Customized Mailings

Mailings are as individual as their receivers - making them a perfect product for the Stahlfolder Flexomailer. Thanks to its modular construction, the folder for mailing experts can be adjusted to flexibly suit the special needs of each job.

While budgets for classical advertising are shrinking, those for direct marketing are on the rise. Mailings are and remain the most popular instrument in this segment - not least of all because of their versatility. They include printed envelopes, perforated postcards, fliers with "zippers," attached product samples and much more.

Mailings aren't just attractive to companies that want to promote their goods and services directly to specific customer segments. The leap into this lucrative future market is worth it for print shops and finishing businesses, too. "Mailings allow you to achieve significantly higher returns than with traditional folding work," says Martin Terlau, Product Manager of Mailing Customizing at Heidelberg. "They also often entail repeat jobs which can be easily planned." A further advantage is that print shops can acquire new groups of customers with the expanded range of products.

Jobs determine configuration
All types of mailings are essentially nothing other than refined folded products. The Stahlfolder Flexomailer is therefore based on the tried-and-true technology of the Stahlfolder TH. The latter can be expanded to create a professional mailing solution with the help of flexibly usable units. Thanks to the Stahlfolder Flexomailer's modular design, print shops can carry out the most diverse work processes inline. This includes everything from cutting, creasing and perforating to typical mailing functions like personalization and labeling as well as hot melt and cold gluing and the application of cards or product samples.

"Each Flexomailer is individually configured to customers' specific needs," explains Terlau. "In cooperation with customers, we develop the right machine configuration. To do so, we look at the mailing jobs that the business would like to produce now and in the future." Thanks to the modular concept, businesses can adjust the Stahlfolder Flexomailer to their actual production needs and use it as a "normal" folder too, of course.

Cutting, creasing, perforating
Print shops often select the multiple buckle plate folding unit. If combined with either a preceding pair of slitter shafts or a second pair of rear mounted slitter shafts, businesses can process central cuts across the entire sheet, edge trimmings and cut-out strips just as precisely as various creasing or perforating work, for example. The second pair of rear mounted slitter shafts ensures excellent sheet guidance and top cutting results above all else with smaller products. Integrating the single-cut perforation unit (EAP) even allows for timed cutting and perforating.

Wide production range
With the Stahlfolder Flexomailer, businesses are optimally equipped for demanding jobs as well. This is because the UFS folding station includes a vacuum table which enables various mailing applications to be integrated into it. "Businesses can use an inkjet unit, for example, and carry out various forms of personalization like addressing or numbering or apply a barcode," reports Terlau. This high productivity is achieved by transporting the sheet with a full surface suction device. This secures the sheet while the entire surface of the vacuum table is available for applications.

Businesses are also flexible when it comes to dispensing products like coupons, booklets or cards made from paper, cardboard or plastic. This is because the so-called cardtipper can be freely positioned on the folding unit and vacuum table. A hot melt nozzle secures the dispensed product with fugitive glue, which allows it to be separated at any time without damage. "We offer an inline die cutter for customers who want to carry out tear-off or corner perforations, Wire-o and file hole punching, or central, register and three-sided cutting," Terlau says. The die cutter enables folded and single sheets to be processed.

drupa HEI Light: uniform control technology
Heidelberg will present the Stahlfolder Flexomailer at drupa 2008 with two innovations: The continuous feeder and the attached slitter shaft station are now mobile and can therefore be positioned flexibly. In addition, all mailing equipment, with the exception of the inline die cutter, are now controlled by uniform software. "This enables users to change machine settings on almost all units from a control console."