Case Study

kpmDirect marketingProduction Print

kpm specialises in the high-quality, fast response end ofthe mailing market, servicing large enterprise clients fromthe financial, corporate and commercial mailing sectors.Deploying a Ricoh Production Print solution, as part of its

Name: kpm

Location: Swanley, Kent

Size: 20 full-time, 40 part-time staff

Activity: Financial, corporate and commercial

mailing

Challenges• Clients demanding more personalised communication

with their customers, and more higher grade marketing

services

• Immediate response to the corporate finance sector 24/7

• Differentiating brand and quality of service

• Reliability, performance and service issues with existing

equipment

• Drive to improve operational efficiency

Executive summary

Solution• Ricoh Production Print

Benefits• Helps to increase the value, quality and innovation of

mailing services

• Increases revenue potential with one customer revising

its tender and spending more money

• Enables complex variable print jobs to be produced

faster and at higher quality

• Supports different stock types and duplex printing

without compromising speed

• Helps to meet sustainability standards

Ricoh Production Printsolution helps highquality mailing businessdrive up service valueand revenue potential

strategy for growth and investment, has enabled kpm toincrease the value of the service it delivers to clients aswell as increasing quality and productivity.

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Challenges

kpm, established in 2001, offers a range of digital print,data processing, and a full range of associated mailingservices. From its 20,000sqft location in Kent, south eastEngland, the company services both UK and internationalclients including house-hold brands like Selfridges, the BBC,The Prudential, Zurich, BAE, UCL and a number of localgovernment authorities.

kpm specialises in the printing of documents for financial,corporate finance, commercial and local government clients,with documents often requiring a high level of complexvariable data. kpm differentiates its business and service byoffering customers a complete and high-quality solutionfrom planning projects through to managing and cleaningdata and distribution either electronically or by post.Unusually, kpm takes responsibility for data quality. It has ateam of skilled programmers who ensure that data - contactinformation and content - supplied by clients is clean andaccurate before being processed and distributed.

kpm has seen a shift in the complexity and personalisationthat clients’ customers expect and a demand from thoseclients to introduce more colour into the letters anddocuments they send out. As well as a spur to re-look at thecapabilities of the business and the type of print work ithandles, kpm also saw this as an opportunity to increase thevalue of the services it offers. Because of its knowledge andexpertise in managing and processing of commercial andfinancial related data, kpm realised that colour printingcould be used more effectively to make letters anddocuments more interesting, informative and personalised.

Graeme Burton, Operations Director at kpm, says, “We invest a lot of money into our data processingcapabilities – probably more than most direct mail houses -so we have a good handle on how that data can be used tobest effect. We started to see a change in client

expectations and we started to look at new job requests andalso at existing client work to see how we could promotethe use of colour to add value.”

But to help deliver this kind of added value, kpm needed toimprove its colour printing capability. Its existing colourprinters were no longer able to meet the high demands ofincreased monthly duty cycles, prolonged colourconsistency, reliability and value for money.

Solution

Ricoh was already working with kpm providing a range ofprint products and services and kpm decided to look atRicoh’s digital colour printing products as well as productsfrom other suppliers.

Burton says, “We were impressed with the reliability, thequality and value for money of the Ricoh production printtechnology, but it was also other factors like Ricoh’s supportand its understanding of our business challenges that led usto choose Ricoh as the mainstay of our digital colourprinting service. Also, things like Ricoh’s network of localengineers means that if any issues do arise, we have supportimmediately available on our doorstep.”

The company has deployed one of Ricoh’s latest colourdigital printers, the Pro C901, to replace some of its existingprinters as part of a Ricoh Production Print solution thatincludes service, support and training. The Ricoh press alsoincludes in-line book making and finishing, which meansthat kpm can run a complete job in one cycle on onemachine and this helps improve efficiency. The Ricoh pressintegrates seamlessly with a mix of print equipment - as wellas kpm’s data management systems - to provide thebusiness with a complete solution.

Benefits

The Ricoh production press is now an important part ofkpm’s ability to deliver an improved service and to add valuefor its clients.

Burton says, “One client approached us with a tender forproducing and distributing investment portfolio inform-ation. The requirement was to produce personalisedportfolio reviews ranging between 16 to 36 page finishedbooklets (folded, stitched and trimmed). Using our in houseprogramming resource we were able to enhance theproposed document format with more fully variablegraphical representations of the client’s investments. Thatled to the client revisiting the whole process and an increasein what they spent with kpm. And it’s the capability of theRicoh press that enables us to do jobs like this both quicklyand to a high standard.”

Case Study kpm

www.ricoh.co.uk

continued overleaf

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Being able to handle projects quickly and at very short noticeis key to kpm delivering a first-class service. Customers nowdemand and expect colour work to be done much fasterthan a few years ago. Much of kpm’s work is now same day.

Burton says, “The pace and quality of the Ricoh kit is veryimportant because our customers, particularly financialones, need us to move exceptionally quickly. If there is adeal going on, a customer may call us in the morning, andby 3pm that day we will have 100,000 items in the post.That is having processed the data, proofed, printed, foldedthe document and produced the envelopes. We rely on allour Ricoh equipment both mono and colour to ensure thesedeadlines are achieved.”

The efficient Ricoh press has increased productivity at kpm.“One of the stand-out features of the Ricoh press is itsability to handle all types of paper stock. The majority of ourwork involves A3 colour duplex printing, often on heavystock. This used to slow up the old machines considerably,but not the Ricoh press,” says Burton.

As well as printing at greater speeds, the Ricoh productionpress has a faster warm up time. This means the machinecan be kept in low-energy, standby mode when not needed,but be ready to go without a lengthy warm up as soon as ajob comes in. Ricoh’s use of recycled materials andcommitment to recycling consumables has helped kpmmeet its own environmental goals and ISO standards. In addition, kpm can now offer colour printing on 100percent recycled paper.

“With Ricoh we get the entire package. High quality colourprinting, speed, reliability and a supplier who is trulysupportive. We have a reputation as specialists in the high-quality end of the finance market for both colour and monoprinting, project management and delivery solutions. But, no matter how good we are with the process, whatpeople see at the end of the day is what we print. The investment we made in Ricoh reflects our continuousgrowth and we see Ricoh as an important partner now andin the future,” says Burton.

Case Study kpm

Ricoh Solution/Products

• Pro C901 colour

2013 Ricoh UK Ltd. All rights reserved. Replication of part or all of this document requires the express written permission of Ricoh UK Ltd.

www.ricoh.co.uk

Graeme Burton, Operations Director, kpm

“With Ricoh we get the entire package. High quality colour printing, speed, reliability and asupplier who is truly supportive. We have a reputation as specialists in the high-quality end ofthe finance market for both colour and mono printing, project management and deliverysolutions. But, no matter how good we are with the process, what people see at the end of the day is what we print. The investment we made in Ricoh reflects our continuous growth and we see Ricoh as an important partner now and in the future.”

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