Print is always moving, never more so than in the current climate where run lengths are rapidly coming down, and levels of personalisation are rapidly going up. It seems as if we are heading towards a point where each individual piece of print is completely different from the next. For manufacturers, this push means that there is always something more that printers want, something different around the corner.
Mailing equipment manufacturer Pitney Bowes believes it has come up with something different with its latest enveloping line, which it says "isn’t just an enveloping line".
The WrapStar range, which features the WrapStar 20 and the WrapStar 30, is designed to produce highly personalised mail at breakneck speeds – 20,000 and 30,000 cycles per hour (cph) respectively. Although it fits into the enveloping sector, the machines are actually paper wrappers, creating envelope-like products from a continuous roll, which can produce a fully personalised mail piece.
Emerging threat
Paper wrapping has been around for many years, but it has never been considered a major threat to the traditional envelope manufacturing and inserting sectors because the quality has never been quite high enough. However, full-colour ink jetting on wraps, which has subsequently opened up the ability to offer highly personalised wraps, has driven the interest in a more advanced wrapper.
Other manufacturers have paper wrappers, but according to Pitney Bowes’ product marketing manager for document messaging technologies Simon Illingworth, these machines do not have the technology to track the mail piece or to seal it in a controlled manner – attributes he says the WrapStar can offer. As a result, the Warpstar is being branded as a new technology, rather than just another wrapping machine.
"The overall size of the wrap for a given content is the smallest possible due to patented gluing and cutting methods," explains Illingworth.
Building blocks
The machines are based on existing technology, which was derived from the inserting and polywrapping industries. Pitney Bowes has enhanced and refined those technologies so the range produces something very similar to an envelope. Indeed, the technology now exists to create windows and cut the flap on the wrap so that it actually resembles a traditional envelope.
Illingworth says that machines of this ilk have been particularly sought after in emerging markets, where the benefits of traditional envelopes are seen as obsolete. In the more traditional printing hotbeds, the desire for space saving is a major factor.
At first glance, the machines act in a similar way to an envelope inserting line. Conventional continuous or cut-sheet documents are fed through an inserter onto the chassis of the machine. But then something different occurs. On the chassis, the initial document is combined with insert material. Instead of inserting this into an envelope, it is wrapped in a continuous paper wrap and then cut into individual envelopes. Illingworth says that this all takes place in one seamless operation.
WrapStar is a pretty versatile machine capable of handing a wide range of sizes from a minimum 80x100mm right up to 250x330mm. In terms of sheets in an envelope, you’re looking at a maximum thickness of 20mm.
Officially launched at this year’s Ipex exhibition, the machine is ready to ship now and Illingworth is hopeful that WrapStar will prove popular.
"We expect to sell several in 2010, with growth in sales as the market becomes aware of the advantages of wrapping versus envelopes," says Illingworth.
The rapid growth of transactional mail presents huge scope for sales of the machine, especially, says Illingworth, if combined with additional Pitney Bowes technology such as its new HP partnered Intellijet system.
"The machine can use the three-up capability of the Intellijet 30 to produce the wrap and contents at the same time," he explains.
Clear advantages
Some of the main advantages of the machine are obvious to any mailing company that has a warehouse choc-full of envelopes. Alongside that you also have the benefit of not having to pay for fully produced envelopes, which should bring cost savings, as well as eradicating the need to change from one envelope to another when you move to a new job.
For designers and other print customers, it could also offer a raft of new opportunities. For example, producing 50 envelopes in the shape of a Toy Story 3 character for a very specific mailshot could be a costly process, but if it can be wrapped around the mailout as it is brought together then time and money becomes less of an issue.
In addition to the creative possibilities, part of the company’s sales pitch will focus on the economical benefits that the range offers over a traditional envelope inserter. Illingworth points out that the WrapStar has "no envelope inventory, no envelope change over time and lower material cost".
It sounds like a compelling argument and it’s going to have to be given the machine’s price tag of £250,000. To some, this might be seen as being cost prohibitive (all of the alternatives that cited a price come in significantly cheaper than the WrapStar), but Illingworth claims that Pitney Bowes’ offer is comparable to other paper inserting lines on the market.
"The machine’s speed is comparable to conventional inserting machines, but among its advantages is a low cost per mail piece," adds Illingworth.
Regardless of the price, with areas such as transactional mail growing rapidly and little signs of the speed of take-up abating, it looks as if the company has pitched a machine into the market at the right time. WrapStar has huge potential scope but its main challenge will be persuading cash-strapped business to splash out when finance is hard to find.
SPECIFICATIONS
Speed
WrapStar 20:
20,000 pieces per hour
WrapStar 30:
30,000 pieces per hour
Envelope size
Min: 80x100mm
Max: 250x330mm
Max envelope thickness
20mm
Price
from £250,000
Contact
Pitney Bowes 08905 252 525 www.pitneybowes.co.uk
THE ALTERNATIVES
Buhrs BB300
The BB30 envelope inserter can handle special formats such as square or creative envelopes, as well as envelopes with multiple windows. Users can not only process standard projects, but also very specific enveloping requests, even if that means adding CDs or product samples to your mailing.
Max speed 10,000 envelopes per hour
Price from £105,000
Contact Buhrs UK 01256 329191 www.buhrs.com
Sitma C80/750
Sitma’s polywrapping line is strictly speaking a plastic wrapping line. However, it does come with a paper wrapping line as an optional extra.
Max speed 12,000-15,000 packs per hour
Price £20,000-£100,000
Contact Integra 01420 593680 www.igm-group.co.uk
Kern 2500 Multimailer
As well as having pacy high-end machines, Kern’s mid-range products are fairly flexible. This machine can accommodate up to 28 feed stations.
Max speed12,000 packs per hour
Price n/s
Contact Kern UK 01489 564141 www.kern.co.uk
Muller 6800
The 6800 can accept input as: reels, which are sheeted and slit, or as sheets; fold or leave flat; accumulate documents up to 6.5mm bundle height and insert into pre-formed envelopes. As Muller design modular machines, there is no maximum feed stations.
Max speed 15,000 packs per hour
Price from £64,000
Contact Mailing & Mechanisation (UK) 01327 315031 www.mailingandmech.com
