QuadDirect Expands Effingham Direct Mail Capabilities and Capacity

Multimillion-dollar investment in commingling and related mailing optimization technologies drives greater speed and postal savings for direct customers

QuadDirect, a division of Quad/Graphics, Inc. (NYSE:QUAD), is setting new records in direct mail production and distribution savings at its Effingham, Ill., facility following a multimillion- dollar investment in new commingling mailing and inline manufacturing equipment and systems. A year-long expansion project—including two additional high-speed letter sorters for commingling operations—has helped make the 579,000-square-foot facility a direct mail powerhouse in Quad's expanding direct mail platform.

"Effingham is one of the largest printing facilities in Illinois with a long history of direct mail and related commercial printing leadership," said Joel Quadracci, Quad/Graphics Chairman, President & CEO. "Our latest investment in the plant has focused on state-of-the-art inline press personalization, selective inserting and on- site commingling capabilities. The result is a truly 21st-century facility with more of the technology direct marketers need to drive greater response while better managing production and distribution costs."

The Effingham improvements build on Quad's strengths like inline direct mail production and personalization. The additional commingling lines allow multiple direct mail projects to be combined into a single mailstream to drive greater postal savings and efficiencies. In particular, direct mailers executing versioned and personalized direct mail projects can now take advantage of Quad's enhanced commingling and personalization capabilities while utilizing high-density mailing solutions and retaining discounts. Inline direct mail production drives further cost savings by producing an entire mailpiece in a single operation, from paper on one end to a finished mailpiece on the other, bypassing costly and time-consuming offline steps.

An additional project benefit is complete system redundancy for Quad's direct mail platform to ensure backup flexibility, according to Steve Jaeger, President of QuadDirect. He said the Effingham plant's capabilities mirror the company's Pewaukee, Wis., facility for most direct mail applications. That redundancy is critically important to the company's ability to attract new, larger direct mail accounts in the retail, insurance and telecom markets. "As we continue to grow our business with national accounts, it is vital we demonstrate system integration and redundant capacity to assure our customers that their programs will be executed on-time and on- budget," Jaeger said.

"Our direct mail approach relies on continued innovation and sophistication for inline solutions that deliver increasingly engaging and personalized formats while retaining the speed-to-market and cost savings of inline versus offline," Jaeger added. "Customers who have toured our enhanced Effingham direct mail operation are excited to apply these new capabilities to drive greater response while controlling costs."

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