The recent replacement of the company’s Xeikon 8500 by a brand-new Xeikon 9800 digital press was driven by a need to increase production capacity as a result of increased customer interest in direct mail as a customer acquisition and retention tool. Will direct mail volumes increase in this digital world? “Absolutely,” says business manager Danielle Vanwesenbeeck. “We are growing every year; and on a national level, the sector is also recording growth. Since e-mail boxes are now overflowing, it once again leaves room in physical letter boxes for marketers to get their messages across. We see it as complementary to other channels in reaching the consumer. Especially focussed, original and striking direct mail scores today. It also keeps the attention for longer, in comparison to email messages, which are often not read or retained.”
MasterMail needed more capacity as its business grew. Vanwesenbeeck saw the selection of the Xeikon 9800 as an obvious choice. “Our experience with the Xeikon 8500 was very positive,” she adds. “It is a very stable and reliable press. This is a critical factor in the direct mail-segment, where the deadlines are often very tight. It is not unusual for us to receive files in the morning, and by the end of the day, we must deliver the material to Bpost for distribution.”
The ability to quickly and easily contact sales, maintenance and R&D staff at Xeikon when needed also plays a role. Regardless of the size of the company, a client can quickly make direct contact with the correct Xeikon staff who truly listen to suggestions from the production floor as they think about future improvements to their presses and software.
Master-Mail developed its own workflow-solution in house to remain independent from suppliers. “That being said, it is a big advantage that our PDF workflow can easily be integrated with the Xeikon system,” Vanwesenbeeck continues.
At the end of August this year, MasterMail started using its new Xeikon 9800. This timing was to ensure enough time to make sure everything was up and running before the busy end-of-the-year season. “With hardware of this size, you are usually confronted with some teething problems during the implementation period. This was hardly the case here, though. The system was up and running in a week, and we quickly started receiving returns on our investment. We are completely satisfied with the image quality and image stability, the capacity and production speed and about the possibility to print recto-verso in the same run. We are also delighted with Xeikon’s financial model, where you pay for your actual use and thus not a fixed rate per page. This approach is absolutely correct. Finally, the very versatile and fast RIP performance is very important to our people. In short, the Xeikon 9800 has more than met all our expectations.”
