Maintaining high levels of service, quality and production efficiency have made The Lettershop Group one of the UK's leading direct mail specialists.

The Lettershop Group supports its innovative and confident approach to the competitive direct mail market it serves with an advanced range of production capabilities. The company has achieved success in a very competitive and demanding field through its strategy of providing a one-stop service to customers - from campaign concept and creation through mailing - together with a program of investment in new technology.

An Investment to Improve Quality

The reason for the company's success is, says Chief Executive John Hornby, “because we're extremely service, quality and production driven, and we strive to drive costs down where we can.” Focused on providing competitive and high-quality direct mail services, The Lettershop Group recently invested £10 million in new technology and a 35% factory expansion to enable them to remain at the forefront of production, finishing and mailing technology. As a result, a new five-color, 16-page Heidelberg M600 web press was added to their five-color and four-color offset presses and two five-color web presses. Plus, new off-line finishing technology unique to the company, now allows it to offer an extra dimension to direct mail production.

While improving production speed and efficiency was important, investment was also focused on achieving even greater quality, accuracy, consistency and color control throughout the production workflow. The decision was made to add QuadTech's Color Control System and Register Guidance System to the new Heidelberg web press. Supplied by UK agent Purdy Graphic Systems, the QuadTech equipment was essential to provide a “bullet-proof” closed loop color control solution. As a result, The Lettershop Group can automatically maintain accurate color throughout the run for target and visual settings.

Control that Provides a Strong Competitive Edge

The challenges of reel-to-reel web printing for direct mail products are unique. Because the web outputs at a speed of 450m per minute, accurate color and register control are essential to reach the target as quickly as possible and minimize wastage. Plus, the off-line personalization and finishing processes rely on handling a precisely-printed reel to maximize efficiency and avoid errors.

The usage of color in direct mail print varies widely from spot color to full-out color, and from low coverage to total coverage. “It's the most testing circumstances a printer can face because we need to maintain full color control across a huge range of ink densities and at high speed,” points out Works Manager, David Ward. “The QuadTech Color Control System is able to handle this range very well, particularly on low-coverage jobs where a high level of sensitivity is needed.”

Although the average print run length is 100,000, the company can handle jobs from 5,000 copies up to five million. “Sophisticated data and data handling capabilities have naturally led to higher levels of segmentation and shorter print run lengths,” points out Mr. Hornby. Consequently the new Heidelberg web has automatic blanket wash and plate changing to enable this flexibility with minimal interruption in production.

“Color control is absolutely essential and it's the reason why our customers can rely on us to maintain their brand identity consistently within the same multi-item mailing pack, time after time,” explains Mr. Hornby. “Some companies have invested millions of pounds in developing a strong corporate identity. Direct mail plays an important role in supporting the brand, so it's no surprise that companies demand accurate representation of their corporate color - even when their direct marketing items may only feature a small amount, such as a logo on a letterhead.”

Maintaining color accuracy and consistency is a fundamental part of The Lettershop Group's service and a key selling point to customers. “We produce a target brand sheet, which is approved by the customer, and all jobs are matched to it visually,” says Mr. Ward. “Our strict color control procedures definitely give us a competitive edge and have dramatically cut down on customer complaints.”

QuadTech Services Add Value

As part of its tough internal quality-control procedures, The Lettershop Group uses the reporting feature of the QuadTech Color Control System to produce a hard copy summary that is included in each job bag. This provides statistical data representing the job and acts as a valuable reference for future analysis if required. Not only is Mr. Ward satisfied with the performance of the Color Control System, he also praises the backup and support provided by QuadTech during installation: “They listened to our particular needs, fine-tuned the system accordingly, and provided excellent training.”

The Lettershop Group is determined to maintain its position as the most innovative provider of direct mail services in the UK. The completion of its latest investment strategy has enabled it to meet the changing needs of its customers through innovative and efficient manufacturing techniques.

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