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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.
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.
Saving Money at Small Nonprofits with a Letter Folding Machine
We know the small nonprofit’s situation. You’re out there doing very good things with very little – small budget, small office, small staff, if any. Everything is small, except your hearts. You are fighting the good fight and keeping your constituents in the know. You’ve got a quarterly newsletter, a biannual fundraising appeal, thank you letters, and pledge reminders related to those appeals and sometime more mail than you can keep up with.
Often, when it’s time to do a big mailing, the entire staff pitches in to help fold the letters. Or, maybe you go through the headache of coordinating the schedules of your volunteers. The goal is to get them in the office at the same time and knock out that big mailing. Snacks are provided.
- Wouldn’t your staff be better utilized serving the mission and running programs? It’s not a good use of time or resources to pay the Director of Development or the Executive Director, let alone the administrative staff, to sit for eight hours and fold letters.
- Couldn’t you excite your volunteers with a more active role in the organization? Perhaps instead of a fruit tray and letter folding, you give them donors to call and thank.
Any development director can tell you that their biggest headache is not trying to raise money, it’s putting together the logistics of actually organizing the folding and stuffing. This is where you can use a machine to make your life easier?
Every hour on the clock for staff and volunteers is crucial; for staff, it’s costly too. You may be “saving” money by having your staff fold letters, until you look at the salary costs. That $25/hour senior staff just cost $200 to fold and stuff letters all day.
Try investing in a letter folding machine to make that hour more productive. Does 10,000 neatly folded letters in an hour sound productive? And, not just letters. These folders often take different paper sizes and weights, and have different fold settings for newsletters, brochures and pamphlets.
So, concentrate on serving your mission, and let a letter folding machine from Lloyd’s serve your folding needs. It’s an investment that will save your small nonprofit money.
What Can a Letter Folding Machine Do for Your Office
Consider this.
Let's say those employees are paid $10 an hour and it takes them two days to fold the quantity of letters you have. That's a cost to you in addition to what you lose in that employee's other productivity. Multiply that times the frequency of which you're doing mailings. Add benefits, break-time, holidays and vacation.
Another Scenario. You invest in a letter folding machine. They start under $900 and get really fancy around $3,000. They fold on average 12,000 sheets per hour, they’re easy to operate and they don’t take up much room. Your investment pays for itself in no time, and you have happier employees. After all, nobody really enjoys folding letters.
These folders are great for more than letters and invoices. They often take different paper sizes and weights. They have different fold settings for newsletters, brochures and pamphlets. And, some models make Julienne fries (okay, maybe not, but they do so much other stuff, you won’t even notice).
Best Bet. You get your folder from Lloyd’s with free shipping and great customer service. The price is so good, you pay for it with only a few uses. So, think about it… What can a letter folding machine do for your office?
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.