Mail Service Locks Sales

Hederman Brothers' expansion into mailing services has paid off big time for the family owned shop, adding a new revenue stream, and securing its hold on existing print accounts. The success has been rapid in the three years since the Ridgeland, MS firm opted to move into direct mail.

“Most commercial printers operate businesses within a 50-mile radius,” says president and COO Doug Hederman. “But we look out 350 miles for customers. There are no trade binderies in our market area. This has led us to become very self-sufficient and to offer a wide variety of services to our clients. We knew that a lot of our printing was going directly to the postal service, so mailing services were a natural evolution of our business.”

The 91-employee commercial printer—led by Hap Hederman, the third generation of the family—is situated in a suburb of Jackson, and has annual sales of more than $13 million. The ISO 9001:2000-certified company operates around the clock, six days a week with occasional overtime on Sundays. Hederman is also Forest Stewardship Council chain-of-custody certified. The printer's progressive attitude toward technology extends back over the years. They were the first in Mississippi to add an offset press. The same attitude is revealed today in a customer training seminar offered this month, reviewing changes and enhancements to Adobe Creative Suite 3.

Hederman Brothers quickly found that the market they served was lacking a printer who could do printing and mailing rapidly and accurately. In 2007, the company routinely processed as many as 2.5 million pieces per month—a huge increase from no mailings whatsoever in 2005. Hederman routinely turns around complex mailings in 24 hours.

The company's first step into direct mail printing services, Hederman says, was the purchase of a Videojet digital inkjet addressing system and two monochrome Kodak Digimasters for variable-data printing.

It since has added another Videojet system—the PrintMail Wide-array with a 4´´ print area—as well as Xerox equipment: two monochrome high-speed Nuvera 120 sheetfed printers and a DocuColor 8000 digital color press.

The company's all Heidelberg pressroom features a 6-color 40´´ CD with aqueous coater, a 4-color 40´´ Speedmaster with 2-color perfector and a 5-color 29´´ SM52, also with aqueous coater. A Rampage workflow runs in prepress. Postpress equipment includes a six-pocket Heidelberg ST 270 Stitchmaster saddle binder and a 10-pocket Muller Martini perfect binder.

Getting into mailing is not as simple as stuffing an envelope. Some type of sequence verification software is required to protect the personal information of mail recipients. As part of its transition to mailing services, the company has moved into complex variable-data printing, using software from Lake Image Systems to ensure that the proper material is inserted into each envelope.

The company also purchased a Buhrs BB300 six-station inserter. The rotary, high-speed feeder handles from 4×6´´ to 10×13´´ envelopes and features a four-camera IntegraVision Matching System for fully personalized matching between feeders at full production speeds.

“The Buhrs machine enabled us to provide quick turnarounds and expand our mailing services,” recalls Hederman.

“As we visited other mailers, we noticed that many of them had inserter swing arms lying around their plants. When we asked about this, we were told that the swing arms were there because a quick replacement was often needed, or so they could be easily cannibalized for spare parts,” says Hederman. “Then we saw the Buhrs system, which does not use swing arms, and figured that we could eliminate one potential source of pain in our operation.”

Hederman Brothers serves a broad customer base that demands many different shapes and various mailing sizes of mailings. “As a result we must accommodate a wide variety of envelope lips and sealing mechanisms. The Buhrs machine can be quickly adjusted to suit the needs of the client, and never fails to insert reliably,” says Hederman. This includes top and side opening envelopes.

Moving into personalized communications and ensuring that inserts and envelopes are perfectly matched has enabled the company to significantly expand its business well beyond the areas it formerly served.

The 110-year-old company has a long heritage of innovation, which continues today. That Hederman has been successful in an area that is generally not considered a major printing market is testimony to its dedication to customers and ability to identify and capitalize on market trends.

ONLINE: go to www.hederman.com