance costs and operating expenses, their ability to handle growing workloads and more stringent service level agreements, and other limitations in print quality, job-type flexibility, and overall functionality.

CSG had already invested in BlueCrest inserters and workflow software products. When they were looking at a larger-scale refresh of their printer fleet, they turned to BlueCrest and the IntelliJet® 20 HD Printing System.

As a result, CSG saw their best efficiency improvements since they initially moved to inkjet over ten years ago. The IntelliJet printers delivered a 20% increase in throughput with a substantial improvement in reliability and uptime. BlueCrest Client Care Services is responsible for maintaining and supporting all aspects of the production process including print, inserting, and production workflow software.

Direct Mail: Acquisition, Reactivation, Retention

In the direct mail production space, the tremendous growth of personalized content across the document is accelerating the migration from pre-printed offset shell/toner overprint to full digital color inkjet production. By eliminating the old multi-step process, direct mail operations can drive more sellable output per shift. And that growth of personalization is not limited to only the document. It now extends to include highly variable content imaging onto the mail envelope as well. All of the content of each piece, both inside and outside, can now be fully customized. The result is a more tailored, valuable document that delivers more value for the client. The benefit for the direct mail producer is that these highly customized materials can now be produced, with full accuracy, without additional system processing time. Our direct mailer clients report that they can often charge a high unit sale price for this new type of document production.

Case Study: ANRO

ANRO Inc. is a full-service communications partner specializing in turnkey and cost-effective solutions for corporate printing, direct mail, online print management solutions, fulfillment, marketing, graphic design, digital communication services, and more. Utilizing the 30” web presses from HP, alongside enhanced finishing

Marc Johnson Sr. Global Market Development Manager HP

“ Any single investment in hardware and supporting technology can improve the cost basis for print and mail providers. The magic happens when investments are made in reliable, costeffective inkjet solutions paired with smart finishing and inserting plus well-designed workflow automation. CSG, ANRO, and Formost mediaOne are three companies that cracked the code to build an efficient system that makes them leaders in our industry.” Pat McGrew, Managing Director, McGrewGroup, Inc.

capabilities, database expertise, and in-house mailing operations, ANRO Inc. increased its capacity to produce 100% full-color variability on high-volume mailings, transactional, and publishing applications.

“We do it all at reduced turnaround times and effective price points. Our customers no longer have to sort a large mailing list geographically or version the mailers for product-based targeting. With this technology, we can print 100% variable letters in one run, optimizing postage savings and relevance to your market,” said Paul DeSantis, Chief Information Officer VP of Strategy at ANRO. “Coupled with our near-line automated finishing, we can do all of that with fewer touchpoints, fewer handoffs, and ultimately faster with less labor.”

Proven Path Forward: “The White Paper Factory”

Success in today’s challenging production environment goes to those companies with a hyper-focus on efficiency and waste avoidance. Before Covid and the resultant supply chain challenges, sub-optimization meant reduced profitability. Fast-forwarding to today, success now can mean the difference between surviving or thriving.

To manage through these headwinds, successful print and mail operations are applying lean manufacturing practices to their operation. At BlueCrest we call this “The White Paper Factory” and it is applicable within and across both the print and mail finishing steps of production. The BlueCrest White Paper factory transforms a plain roll of white paper and blank envelopes into colorful, powerful, and personalized customer communications.

The BlueCrest process eliminates the traditional costs and complexity of managing both preprinted forms and envelopes. Substituting automation for manual operation assures defect-free production and a streamlining of the entire print and mail production process. And when coupled with BlueCrest Postal Optimization Tools, operations can better manage their total postal spend. Only BlueCrest provides the end-to-end integrated solutions that consider all of the critical elements of the document production process: postal and compliance software, color inkjet production, mail insertion, and sortation. And each stage can be controlled, measured, and managed through BlueCrest workflow software.

Formost mediaOne is an industry leader in integrated and relevant customer communications across all media. They specialize in providing invoice/statement packaging that has the potential to become a revenue-producing resource. Expanding their operations to become a complete White Paper Factory made sense.

“We were already buying rolls of paper for the offset presses, so continuous feed of the 20” web press from HP was a big deal. The T series is adaptable, and we’ve customized it to our needs with an EMT finishing line with dynamic perforations, MICR capabilities, in-line hole punching, and sheeting,” said Alex Calpito, Director of Operations for Formost mediaOne.

“The T-series enables Formost to offer a true White Paper imaging solution going from 22” wide, 50” diameter mill rolls to finished product at 400 feet per minute. At almost 1,800 two-sided full-color letter-size impressions per minute, the press brings Formost mediaOne’s overall imaging capacity to over 100 million impressions per month. Print runs that used to take two weeks between offset and laser are now being completed entirely in two days,” said Calpito.

Conclusion

While Print and Mail operations face significant headwinds, businesses can successfully navigate through these challenges. Businesses that pivot to color inkjet printing and leverage White Paper Factory methodologies are rewarded with growth and secured client relationships.

This thought leadership piece is a joint collaboration between BlueCrest and HP, two industry leaders in the customer communication space. This article originally appeared on LinkedIn.