Indianapolis, Ind. – With mergers and acquisitions affecting printers in the direct mail and fulfillment market, EZ Mailing had a significant decision to make back in 2014. Kevin Bennett, President of EZ Mailing, based in Indianapolis, IN, bought the assets of the business and had no intention of becoming a sheetfed offset printer again. The business was based around mailing and fulfillment, and Bennett, who had sold print for nearly 30 years previously, planned to just broker any offset print while focusing on his digital print and mailing operations.

“With the existing digital print capabilities of the company we acquired, I have the distinct memory of thinking that only an idiot would jump back into purchasing big iron (offset presses),” states Bennett. That changed, however, as he quickly discovered that brokering out the print work meant a loss of control over everything from timelines to quality, and a whole lot of the profits as well.In June 2018, he took a big step and purchased Haywood Printing, a commercial shop based in Layfette, and immediately put the older offset press that came with the business up for sale — and put down a deposit for the new RMGT 920.

One of the biggest draws for Bennett, for whom mail continues to be a large portion of the business, is the offset speed and quality, without the need for press powder. “Press powder kills,” he says. “If I printed a job offset on one side, and variable-data on the other, I blow press powder through the digital press. With LED-UV technology on the RMGT 9 Series press, I don’t have that issue.”

While Bennett does have a large fleet of digital presses for those variable projects, he notes that he doesn’t just run everything on those units “because of the cost. That click rate will eat you alive,” he says. “And what is the life span of a digital press? Maybe 3-5 years? With offset, it’s 20 or more. We pulled a lot of the jobs we were running digital before, and we’ve moved them back to offset on the RMGT press. I can take a postcard job that would be around 3,000 clicks digitally and run it eight-up on the RMGT in a few minutes time and pocket the extra money.” 

It’s not even about the quality, or even the color fidelity, which Bennett notes are fantastic across the board. Rather, he stresses that the RMGT has made the economics of print much more favorable. “I can manufacture a piece more cost-effectively on offset,” he says. At the same time, because the RMGT 9 Series press uses LED-UV curing, there is no dry time either like there would be on a conventional press, allowing him to “do a pass through, then just flip it over and run it again for the other side. And I can send it right to finishing from there. I can have a 1,500 sheet job done from plates to finished in less than 15 minutes.”

The financial numbers EZ Mailing is seeing are backing that up. Bennett notes that he has gone from around $1.5 million in revenue in 2017, to being on track for $7-8 million in 2020. “The RMGT 9 Series hasn’t just made our bottom line better,” says Bennett, “it also makes us more competitive for all our printing costs, which means we are also selling more work, as well.” EZ Mailing’s triple digit growth now adds them to a long list of RMGT customers who are enjoying meteoric growth at both their top and bottom lines. 

“EZ Mailing is the perfect example of how not only is print not dead, but offset print is very much alive and well, and still has a powerful role to play in today’s industry,” says Chris Manley, President of Graphco, the RMGT Distributor in the Midwest and Southeastern U.S. “We are also extremely proud to work with Kevin Bennett, who I call an Entrepreneur’s Entrepreneur. Within a few weeks of showing Kevin what the RMGT 9 could do for his business, he had placed his order and made plans to visit the RMGT factory in Japan. We are thrilled to see that his quick calculated, decision-making has resulted in great gains for his business."

Gary Greis, Graphco Regional Manager adds, “The RMGT 9 Series press is a perfect bridge between offset and digital, allowing printers to gain the benefits of shorter, more cost-effective runs, while also eliminating press powder and other chemicals, and getting the instant dry times for better productivity. No matter what vertical or print type a shop is targeting, EZ Mailing proves this press can be a game changer.”