Moving Into Transpromo - In-plant Impressions

By Bob Atkinson

The Principal: Using Transpromo to Educate Customers

Based in Des Moines, Iowa, The Principal Financial Group is a global financial company offering retirement solutions, life/health insurance, wellness programs and investment/banking products.

To produce the statements and other support materials needed by the company, The Principal’s 150-employee Print to Mail operation has been using digital printing and VDP for almost a decade. In 2000, the in-plant began with Xerox 2060 systems, and by 2004, increasing volumes and variable data requirements took them to Kodak NexPress systems. At one point the in-plant had 10 NexPresses on its floor.

As a leader in the financial business, The Principal wanted to use technology to provide relevant information to customers. It started utilizing transpromo printing on its 401(k) statements as a way to educate customers and help them make smart investment choices.

Last year, with very individualized 401(k) report designs and huge quarterly runs (up to 20 million letter-size impressions), the company moved to two dual-engine, full-duplex 20? InfoPrint 5000 web color ink-jet presses to handle the workload. These presses are capable of up to 916 letter-size color impressions per minute.

To feed these presses, The Principal uses a mainframe running highly-optimized VDP software written in Exstream’s Dialogue programming language (now owned by HP). This system produces thousands of individualized PDF files, which are sent to the front-end RIP systems of the two InfoPrints. Each RIP system is a three-stage system with 20 dual-core processors and specialized RISC-chip processors.

The InfoPrints are roll fed using Lasermax Roll Systems LX550 unwinders. Post-press, the in-plant uses inline Lasermax Roll Systems cutter/trimmers and stackers plus an IBIS Smart-binder SB-3.

Adding the InfoPrints has stirred interest among the in-plant’s customers, says Rex Brooker, senior IT leader analyst. They are asking questions about additional print opportunities for the printers.

The in-plant plans to retain five or six of its 10 NexPresses to produce marketing collateral and other high-quality work, he says.

OVER THE past couple of years, the term “transpromo” has been popping up across the printing industry, particularly among in-plants, where demand for it is highest. What is transpromo printing, and why is it an attractive option for many companies and organizations? Transpromo is the addition of promotional or customer education messages to regular transactional documents, like bills and statements.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 All Next »

0 Comments

View Comments

Bob Atkinson Author's page