Direct mail and marketing firm AM&M developed a bespoke print-on-demand system, for Cafod’s World Gift’s campaign, using a PlanetPress software package from Objectif Lune with the first products rolling off the presses in September.
“Changing the process like this, we were a bit worried about how long it would take for people to get their product from the time of ordering, but it’s been really well received,” said Cafod’s head of supporter donations, Chris Funnell.
He added: “The volumes will really start to kick in around November and December but it’s been a very successful start so far. We are ahead on volume of orders compared to where we were last year, and we’re getting great feedback."
Funnell explained that previously the campaign, which allows people to buy virtual and ethical presents for poor communities, was managed by printing off estimated amounts of required stock, which could result in either having too much or too little in storage. The print firm would then deliver the stock to AM&M for storage, picking and packing.
“We were finding that although we worked really hard to minimise waste, because sustainability and good stewardship is at the heart of what we believe, there was a cost to what we were doing,” said Funnell.
“When AM&M told us about their print-on-demand capability and showed us the quality they could provide we found we could get exactly the same quality of product, save money and more importantly be more efficient and sustainable from a resources point of view,” he added.
AM&M operations manager Greg Salmon said that the company had been developing the print-on-demand product for Cafod for some time and that since going live last month both sides had benefitted.
“On our side, we are able to save time on the picking and packing, and for Cafod we’ve got rid of the risk completely and now they pay for exactly what’s ordered,” he explained. “It’s a bespoke system working to their data format. We can print exactly what they want, when it’s ordered and get it out right away. And now that we’ve done this I think it’s a model we can adapt for more clients.”
The Burgess Hill-based print business, which was founded 30 years ago, employs 27 staff and turns over around £2.8m a year. It prints documents and mail mainly for charities, councils and financial organisations.
The company houses two Ricoh Pro C9100 colour printers, installed around a year ago to replace two four-year old Xerox DocuColour printers. It also runs two Xerox Nuvera mono devices: a 120 and 280.
“We moved to Ricoh for our colour work because for us there was no comparison really. We like to stay ahead of the game and we felt the Ricoh’s were unbeatable for what we wanted. We can now print on paper up to 400gsm and up to 700mm in length, compared to 450mm. We’ve really improved our offering for our clients,” he said.
The Ricohs have also boosted print speed enabling AM&M to put out up to 120 A4 spm compared to around 65 or 70spm with the DocuColor devices.
“We’re really happy with what AM&M are doing,” said Funnel. “I think we will want to start offering greater personalisation and this print on demand is a stepping-stone for us to do that from next year.
“It is perfect for this kind of product and I would think that a lot of the agencies that do this kind of thing will move in a similar direction in the not too distant future,” he added.
