Brentwood, Essex – 16 November 2007 – Two Océ 440 PageStream print engines have been at the centre of an expansion programme at Thamesdown Marketing Services (TMS) in Swindon.  The company is using the machines to print personalised direct mail pieces in duplex – printing both sides of paper simultaneously - and the new service is on track to increase the company’s annual turnover by almost £1million.

 

The investment came about after TMS identified that only a small number of printers operating in the direct mail industry are equipped to deliver a personalised duplex printing service.  The company therefore decided to set up a new duplex printing facility in order to retain a competitive edge over its competitors. 

 

Paul Parkin, managing director at TMS, said:  “We approached our long-term supplier Océ to explain that we wanted a system capable of printing on both sides of the stock simultaneously.  In addition, any investment that we made would also need to enhance our simplex (one-sided) service, therefore finding a machine flexible enough to accommodate both printing processes was essential. 

 

“Océ advised us that we would benefit from installing two separate print engines so we can run them inline to each other when we want to print duplex, and then separate them to become stand alone machines when printing in simplex.  We already owned an Océ PageStream 440 system and needed to take just one other printer in order to create the right set-up.  However, because our existing machine had produced over 200 million copies in its lifetime we thought now would be an ideal time to replace it and chose to install two of the newer, higher resolution Océ PageStream 440s instead.”

 

Mr Parkin continued:  “The set-up is really working out and the extension to our service offering has been extremely well received by our customers due to the fact that duplex printing uses less paper, which obviously has both cost and environmental implications.  In using fewer sheets the customer can also save money on postage.  The benefits of printing in duplex are well documented and this explains why our new division already accounts for 25 percent of our total workload We project our turnover will go up by around £870k this year as a result of the installation.”

 

The two PageStream 440 print engines at TMS are supported by Orion paper processing technology and will typically produce runs of 100,000 to one-million on a range of A4 and A3 sized stocks including recycled and gloss papers between 80gms and 200gms.

 

Overseeing the investment at TMS was Océ’s James Hansen.  He said:  “The TMS installation demonstrates how, with a carefully thought out strategy, Océ technology can be applied to meet even the most specific of requirements.  The company is not only attracting a growing amount of new business by offering duplex printing services to its existing customers, but the extra print engine means the company has doubled up on its continuous feed laser printing capacity because the two Océ PageStream 440s can run simplex jobs concurrently.”

 

TMS, which was established in 1998, employs 60 people and has a turnover of £3.5million.  In addition to the new 440 PageStream machines, the company also owns an Océ PageStream 350.  The three Océ machines combined are responsible for producing over 300,000 prints for the company per day.

 

TMS offers a complete range of printing, finishing and fulfilment services including database management, data processing, polywrapping, enclosing and despatch.  Clients include companies in the financial sector as well as a number of leading direct mail agencies situated within the UK.

 

For further information, please contact Colin Harding / Gary Gaskarth of Grayling public relations,
Tel. 0207 255 1100