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How Do I Choose the Right Bursting Machine for My Print Shop?
How do I choose the right bursting machine for my shop?
In this series of posts, “How do I choose?”, we will help you take a little of the guesswork out of selecting the best print finish product for your shop or office. It’s sometimes difficult to find the right machine to fit your needs when there are so many models.
An industrial grade form burster is essential to print shops who specialize in mailing or mail houses that have added digital printing to the mix. The ability to take on accounts with customers who do high-volume invoicing, grade reporting, or other applications where multiple forms are printed on one page.
First, know what your forms are printed on – cut sheet or tractor-feed paper? This is obvious, but knowing your limitations with the type of sheet you print on, could prompt you to make some other changes. Cut sheet forms have some flexibility in what type of machine they’re printed on in the first place, but you’ll find fewer errors in pagination and more options in burster machines for tractor-feed forms. For example, Lloyd’s has two table-top, and one high-volume cut sheet burster, but ten varieties of tractor-feed models.
The next crucial step in your comparison would be the speed at which your burster will operate. In the tractor feed category, the Low-Volume Series of Formax Bursters processes at speeds of 0 to 200 feet per minute. The Medium-Volume Series processes at speeds of 15 to 350 feet per minute and is capable of handling forms up to 17” long. The High-Volume Series operates at speeds up to 500 feet per minute. Your shops capacity for big jobs and happy customers is only limited by how much you can run efficiently in a day.
Also, consider the flexibility of you need in a machine. Do you need the ability to accommodate a longer form length? Do you need an imprinter add-on? A counter for audit purposes? Don’t just think about the here and now. Your business is growing. Giving your sales reps the more options to sell in the market place will keep your machines running more often and the profits will be … bursting your expectations.
If you have questions about the capability of any of Lloyd’s bursting machine models, feel free to contact us.
Five Tools Print Shops Can Use to Improve Profitability
You can run a print shop with an off-set press or a digital printer, but you can’t run a profitable shop unless you bring in-house the tools that will help you take projects to completion. It’s one thing to print pages, but what if your customer wants you to bind them? You printed 5,000 sales letters, but now the customer wants to take them somewhere else for mailing? You’re losing out on some valuable revenue by not having a couple extra machines around your office. Add extra profitability to your shop by offering each of these services.
- UV Coaters. Adding a UV Coater will give you the capability to apply hi-gloss, satin or matte coating almost on any printed sheet. There are many configurations to the available coaters on the market. Sizes range from 18” to 30” with a modular design to allow for added components like automatic feeders. This is also an environmentally friendly way to apply a finish to your printing. There’s even one line of UV coating that is 99.9% VOC free – exceeding all environmental air quality regulations. Add that to your marketing and get some new green-minded customers.
- Binding Machinery. Whether it’s low volume presentation binding or high volume commercial applications, binding machinery is a low-cost, yet crucial component to a successful shop. Prepare a presentations or proposals, books or newsletters with the look and feel your customers desire by having available comb, coil, wire or perfect binding. If you bind it, they will come.
- Letter Folders. Add fulfillment services to your shop. Every office needs to send mailed statements, invoices and other marketing material. If it’s going out in a traditional envelope style, there’s a folder to automate the process. These machines fold thousands of sheets per hour. There are tabletop models for low volume or floor models for high volume, but they’re all easy to setup and operate.
- Document Mailing Equipment. While you’re folding some projects, you might as well run an inserter for others. Save time and money by speeding up your mail processing. Inserters and pressure sealers keep your jobs in a neat sequential order so they’re ready for outgoing mail bins. Some inserters can fold and stuff up to five different sheets and BRE’s at 4,000 sheets per hour. Plus, a pressure sealer adds a whole new product type to your offerings.
- Laminators. Laminating adds durability and professionalism to any printing project. Toner, ink jet and UV inks alone are not very durable, but by adding even a thin laminate coating you can prevent ink cracking and insures a long handling life to a piece. Lamination also adds to the look and feel of your work You can impress customers and upsell projects like printing for photos, charts, posters and signage.
Improve your profits by adding to your catalog of finishing services. Lloyds of Indiana has competitive prices and a variety of models in each of these categories.
How Print Shops Can Add Direct Mail to Their Service Offerings
Like your stock portfolio, your print shop needs to be diversified. Not too long ago, customers had to have a large Rolodex of options. If you wanted a book printed you went to one printer; signage, you’d go to somebody else; a specialty die-cut job, you’d shop around; and mailing, well that’s labor intensive — better find a reputable mail house.
