As a result, standard mailing – polybagging, inserting, addressing, sorting – has become pretty much a commodity process, and there’s precious little money to be made on it. But there’s life in the mailing market yet, according to Buhrs UK’s new managing director, John Ricketts, who sees some interesting market segments opening up. To exploit them, Buhrs has introduced its new, revamped 4000 Series film and paper wrapping lines: three machines designed to handle non-addressed and addressed poly- and paper-wrapped mail, with a focus on faster job turnaround, quick set-up and economical use of film.

Mailing boom
Buhrs UK – itself a recent creation, following the Dutch parent’s takeover of its UK agent Computermail last month – is predicting a huge increase in mailing work following on from the liberalisation of the UK postal market that came into force in January this year. Ricketts is confident that the opening-up of Royal Mail’s monopoly on final-mile delivery will allow the UK to follow in the footsteps of other European countries, which have experienced a boom in unaddressed mailing.
“It’s a phenomenon that doesn’t really exist over here at the moment,” Ricketts explains. “Basically, there are agencies in mainland Europe whose job is to consolidate business-to-consumer door-drop leaflets from a variety of companies into a single package for delivery on a particular date.” That package is, of course, polybagged before being sent out to delivery agents – which is the segment Ricketts has his eye on.

“Previously, the UK hasn’t been able to offer this service, because all our final-mile delivery has been done by Royal Mail,” Ricketts continues. “And if you give a stack of these things to a postman, his bag gets too heavy. So until now, we’ve put them into local newspapers. But all that’s going to change very soon. We think our new 4000 series machines offer the perfect solution for unaddressed mailing jobs.”

The original Buhrs 4000 series was introduced in 2001, and was revamped in 2004 with servo-motors replacing the mechanical drives for better accuracy. In the UK, they were installed by one printer (Polestar Greaves) and two finishers (The Finishing Company and Scorpio Print Finishers).

There are three machines in the series: the 4000, for standard-size products such as magazines, catalogues and direct mail packs; the 4700, for door-drop packs and newspaper
supplements; and the 4200, for broadsheet newspapers and their supplements. The main difference between the three machines is the size they can handle and, despite the focus on unaddressed mail, all three can be equipped with inkjet heads for addressing if necessary.

The latest upgrade to the 4000 series has added several new features to the basic chassis. It begins with AFS, or automatic feeder synchronisation. Because the average door-drop pack contains several products of varying sizes, thicknesses and weights, the feeders are designed to feed all variations without stopping. Dimensions of all products are detected with sensors automatically on the feeder table, and the servo-motors on the feeder adapt the gathering chain to the product size.

Wrapping in synch
As the feeder is automatically synched, the wrap process is likewise. The automatic wrap set-up (AWS) uses a sensor to detect the length of the collated pack and sends a signal to the cross-sealer bar to automatically adapt the cut-off to the pack size.

The 4000 series machines use a development of Buhrs’ fully mobile feeders, originally introduced in 1998 on the Ultimail line. The RF5 mobile feeders on the 4000 series, specially developed for handling flimsy door-drop leaflets, are all inline meaning the operator can load them from any side of the machine. Buhrs says this can, at best, yield a net output between 10% and 15% higher than non-inline feeders.

The BSC system controller accepts the job parameters during set-up (number and size of items married up with a personalised database if the job demands it), and controls the whole system, stopping the feeders if (for instance, in a door-drop programme) a product is not scheduled for the next area. This allows a next product to be loaded without stopping the system.

One aspect of the 4000 series machines’ operation will appeal in particular to finance directors hungry for lean cost-in-use ratios. The 4000 series, like all Buhrs machines, uses a patented Product Positioning Unit (PPU) to marry up the wrap with the product or pack coming down the delivery chain. Because the positioning is done to within a couple of millimetres’ accuracy, Buhrs guarantees savings of around 10mm of film per wrapped pack. On top of this, the 4000 series machines incorporate BuhrsWrap, another patented device that pulls the film taut to eliminate even more waste.

Following the wrapping process, the pack quality is checked. If the packs are to be addressed, the wrapped stream processes into the inkjet area. (Buhrs principally works with Domino, Imaje, Kodak Versamark and Videojet heads, but can use any heads for which a customer has a preference.) Packs are sorted in various ways, depending on final distribution, and strapped via an inline strapping module.

Ricketts is keen to push one talent of the 4000 series in particular: its ability to wrap in paper as well as film. All the 4000 series machines can be changed from film to paper wrapping in under half an hour. The hotmelt adhesive unit for sealing the paper has to be switched on and the glue must reach operating temperature, while the cross-seal bar must be demounted and a cutting bar mounted, together with a change of guiding rods for folding – paper needs folding more sharply than film.

The possibilities for personalisation, Ricketts says, are also boundless. At Ipex, Buhrs teamed up with Kodak Versamark to demonstrate a print-and-mail line that pre-printed each envelope blank with a different set of images, following which the 4000 series filled and wrapped each envelope, printing it with the customer’s address. “This idea could be huge in the UK, where the Royal Mail’s Pricing in Proportion scheme is driving everyone down to standard-sized envelopes,” Ricketts points out. “If you can print the envelope in full-colour with personalised images, you can really make it stand out when it hits the doormat.”

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SPECIFICATIONS
Max speed
• 4000: 18,000pph
• 4200; 4700: 15,000pph
Film thickness range
• 15-80 micron
Max product size
• 4000: 380x420x80mm
• 4200: 320x380x80mm
• 4700: 320x370x35mm
Min product size
• 180x200mm x single sheet
Price
• Buhrs 4000 with six feeders, wrap module, controls and stacker: from £300,000
• Buhrs 4700 with camera systems and inkjet heads: to £800,000
Contact
• Buhrs UK 01256 329191 www.computermail.co.uk

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THE ALTERNATVES
Hugo Beck Super 400 XLM/15
The main difference between the Beck machines and the Buhrs 4000 is that these are polywrap machines only, with no capacity for paper wrapping. It’s Servo-motor controlled, with automatic set-up that’s done via a moveable opera­tio­nal panel, but there’s no automatic adaptation to product size. A “continuous motion transverse welding” process produces a taut wrap, similar to the BuhrsWrap process.
Max speed 15,000pph
Film thickness range 11-70 micron
Max product size 450x500x80mm
Min product size 110x150x1mm
Price not supplied
Contact Kern 01489 564141 www.kern.co.uk

Muller Martini PowerWrap
Intended for the newspaper mailroom, and designed mainly to wrap a newspaper full of inserts and onserts, the Power­Wrap is faster than the Buhrs 4000 machines, but handles a smaller product than the 4700 and only film. There’s no ability to adapt automatically to the size of product – all job details are pre-programmed before the job begins.
Max speed 18,000pph
Film thickness range 17-80 micron
Max product size 300x420x70mm
Min product size 98x148x single sheet
Price from £220,000
Contact Muller Martini 0845 345 3588 www.mullermartini.com/gb

Sitma C1050 Variawrap
New to the UK last year, Sitma’s C1050 is similar to the Buhrs 4000 machines in that it is servo-driven, can handle paper and film and its makeready includes a set-up for electric control of product length and thickness – so each pack size can be different for personalised pack mailings.
Max speed 20,000pph
Film thickness range 12-50 micron
Max product size 330x420x60mm
Min product size 100x150x1mm
Price from £350,000
Contact Integra International 01420 593680 www.integra-intl.co.uk