Print Solutions
Kentec Mail & Courier Service in Tunbridge Wells has halved the time it takes to insert most C4 jobs with the installation of a third Mailmaster envelope inserter from KAS Paper Systems. The four station KAS 465HS C4/C5/DL machine replaces a Mailmaster 465 which Kentec bought soon after setting up business in 2006. In 2015, the company purchased a three station Mailmaster565HS C5/DL inserter. As well as the KAS inserters, Kentec also has two polywrappers, two inkjet printers for personalisation labels, two folders and a tabbing machine.
The company offers a wide range of specialist services to printers, marketing and advertising agencies locally and as far afield as Japan. These include direct mail, print management, variable data, laser and inkjet printing, envelope enclosure, poly wrapping, machine folding, hand finishing and mail preparation. Its courier division specialises in international express shipments as well as air cargo and European road freight.
‘We can handle anything from one newsletter, a mail run of a million, a regular full colour publication and typically up to four to five inserts. Although most of our jobs are inserted into C5 envelopes because of the economy of postage, we do have regular C4 work. The KAS 465HS gives us the flexibility to use both formats. It is a much faster machine with a quicker set up and changeover and more onscreen options than its predecessor,’ said Nick Hall, production manager. ‘We have a really good rapport with our customers. Most of our work is planned in advance but this machine will give us the extra capacity to take on more work, including those last minute, unexpected jobs. From time to time we do have a customer who wants a very quick turn round and we try to help them wherever possible.’
Kentec didn’t look at any competitive inserters before placing the order with KAS. ‘We know the company, we know the equipment, its reliability and the service that KAS provides,’ Nick explained. The company decided not to specify bespoke features like a camera reading system, which can be retrofitted should the volume of workload require it in the future. The camera system reads OMR, 1D and 2D barcodes, merging and matching of two or more streams of personalised documentation, diverting of filled envelopes before sealing, envelope marking, document tracking and integrity checking. Job control and reporting software is also an option, which provides further on-screen run information and facilitates job control, document tracking, data storage and reporting.
‘We didn’t need a lot of on-site training because of our previous experience. Four of us can operate all the equipment. The engineer came back after a few weeks to tweak it to our liking and since then it has performed like a dream,’ he added. ‘It takes about ten minutes to set up and can run a variety of stock up to 120 g/m2. Documents just fly through at up 6000 completed envelopes an hour. We have a few jobs that require document matching which we do by hand. For example, we send out at a regular 18 page council newsletter in a C4 envelope together with a personal letter and rent statement which we match by hand and a document about service charges.
‘The previous KAS machine was a real workhorse so we are optimistic that these two inserters will be still be churning out work for many years to come.’
