Mailmaster for 121

Print Solutions

Stockport based 121 Direct Mail has invested in a Mailmaster C4 Compact Envelope inserter from KAS Paper Systems. ‘The Mailmaster Compact inserter is the perfect fit in this sector,’ said Linda Cook who has led the company since she and her husband, Ian, bought the firm in an MBO in 1995.

It offers clients a range of sophisticated direct mail fulfilment solutions that are tailored specifically to meet their individual requirements and business objectives. These include data processing together with machine and manual fill services into paper envelopes and poly bags for any campaign, however large or small. ‘We work on behalf of many large and small local, national and international companies to ensure that correspondence to their customers and prospects is printed correctly and delivered to the right address, on time and using the most economical postal rates,’ Linda explained.

Loyalty is important to the firm, both to its customers and to its equipment suppliers. ‘We had remained loyal to one manufacturer of inserting machines since we bought out the company,’ said Ian. ‘However, we were having reliability problems, particularly with the electronics, which meant that the equipment was down until a service engineer came out a several hours later. What appealed to us about the Mailmaster Compact is its simplicity. Although we set it via a touch screen, it is basically a mechanical machine which means that the operators can get into it more easily to fix or make adjustments without calling out an engineer of simply ringing KAS for guidance.’

Ian initially saw the Mailmaster Compact inserter being demonstrated at a print exhibition. ‘We liked what we saw but we weren’t ready to make the purchase at that stage. More recently I went with our operations and factory managers to see a Compact installation at Kirklees Council after which we confirmed our order. We are not big in terms of the size of our mailings. Mostly they are up to 100,000 but typically they are anything from 2000 to 10, 20 or 40 thousand runs. In fact we take on work that big mailing houses don’t want. These include the shorter runs and awkward mailings that we hand fill. Consequently we don’t need a very large, high volume machine. My philosophy is to have several small to medium size machines so that if one has a problem and is not working, then we will always have back up so that we don’t let down any of our clients.’

The company has ten digital printers. The Mailmaster Compact joins three other inserting machines and two poly bagging machines.

This Mailmaster is a compact DL to C4 production envelope inserter. Constructed to handle large volumes, it is designed for easy set up and quick changeover from one job to another, making it equally suitable for short run work. It is supplied with three automatic feeders and a hand feed position as standard. The prime document feeder has an integral folder and the two insert stations handle a wide variety of documents. ‘It is a reliable, flexible workhorse. We operate it eight hours a day at between 4000 and 5000 sheets per hous and it typically inserts three to four jobs with a quick changeover and set up. Some 95% of our jobs comprise a letter with one or two inserts so the Mailmaster Compact with two insert stations is ideal. However, we have other inserters which have three, four or six insert stations so we are well equipped to handle every job that comes our way,’ added Ian.

Since winning the accolade of ‘Number one Mailing House’ in the UK at Royal Mail’s Better Mail Awards, the company has gone from strength to strength. ‘The KAS Mailmaster allows us to compete for more complex and higher volumes of work. We can now handle more jobs in-house that we would traditionally have hand-filled or referred on to larger mailing houses,’ Linda commented. ‘We have an annual investment programme to ensure that the company is always moving forward to meet changing demands,’ added Ian. ‘The Mailmaster Compact has been a good purchase on all fronts and we don’t expect it to be idle. We have been pleased with the support that KAS has given us from the time that they installed it, through to the training of five operators and now with the back up it provides.’