By Lisa Guerriero
Known for their production capabilities, inkjet devices continue to advance in speed and quality, prompting increased adoption rates. In its U.S. and Western European Production Printing & Copying Market Forecasts: 2013-2018, InfoTrends predicts production color inkjet will account for 59.1 percent of all digital color volume.
OneTouchPoint is leading the way with cutsheet inkjet. An WI-based marketing execution services provider, in June it introduced Canon Solutions America’s Océ VarioPrint i300 inkjet press, which produces up to 300 A4 images per minute. One of the first companies to install the sheet-fed device, the company added inkjet to complement its existing toner-based digital and offset capabilities.
“It expands our capabilities to offer cost-effective direct mail pieces and turn jobs around faster due to the equipment productivity,” says Steve Henck, VP of operations, OneTouchPoint.
Breaking New Ground
Utilizing u.Connect, a proprietary marketing automation tool, OneTouchPoint provides multi-channel support—including marketing, fulfillment, and communication. Its services range from Web to print (W2P), to mailing with intelligent insertion and barcoding and end-to-end supply chain management. It staffs about 950 employees, working from its six locations spread across the U.S.
Founded in 2008, the firm works with customers around the country, as well as U.S.-based companies overseas. With $140 million in revenue, it serves over a thousand clients, including Fortune 500 companies in industries like manufacturing, healthcare, financial services, retail, and nonprofit.
A longtime user of digital printers, OneTouchPoint uses over 80 toner-based devices, including other Canon Solutions America models, as well as offset presses. With its first inkjet adoption, it acquired 16 of the newly-available Océ VarioPrint i300s. They are equipped with the Océ PRISMAproduction Server, designed for TransPromo and graphic arts environments, and the PRISMAsync digital front end.
The VarioPrint i300 produces up to 8,700 letter-sized pages per hour, with monthly volumes of up to ten million letter or A4 images. OneTouchPoint selected inkjet because it required flexibility for short-run work.
“It allows us to run mid- and short-range and go from stock to stock easily, as well as allowing us to use multiple stocks in a single run,” observes Henck.
The company uses its 16 inkjet presses specifically for direct marketing materials, insurance documents, and booklets and manuals. Inkjet runs are typically anywhere from 50 to 100,000 pieces producing 3.5 million 8.5×11-inch impressions per month.
OneTouchPoint offers extensive finishing capabilities across all of its digital and offset devices, including folding/mail, saddle stitching, perfect binding, and plastic coiling.
Several drivers determine when OneTouchPoint opts for inkjet over its other production devices, including time to market, cost per image, and stock availability. Customers are thrilled with the quality of the results. “When they first see examples, they usually don’t know it’s inkjet output until they’re told,” notes Henck.
Although the VarioPrint i300 enables printing on standard offset stocks, media is one challenge the company faces—stock availability and explaining to customers how to get the most out of their media choices.
Henck says paper plays a large role in color reproduction. Therefore, it requires educating customers on how inkjet reproduces on paper, as well as how to leverage design to get the most cost-effective benefit of color and ink usage.
Despite these obstacles, OneTouchPoint is enthusiastic about the cost, quality, and efficiency of its inkjet devices. The company will continue to expand the inkjet segment of its business, “because of the speed to market and the high return on marketing investment the equipment provides,” says Henck.
Investment Pays Off
OneTouchPoint provides a modular, integrated business communications solution to manage customers’ entire marketing supply chains. Incorporating inkjet technology gives the firm a new tool to accomplish its comprehensive goals. Inkjet offers efficiency for shorter runs—even when shorter entails thousands of pieces—and enables high return on investment. After seeing results from the 16 VarioPrint i300s it acquired, the company expects to continue expanding its inkjet capabilities. dps
Jan2016, DPS Magazine
