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Metzgers Printing and Mailing Selects Pageflex Storefront to Advance Growth Into Web-to-Print Solutions

Press release from the issuing company

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--March 28, 2006-- Pageflex, the leading provider of cross-media and Web-to-print technology for personalized marketing, announced today that Metzgers Printing and Mailing of Toledo, Ohio, has adopted Pageflex Storefront to support their expansion into new Web-to-print and variable data printing services for its customers. Metzgers chose Pageflex Storefront because the software's powerful Web-to-print composition capability allows them to build solutions that provide their clients with a fast, easy way to create customized marketing materials. Pageflex Storefront's wizard-like automatic site building capability also allows Metzgers to deploy custom branded Web-to-print storefront portals quickly and easily. The selection of Pageflex Storefront demonstrates Metzgers' commitment to innovation, and reflects a growing trend in which traditional print service providers are evolving and adding new services to be successful in today's marketplace. Founded in 1976 as a type house, Metzgers has a history of combining their forward-thinking vision with the right technology and equipment to survive and flourish in a changing marketplace. Over the past 30 years, the company has expanded their services to include digital pre-press, digital printing, six-color printing, and direct marketing as well as a full-range of printing, mailing and fulfillment services. The company has recently moved their production facility to better accommodate for this growth, and now occupies a 35,000 square foot facility for print, mail and fulfillment, with a 10,000 square foot warehouse for picking and packing operations. Today, Metzgers is again expanding beyond traditional print services and into new areas. This shift in business is not just about offering new products; it represents a new approach to how they do business. It is a move away from the traditional print model of taking orders to a model where Metzgers collaborates with their customers to fully understand their marketing goals and provide them with solutions that will help them to meet those goals. To support this change in business strategy, Metzgers looked for technology solutions that would enable them to offer best-of-breed online capabilities, while also facilitating ease of deployment. Pageflex Storefront emerged as the ideal technology choice to meet these goals and provide a technology platform on which to grow the business. Metzgers installed Pageflex Storefront in December 2005 and within weeks had launched the first live site based on the technology, an interactive site where customers can design and order stationery products online. Today, users log in to an interactive Web portal, where they can choose from a variety of designs and layouts to create customized stationery products, including letterhead, business cards, notepads, and envelopes. Customers enter all of their relevant data into templates and, once they have the final design and text they like, their order is sent immediately into production. "Since 1986, our operation has been working 24 hours, producing projects even while we sleep. Today, with Pageflex Storefront, we are now even able to sell while we sleep, because our online store is available to our customers whenever they choose," states Joe Metzger, President of Metzgers Printing and Mailing. "We must stop selling just printing and focus on selling full system solutions that provide the best value and service to our customers, and with Pageflex as our partner, we know we will be successful." Before using Pageflex Storefront, the work and cost involved in creating stationery products made it too costly for Metzgers to be cost competitive, so they would often turn away those types of printing projects. Now, with Pageflex Storefront, Metzgers is able to produce the cards in hours, with little hands-on involvement from the typesetting department. The result is a faster, more streamlined process that provides clients with self-service capability and faster turnaround time. In addition, this new process also provides Metzgers with a more efficient workflow that allows them to provide customers with the best value for stationery printing while offering more services to each customer. With the stationery store a success, Metzgers is now developing customized, branded sites for clients in a range of industries. They are currently working with a home building client to build a Web portal where affiliates can come to "build a brochure," customizing relevant features such as benefits, locations, and photos. Another site is being developed for a university that utilizes variable data publishing to produce customized postcards, brochures and mailings to prospective students. Metzgers anticipates that the new products and services they are offering their clients will not only bring in more business, but will allow Metzgers to build stronger relationships with each customer and provide the best value for the customer's investment. "At Metzgers, we have a demonstrated history of growing our business through the adoption of new technologies. Too often, we have seen our competitors languish because of their reluctance to expand their services. Clearly this trend is reflected in the shrinking number of printing plants across the country. By having a forward vision, and finding the right technology to support this vision, Metzgers has been able to grow in markets where others have not been successful," says Joe Metzger. "Now, with the addition of Pageflex Storefront, we have a powerful tool to take our business in a new direction. Our innovative spirit and this powerful technology will help us to provide an outstanding resource to our customers and take our business to the next level." Metzger continues: "In the past five years, each time I have seen a printing company go out of business, it usually is directly related to that company NOT having computer-to-plate technology. Our adoption of this technology, and the addition of Pageflex Storefront powering our online store will assure long, sustainable growth for our company and provide the best value for our customers." Anna Chagnon, Pageflex CEO comments, "In today's marketplace, there is a disparity between those printers who embrace new technologies and those who cling to old business models. To survive in this age, printers need to rethink their business and be able to provide their customers with the broad scope of services they demand. Metzgers is an excellent example of a printer who is successfully doing just that. By utilizing the Web and Pageflex Storefront, Metzgers is expanding their offerings, streamlining their business processes, and competing effectively in this new marketplace."

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