June 25, 2003 -- For Andrew Smith of DP Direct, a direct mail printer outside London, choosing a Heidelberg digital print system was a fairly easy decision. When shopping for a quick-printing black-and-white system to replace his aging printers from a leading document solution manufacturer, he immediately considered Heidelberg’s Digimaster 9110 print system based on its industry reputation. But Smith had concerns about the machine’s ability to print on paper stocks and sizes unique to his market. His Heidelberg sales representative assured him that the worldwide printing leader would provide a solution uniquely suited to his U.K. print market. In fact, Heidelberg was so confident that it gave Smith the press to use for six weeks, after which he could return it with no questions asked. The result? Smith bought the Digimaster that he had tried out for six weeks and invested in a second one to replace his outdated equipment. A leader in direct mail stays on the cutting edgeAndrew Smith founded DP Direct in 1971, having worked for a direct marketing company for several years. Today, his company has grown to about $5 million in sales and has 65 employees. One of the largest production mailing houses in the London area, the company offers full-variable data direct mail production -- from data processing, to digital printing and finishing -- for a diverse group of clients, including Saatchi & Saatchi and Greenpeace. High-quality production in less than half the timeAfter DP Direct began using its Digimaster systems, the company experienced immediate results -- increased productivity, greater ease-of-use and less service calls. "We have a large client in the financial services industry for which we produce individual benefit statements on a monthly basis," Smith said. "The job was always a challenge on our previous machines -- taking seven hours to produce. With the Digimaster, we can produce them in just two hours, with little effort from the operator." That not only makes Smith happy, but it also pleases the operators that run volumes of 500,000 to 600,000 pages per month on each Digimaster machine -- on a wide range of paper stocks with fast turnaround times -- 24 to 48 hours -- from start to finished product. In fact, according to Smith, word has gotten around the area from the company’s clients about the stellar performance of DP Direct’s Digimaster machines, and their ability to print on any paper size and almost any paper stock. "The reliability and flexibility of the Digimaster system gives my team the confidence to promise clients short timelines, high quality and greater versatility," Smith said. "It is able to handle difficult stocks of paper more effectively, so operators spend less time on cut-sheet production." Smith added with a laugh: "My press operators used to dread long-run jobs -- for it was a day of stopping and starting to complete them. Today, they look forward to it –– they can get caught up on their reading." And even when he or his press operators have any questions, Heidelberg is always fast to respond. "The service and support from Heidelberg is exceptional," Smith said. "As soon as I call with a question, someone comes to my shop to walk us through what we need to know to keep our business running smoothly."