Digital Finishing: Different Paths to Success
This capability has profound marketing implications. Hirsch can send out four different postcards in lots of 50 and (he contends) generate a 40 percent response. "One day I send a fish. The next day I send a piggy bank. The next day I send a bite card or a hotcard. The cost is about the same for each. The unique shapes get immediate attention and my clients can follow up with a phone call and generate an appointment to close a sale."
Hirsch works with Nutley, NJ-based Rule 1 Dies and Holographic Finishing in Ridgefield, NJ. The papers (including metallic papers) are diecut and pressed in such a way that they hold the shapes together, even when traveling through most digital presses.
"Diecutting adds about a nickel to the piece—that's it!" exclaims Hirsch, who has won hundreds of industry awards for his innovative marketing campaigns, including a coveted Xerox PIXI award. "Now I can take that $125 cost per lead down to $25 for my clients. I'm a big proponent of 'if it's not personalized and shaped and dimensional, it's not worth sending.' "
The Seibel Group
On the other end of the spectrum is The Seibel Group, a general commercial printer in Princeton, NJ, which offers a wide range of digital printing and finishing.
The Seibel Group runs two Canon imagePRESS C6010VP presses (driven by Fiery 3200 imagePRESS RIPs) with in-line saddlestitchers. For its finishing, it operates an MBO B123 folder with eight-page attachment, a Polar 92 cutter, a Rosback 201CA auto-stitcher, a Duplo DC-645 slitter/cutter/creaser, a Challenge three-hole drill press, a GBC coil binder and a Minipack-torre Replay 55 shrink wrap machine.
Seibel's most recent digital finishing investment is its Wire-O system purchased in March 2013. Previously, the company relied on a manual system. Its new Rhino-Tuff Onyx wire and coil punch with a Pic a Lift and auto paper ejector and stacker enables production of a higher volume of books more quickly.
