The new division, which officially launched yesterday (1 January) in response to rising demand, has been branded Mailbox. It will specialise in a range of direct mail services including high-speed multi-insertion, collation and data management services.
The Leicester-based group’s recently relocated FastAnt division, which previously handled direct mail, will now focus on areas such as storage, fulfilment and e-commerce.
“This has been in the pipeline for a few months. We announced that we’d be investing in direct mail a number of times during 2017 and it just got to a critical mass that meant it made sense to have a separate division offering the specialist services that direct mail needs now,” said Taylor Bloxham Group chief executive Robert Lockwood.
“I think our focus has always been on the shorter-run type direct mail, and with the implementation of GDPR I think this means that run lengths might diminish as blanket mailings tend to be less of a common thing.
“We also offer quite a flexible service – we do a lot of hand finishing, which is one of those things that some people are not interested in doing.”
Two Xerox reel-fed duplex laser printers, a Canon sheetfed machine and a raft of enclosing lines, inkjet lines and folding machines will be run at Mailbox.
Some of the staff working at the new division have moved across from FastAnt and they will be joined by a few new starters in the coming weeks. Mailbox will be led by direct mail specialist Dave Wright, who joined the business around a year ago.
The creation of Mailbox brings the number of brands in the Taylor Bloxham Group to four including FastAnt, POS operation Instore and the original Taylor Bloxham printing company. Each division is based at its own separate site, with the four units comprising more than 10,000sqm space.
The group, which has 200 staff and a turnover of around £28m, has also just invested in a Koenig & Bauer Rapida 106 litho press for its main printing operation, which will be installed in March, and two Muller Martini finishing lines.
Celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2018, the company serves clients including Crown Paints, Bentley and BAFTA.
