The Canadian developer’s products range from entry-level to complex programmes to enable intelligent processing of mail pieces as they pass through a mailing line for automated sorting.

EnvelopeNOW, Objectif Lune’s basic software, marks mailing pieces with data matrixes or barcodes that enable the mailing system to read information on which items should be collated or how many inserts are needed before it is packed into an envelope. It can also give users an audit report of the mailing job.

Hybrid Mail, offered through the Printsoft Suite, is the high-level software product offered by Objectif Lune which enables small-scale mail users to outsource their fulfilment needs to Kern.

The desktop PC software enables users to create formats for letters and invoices. The templates can then be sent across to Kern’s mailing bureau, where the pieces will be processed and distributed at good prices, according to Kern UK strategic business manager Clive Martin.

Kern will also offer the PlanetPress Suite, a mid-market product for mailing houses.

Martin said: "These products are something we have been looking for for a while.

"The range fills a gap between the software products that we already offer and software that our customers have probably already got.

"Some of the software that our customers have already got is so sophisticated, enabling them to do bespoke work, and this range sits between that and allows businesses to be far more flexible."