Committed to the race
How Kaleidoscope stepped up its direct mail game with the J Press 750HS
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Founded in 1999, Kaleidoscope Services has grown into a full-service print shop, mail house and fulfillment center for purpose-driven mail. The Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, printer is a leading provider of HIPAA compliant and purpose-driven mail for companies in the healthcare, insurance and financial industries.
Purchased by Brian Sauer, owner and president, Kaleidoscope Services continues to partner with the USPS to provide time-efficient and cost-effective solutions for delivery of letter, flat and parcel mail distribution.
Today, Kaleidoscope is committed to achieving the highest standards of integrity, excellence, performance and customer satisfaction.
The Challenge
With its customers following an industry-wide trend of moving toward more personalized and targeted marketing collateral, Kaleidoscope Services found itself limited in keeping up with its existing equipment, particularly in how it handled variable data printing efficiently. The printer was running a program called Cheetah on several smaller Ricoh machines, in which it combined a number of small orders into larger ones to meet USPS discount minimums for quantity mailings to targeted neighborhoods.
Ray Delacqueseaux, VP of Operations, and Ray Banacki, GM, knew that to upgrade the process they needed to update the equipment. âIt was mass postcards,â Banacki says. âYou wanted to mail 50,000, 100,000, 200,000, but the market was going in a different directionâone where variable data was driving things. No one wants to canvas and spend all this money in postage targeting people that may not want their product.â
The Solution
After an extensive research and evaluation process, Delacqueseaux and Banacki set up a meeting with the Fujifilm team. It didnât take long for them to recognize they needed a sheet-fed press capable of handling variable data printing with exceptional quality, eventually making a commitment to the J Press 750HS.
The J Press 750HSâs ideal combination of speed, quality and versatility would enable Kaleidoscope to produce personalized marketing collateral efficiently while meeting the stringent quality standards of its clients.
Additionally, the seamless integration of the J Press into Kaleidoscopeâs existing workflow, facilitated by Fujifilmâs support and training, ensured a smooth transition and minimized downtime.
âItâs all about decreased turn times,â Delacqueseaux says. âI call it the Amazon effect. People can sit at their desk and order something at 2 p.m. and it will be at their front door by 5. They want their marketing mail to be the same. So itâs drawing efficiency mirrored with quality to be able to get it in the customerâs hands in a timely manner, but still being able to produce a good piece at that.â
“The J Press has a fantastic color gamut. A lot of time on inkjet machines those looks fade. But on the J Press, theyâre sharp, theyâre crisp, theyâre bright. You usually only get that on typical offset presses.â â Ray Banacki, GM, Kaleidoscope Services
The Results
The implementation of the FUJIFILM J Press has yielded significant results for Kaleidoscope, transforming its operations and enhancing its competitive edge in the market. With the J Pressâ superior color gamut and consistency, Kaleidoscope has elevated the quality of print output, meeting and even exceeding the expectations of its clients. The elimination of make-readies and the ability to run variable data printing seamlessly have significantly enhanced operational efficiency, reducing turnaround times and increasing productivity.
âThe J Press has a fantastic color gamut, especially in yellows and oranges,â Banacki says. âA lot of time on inkjet machines those looks fade. But on the J Press, theyâre sharp, theyâre crisp, theyâre bright. You usually only get that on typical offset presses. To be able to do that on an inkjet press is special. The ColorPath and XMF have brought a lot of efficiencies to our prepress department, specifically with the hot folders; you can create based on size, paper, weight, things like that. Color was done by eye, so to speak. Right now with ColorPath, we know that the first sheet is going to match the last sheet every single time. On an offset, you had to run at least 300 sheets just to get to color.â
In addition, the J Press has proven to be cost-effective to run, with comparable or even lower operational costs than offset printing. Reduced ink consumption, minimal waste and streamlined maintenance have contributed to overall cost savings for Kaleidoscope, enhancing its profitability and sustainability in the long-term.