Above: Terry Freeman of TC Delivers with his new Konica Minolta AccurioJet KM-1e.
Konica Minolta announced the installation of its AccurioJet KM-1e LED UV Inkjet Press and a full suite of color solutions at TC Delivers, a 65-year-old mail service provider with three locations in Florida. As one of the largest mailers in the southeastern United States, TC Delivers’ services include postcards, statements, brochures, flyers, magazines, parcels, packaging, tax notices and voting ballots, as well as personalized letters, postcards, fulfillment packages and direct mail pieces.
When in the market for a new press, a major consideration for TC Delivers was acquiring the capabilities to meet current client needs that are either outsourced or sent directly to another vendor. The company had been outsourcing the print for all variable image substrates, including statement shells, self-mailers and postcards, as well as the printing of brochures, flyers and color handouts. Requirements included the ability to print on a wide range of substrates, high color quality and a large press sheet than can accommodate a wide range of formats.
“Clients are getting much smarter about their marketing, particularly in the area of personalization, and we were looking to adapt,” said Terry Freeman, president, TC Delivers. “Once we made the decision to go from the print equipment used for mail to a full-production inkjet line, the Konica Minolta AccurioJet KM-1e LED UV Inkjet Press was the right choice based on the high quality of colors, overall capabilities, existing client needs and competitive advantage in our marketplace.”
This was TC Delivers’ first major investment in digital color print. As a result, it needed to find the right individuals – from managers, creative, pre-press and operators – who are experienced in this area to ensure success. TC Delivers was cautious not to proceed with the decision until it had the right people in place. Once that groundwork was set, TC Delivers installed the AccurioJet KM-1e along with Konica Minolta’s G7 set-up, ink optimization tools and job manager, light table and FD09 Spectrophotometer.
The AccurioJet KM-1e will allow TC Delivers to bring outsourced work back in house, while also becoming more of a full commercial print operation, instead of just a mail printer. Instead of relying on pre-printed shells with variable information added later, all work can now be produced inline in a single pass. In addition to reducing TC Delivers’ print outsource to almost zero, the AccurioJet KM-1e’s large press sheet opens up opportunities with some existing customers where it was limited by size.
TC Delivers reports that it can now provide quality, precision color, speed, design flexibility, end-to-end solutions, increased ROI and better response rates for its customers. By printing materials in house, the company is extremely pleased to be able to reduce emissions related to transporting materials that would have been outsourced, and eliminate drying procedures and wait times with the UV ink used. TC Delivers also used this opportunity to completely renovate a large area of one of its facilities to specifically meet the requirements of this program, allowing for maximum efficiency now and setting the stage for future growth.
“Konica Minolta is proud to partner with TC Delivers to support their customer-centric approach to the market that differentiates them from the competition,” said Bill Troxil, senior vice president, Strategic Business Development, Konica Minolta. “Their leadership team and dedicated employees, in combination with the Konica Minolta support team, will be a winning combination in the years to come.”
The Konica Minolta AccurioJet KM-1e is a 29-inch sheet-fed UV inkjet press. The KM-1e can produce up to 3,000 sheets per hour on a wide range of paper thickness, from 0.06 to 0.6mm. The press prints on various media, including clear film, metallic media, canvas and embossed paper.
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