The Mailliner 100™

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MegaSpirea International has patented the concept of online finishing of mail with variable content. The company is developing the Mailliner 100 in its plant in Colmar (France) .

This finishing-solution is combined with high-speed printing of variable and non-variable content using existing digital printing technology (inkjet or others).

Beginning with a roll of white paper, the Mailliner 100™ does

  • in-line production (cutting, folding, gluing and sealing) of real envelopes (no self mailer);
  • in-line dynamic diecutting, collecting and folding of up to 5 pages (tri-fold) per envelope.
  • The integrity of the document is guaranteed by the workflow (the envelope always follows the content).

The result is a ready-to-mail envelope produced dynamically that meets Just in Time manufacturing needs. The Mailliner 100™ finishes in two-up at a speed of 100 meters/minute.

Traditional technology 

How can we efficiently produce effective trans-promo documents? How can we leverage the white space on the outside of the envelope?

The transactional mail market is a price competitive market. Service bureas are fighting for market share and in-house operations are always under pressure to perform better, even as postage costs rise. Digital printing using inkjet is earning speed and quality. But the finishing of these documents is still labor intensive and very complex. By using the traditional finishing and inserting technology, one needs six production steps to arrive at a ready-to-mail envelope.

  • External production and internal storage of the envelopes;
  • Printing of the fixed elements (logo, etc);
  • Second run on a digital printer: printing of the variable elements (address, etc);
  • External production and internal storage of commercial flyers;
  • Inserting of the letters;
  • Integrity control (camera, etc).

The traditional process costs a lot of money and the supply chain is complex.

Can you avoid these costly production steps?

If you want a detailed cost comparison, please contact Dirk Salens of MegaSpirea International.

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Users 

The market-applications of the Mailliner 100™ are:

  • the B/W-transactional documents;
  • the Transcom-documents (color documents with transactional and promotional information);
  • hybrid mail.
MegaSpirea International will have customers in three markets:
  • in-house production units from banks, insurance companies, credit card companies, …
  • specialized mail producers, with a focus on Transcom-documents.
  • Postal Authorities and private players (Hybrid mail).

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Market applications 

In 2004, 425 billions items were mailed worldwide (source: Universal Postal Union). Despite e-mail and other non-printed ways of communication, the annual growth worldwide between 2000 and 2004 was 0,5%. One-third of the volume is advertising material, like direct mail.

Paper mail is still big business, even if you take into account the growing, but limited impact of e-mail and electronic bills presentment and payment.
The market-volume is enormous!

MegaSpirea International sees four major market-trends:

  • Rise of color: 80% of the existing market is black & white. The substitution of B&W

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Hybrid mail 

More than a third of public postal operators are offering new postal services, and the availability of such products is set to grow between now and 2008 (source: Universal Postal Union – Review and outlook – September 2004). One of these new services is hybrid mail. This is mail based on an e-mail message sent by the customer to the Post, which then prints it, dispatches it and delivers it in physical form. The UPU says that "Hybrid mail is expanding with almost a quarter of public operators offering this service". Hybrid mail means an important costs saving by eliminating a lot of distribution steps.

MegaSpirea International believes that hybrid mail is the major market for the Mailliner 100. Customers worldwide prefer still hard copy for security and privacy reasons.

For example: a customer in Chicago logs on to the website of the US Post and defines his letter and envelope he (or she) wants to sent to Paris. From the desktop in Chicago the e-mail goes directly to the production site of the French Post in Paris, where the letter and the envelope are printed and finished using the patented technology of MegaSpirea International.

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TransPromo documents 

90% of recipients open transactional envelopes (invoices, statements and bills) to obtain valuable information. 90% of these people archive this information. It’s obvious that transactional documents can have an enormous commercial power. These colorful Trans-Promo documents lead to faster payments and to more response. Market potential? 93% of the Telco’s and 87% of the banks don’t use their most valuable documents for commercial purposes. With new digital printing technologies like inkjet, these documents can be produced at high speed and with a nice quality.

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Time for Revolution! 

What will happen on the market?

  • The use of TransPromo documents and hybrid mail will grow.
  • Speed and quality of digital printing is growing.
  • Mail producing is a price-sensitive market.
  • The finishing of these documents is still labour-intensive and the supply chain is complex.

More automation is needed in the finishing department. This is the core-business of MegaSpirea International. The automation of the finishing of mail with variable content will lead to a cost saving of 15%.

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The patents 

MegaSpirea International has the exclusive rights to commercialise the European and American patents "Continous strip of detachably interconnected folded products". These patents protect the concept of online finishing using a joint piece and the end products (envelopes) of this process.

MegaSpirea International has also patented the general concept of Mailliner 100 as well as the specific and innovating parts of certain technological moduls.

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