Then came along the Wal-Mart way of thinking. More and more customers want their print media the same way they get their groceries and sporting equipment: one stop shopping. Well, we can’t put all the blame on Wally. One reason that the market is forcing this change is the expansion of media in general. If my business is juggling web design companies, social media consultants, videographers, mobile software coders, AND I need something printed — well, I’d like to know that the shop that did such a good job on the company magazine can also handle my direct mail campaign. I don’t want to add another specialty shop to my ‘to do’ list.
Your Shop Could Print AND Mail
Adding direct mail capabilities is as easy as adding the right equipment. Add a letter folder, an inserter and a pressure sealer and you’ll turn a nice little profit while making your customers happy.
Take the Formax 6402 Inserter for example. You can configure your machine to have up to six feeders including BRE’s. It’s fast – 4,000 pieces an hour. It’s easy to run – touchscreen control panel. And, it keeps your job in a neat sequential order so it’s ready for sealing and your outgoing mail bins.
When it comes to sealing, you may want to look into the variety of applications a pressure sensitive project may yield. It’s not just for checks and invoices anymore. Pressure sealed mailers offer an inexpensive direct mail option for your client and diversity for your shops catalog of services. Even mid-volume pressure sealers like the Formax 2030 model can crank out 9,000 pieces an hour. Operation is as simple as loading a stack into the feeder and pressing a button.
So, consider diversifying you portfolio. For a modest investment you’ll see a return that’s a little more reliable than Wall Street.
Formax 2052 AutoSeal® High Volume Automatic Pressure Sealer
Process 11,000 forms per hour with your new Formax 2052 AutoSeal® High Volume Automatic Pressure Sealer. This model is for shops that need the power and speed of up to 125,000 forms per month folded and sealed. Virtually any application is within this sealer’s grasp, up to 8.5″ x 17″.
How is it Used?
Like its low and mid-volume cousins, the Formax 2052 AutoSeal® High Volume Automatic Pressure Sealer will fold your pressure sensitive mailers in the standard Z, the uneven Z, C, half folds, and even custom folds of sheets up to 14″ in length. Just drop in your sheets (no fanning required) and the six-digit counter will light up for audit control as your job zips through. Batch counting is also an option on the intuitive control pad to set up preset counts of documents to be processed.
Add optional units to the Formax 2052 like the 4′ or 18″ conveyors, or a Photo Eye for neat and sequential stacking. The 400 series jogger removes static electricity and aligns your forms. Or, there are Big Bin paper stacking carts to safely and securely transport your documents. Each addition to the 2052 AutoSeal® High Volume Automatic Pressure Sealer can add efficiencies to your office in no time.
And How Much Does it Cost?
The FD 2052 AutoSeal® High Volume Automatic Pressure Sealer is $9,995 at Lloyd’s with a one-year warranty. Plus, we’ll throw in free shipping and a gift with your purchase.
FD 2030 AutoSeal® Mid-Volume Pressure Sealer
If you’re processing up to 75,000 self-mailers per month, the Formax 2030 AutoSeal® Mid-Volume Pressure Sealer is the quick and efficient solution for your office. Designed with checks, invoices, and school forms in mind, the FD 2030 will fold and seal virtually any form that will fit on sheets up to 14″.
How is it Used?
Using the FD 2030 AutoSeal® Mid-Volume Pressure Sealer is as simple as loading the feeder and pressing start. No preliminary fanning of your sheets is required on the way in, and on the other side your finished product is counted accurately for audit control. Thanks to noise reduction covers the operation is quiet and standard self-mailer fold types (Folds “Z”, uneven “Z”, “C”, half folds and custom forms) are easy to program.
Like other Formax Pressure Sealer models, the 2030 Mid-Volume Sealer can be optionally configured with a conveyor and Photo Eye for neat and sequential stacking. Your office may also want to consider adding the 400 series jogger to remove static electricity and align your forms – forms that you could store in the optional locking cabinet that serves as a perfect base for the entire unit.
And How Much Does it Cost?
The Formax 2030 AutoSeal® Mid-Volume Pressure Sealer is $7,950 at Lloyd’s with a one-year warranty. Plus, we’ll throw in free shipping and a gift with your purchase.