Operating out of a 70,000 square foot facility in Indianapolis with 60 employees and running three shifts, direct mail marketing innovator Vision Direct is leading the way in creating and offering cutting edge solutions to the challenges faced by its varied clients. Founded by entrepreneur Doug Switzer in 1992, the company is known throughout the industry as a data-driven direct mail and fulfillment leader with a commitment to ongoing evolution backed by consistent and strategic investment. “We produce marketing mail, statements, and operate unique fulfillment lines,” explains Switzer. “It’s a lot of technology and we’re really proud of what we’ve done to both enhance our business over the years and ensure ongoing success for our clients.
”Transitioning from toner-based digital printing to production inkjet was one of these enhancements. As Switzer recently put it, “We’d been watching the maturation of inkjet technology for quite some time, especially as it applied to direct mail. As the quality began to rival offset and it became possible to print on a greater variety of materials, our interest was piqued. In 2019, we acquired our first Ricoh production inkjet printer, building out a completely separate space to house the new press and the nearline finishing technology that went along with it.”
In making the decision, Switzer and his Vision Direct team visited Ricoh’s Customer Experience Center in Boulder, CO, as well as Standard Finishing’s demonstration center in Andover, MA. Impressed by what they saw there, Vision Direct soon installed a Ricoh Pro VC60000 press in-line with a Hunkeler unwinder and rewinder, along with a near-line Hunkeler Roll-to-Cut/Stack-to-Fold solution to finish the printed rolls. The finishing system included the Horizon AFV-566F Folder which could be used in-line for folded mailers or moved offline to finish stacked output, such as postcards or forms.
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