Rebounding Strong to Meet High Customer Demand

Solon, Ohio – On March 5, 2020 Kevin Bennett, President of EZ Mailing, and Gary Greis, Regional Manager of Graphco, flew to Standard Finishing’s demonstration center in Andover, MA for a VIP Demonstration to evaluate Horizon finishing equipment. In spite of the current economic crisis, what has not changed is Kevin Bennett’s determination to make EZ Mailing the highest quality and most efficient Print and Mail company in the Midwest. “We never really thought about cancelling the trip to Standard. We need to improve our efficiency because of all the volume our customers are sending our way. Our first two Horizon machines have been great, so we flew up to Boston for the demo,” states Bennett.

The 13 months leading up to that trip have seen EZ Mailing move into a newly renovated building, acquire and tuck in several businesses. They have added two new Horizon machines, revamp their mailing equipment, and also on-board a new RMGT 920 Series Offset Press with LED-UV curing. While all of these moves stuck to the vision and strategic plan that Bennett has pursued since buying EZ Mailing back in 2014, the rapid deployment has been thrust upon this entrepreneur’s shoulders by his customer’s demand for high quality and cost-effective direct mail. “The new press has been the biggest game changer for us since we can print jobs from 500 to 100,000 sheets at selling prices that our customers love. But we couldn’t let finishing all that volume stand in the way of meeting deadlines, so we needed to improve efficiency in bindery as well.”

While many non-essential businesses were still closed, on May 1, 2020, Bennett agreed to move ahead on the purchase of a new Horizon AFC-566FG Fully Automated Paper Folder. EZ Mailing was already selling jobs that they needed the new faster folder to produce. “We’ve seen an uptick in quoting and volume at this time. We have had to do more work with less workers and we have staggered our staffing to be compliant with health and safety standards,” says Bennett, “Moving ahead with the new folder was the right move at the right time. Our folder delivered on May 11th and Graphco was in here on the 12th to install and train our people. Our very first job took 3 minutes to set up and then ran at 25,000 sheets per hour, the same job that ran at 9,500 on our old folder.”

The new Horizon folder (featured here: https://bit.ly/ReadyToRebound) will not only streamline throughput of the work produced on the LED-UV equipped RMGT 9 Series, but also fold short runs coming off the digital equipment as well. The Horizon AFC-566FG Folder sets up automatically via a 10” color touchscreen that prompts the operator through a complete changeover in less than a minute. A single sheet placed into the digital caliper triggers automatic roller gap adjustments in all eight-buckle fold positions, and with 17 standard fold patterns built into the system, changeover from one complex job to another takes under a minute. “Our customers come to us because they expect the highest quality. With all the upgrades we’ve made in the past year, we can meet and exceed their expectations. I personally couldn’t run the RMGT press, but all three Horizons are easy enough that even I could run them in a pinch.” adds Bennett.

In addition to the new Horizon AFC-566FG folder, EZ Mailing also added a Horizon RD-4055 Rotary Die-Cutter to produce jobs like door-hangers, special shape direct mail pieces and round-corner business cards. Their Horizon CRF-362 Creaser-Folder provides outstanding results on both digital and offset work that needs to be creased and folded for a perfect finish. “We get great comments from our customers on how much our quality has improved over the past year. The gloss and crispness of our LED-UV print off the RMGT blows them away and now our finishing will help us stay productive as our business volume rebounds.”

“In French, Entrepreneur means risk taker, and as a fellow Entrepreneur I am so proud to be in business with a guy like Kevin who has leaned into this situation from day one,” says Chris Manley, President of Graphco. “EZ Mailing is the perfect example of how essential Print truly is in helping all businesses rebound. Direct mail marketing has a powerful role to play in the coming recovery and EZ Mailing will be a leader in that effort. Both EZ Mailing and Graphco never shut down, and we have continued to serve our customer’s needs at whatever level that was that day. I’m looking forward to rebounding together with great people and companies like Kevin and EZ Mailing.”

“I can’t say enough how much respect I have for Kevin’s determination to succeed,” states Gary Greis, Regional Sales Manager, Graphco. “I know his willingness to move ahead in meeting his company’s goals will pay dividends for many years to come. Graphco and I will be with him every step of the way and I’m proud to have Kevin as both a good customer and a great friend.”

Learn more about Graphco at www.graphco.com.