ROLLING MEADOWS, Illinois - MSP, a direct mail marketing company in Freedom, Pennsylvania, has grown from a home-based business into a production powerhouse by accurately identifying the challenges each marketer faces and developing a unique solution to maximize the response rates of targeted messages. A Screen Truepress Jet520S full-color inkjet web press bridges the gap between conventional offset with black-only laser personalization and the slower, more expensive method of digital color sheetfed printing. 

“We spent four years researching high-speed variable color inkjet printing before we bought this press,” recalled Douglas Wright, Chief Operating Officer. “We looked at different continuous-feed digital presses from many vendors. The Screen inkjet printing system was found to be the best application for us in terms of overall cost and maintenance. It offers high uptime, and it’s extremely user friendly. Screen didn’t over-engineer this press.”

The $65 million organization chose the Truepress Jet520S in a dual-engine duplex configuration. Its top printing speed of 420 feet per minute enables fast throughput and efficient production of high print volumes. The press went live in May 2014, ramping up to an average of eight to 10 million linear feet per month in no time. 

“With the flexibility to print full variable color on every form, we are seeing increased volume,” Wright said. “Ultimately, some of our mono laser printers will be archived here before too long.”

Now one of the most respected privately owned direct mail facilities in the country, MSP began life in 1953 as a modest letter shop called Mailing Services of Pittsburgh. Founders Richard E. Busheé Jr. and his father, Richard E. Busheé Sr. set up shop in the basement of their home. The company’s name later was abbreviated to reflect clients’ preference for the initials. 

The Busheé family business — Richard E. Busheé III serves as president — comprises four divisions. Collectively, MSP, Thorn Hill Printing, TrueSense Marketing and BlueSky ETO operate with 540 employees in a 151,000-square-foot plant outside Pittsburgh plus several offices in the states of Washington, Texas, New York, South Carolina and Connecticut. The four divisions provide digital and offset printing, mailing, sophisticated web-based marketing portals and database management. Mail capacity can exceed two million pieces a day. 

Approximately 60 percent of MSP’s portfolio consists of forms printing for clients in the nonprofit sector, including the Salvation Army and Ronald McDonald House Charities.  

“The Salvation Army is our longest-standing client,” Wright noted. “Fifty-five percent of the Salvation Army’s domestic printing takes place at this location.”

Agility, speed and a high degree of automation from prepress to postpress enable MSP to meet clients’ crucial deadlines on solicitation letters, remittance documents and brochures. Seeking to replicate a fully automated conventional half-web press, the company outfitted the Truepress Jet520S with a KTI unwind splicing unit on the front end and an EMT dynamic perforating unit and GEC dual rewinder on the back end.  

“The uptime has been outstanding,” Wright said. “The automation helps us with quicker turnarounds.”

Doing maintenance entirely in-house keeps costs down and the Truepress humming.

“It’s an easy machine to maintain,” Wright said. “Screen trained two of our employees at their demo center in Chicago to service the machine.”

The Truepress’ efficient use of ink also reduces operating costs, a significant factor in MSP’s decision to acquire the press. 

“We made modifications to the ink sets to better hit colors for clients’ logos,” Wright said. “The Truepress provides opportunity for variable color print, unlike conventional printing.”