The machine was installed at the mailing company’s Bristol premises a few months ago, replacing two other off-the-shelf machines, which were unable to handle the rise in business. MHI also considered alternatives from US and German manufacturers.

The business needed an inserter to keep up with the 30% increase in postal business it has seen over the past 12-18 months, as clients return to postal campaigns to drive consumers online following GDPR. It wanted to keep production in-house to ensure quality control and monitor KPIs.

The Kern 3500 can process up to 22,000 items per hour, allowing MHI to run three times faster than it could with its previous equipment. The compact machine also offers continuously variable speeds and rapid changeover of the envelope size setting.

Kern’s model also allows MHI to use its own choice of scanner and scanning software; another draw, as it allows the mailing company to get postal discounts with over 80 international carriers.

The company needed the machine live within five weeks to meet a project deadline for a US client, a requirement Kern was able to meet.

MHI chief executive Paul Brown said: “The combination of speed, price and footprint meant the Kern machine hit a sweet spot.

“It’s all about surge control and the Kern has allowed us to smooth that out.

“Post is very relevant; what we’re talking about is investing in the next 10 years of lettershop, which accepts that the overall number of letters posted will be lower but businesses will be writing to people who want to receive their mail.

“[We’re] investing in the right bit of kit going forward for a modern market.”

He added that the Kern machine has increased the company’s capacity to do wholesale work for marcomms businesses.

MHI has been in operation for 25 years and provides a range of post, print and lettershop services. It has access to over 150 countries, 90 carrier services and 15,000 international postal routes.