Round-Up Profits With Roll Products
Laser printers and the demand for time-saving convenience are helping these products shape the future.
Tired of hearing about extinct or declining traditional forms markets? Well Lowell Lumpkin, general manager of Dayton, Ohio-based Crabar, is pleased to report that roll products constitute a genuine growth area for the industry.
"The laser printer people were the ones who identified the need for rolls to enhance production proficiency, not the forms industry," said Lumpkin. "The biggest advantage is what rolls do to save time and energy in getting medium- to long-runs out."
Consider that in a four hour time period, you would have to stop, load and attend to about 36 different boxes of continuous product as opposed to loading a single jumbo roll and letting it go.
"The equipment people selling laser printers and roll-handling equipment have already sold customers on the advantages of rolls," Lumpkin continued, stating that the key for distributors is to sell service and knowledge, as well as the fact that they're partnering with an experienced, competent supplier. Because, as Lumpkin put it, if the rolls are not manufactured and handled correctly, "You can have a world of trouble."
Defining Roll Products
Mark Clabaugh, vice president of sales and marketing for PRINTSouth in Atlanta, considers roll products, "Any printed product which is produced, shipped and consumed in that form, including ATM rolls, rolls of printed tags and labels and—the mother of them all—the jumbo roll."
Typically, customers take pre-printed jumbo rolls with the perfs, pinfeeds and static information in place and load them into their own machines to do the variable laser imaging.
Paper Systems Incorporated (PSI), Springboro, Ohio, manufacturers small rolls from 1⁄2˝ to 15˝, particularly for registers and point-of-purchase use. Lee Wagoner, PSI's executive vice president, tells distributors, "The world is your marketplace."
Consumers need receipts for taxes, business vouchers and product return purposes. And although chip and magnetic strip cards—which electronically record transactions—are creeping into the mainstream, Wagoner believes it will take a considerable period of time before the majority of consumers relinquish the security of paper receipts.
In the meantime, retail, hospitality, health-care, finance and law enforcement—with the new hand-held computers that dispense violation tickets—all continue to be strong markets for small roll products.
"A convenience store that sells gas and groceries and has a car wash is a single account that probably uses five or six different roll products," said Wagoner. "And register rolls can also provide promotional benefits by offering coupons or advertising specials on back."
A newer, and quite successful, application has been generated by "kiosk marketing" taking place in department stores and service centers. Touch-activated computers are set up in kiosk-shaped structures located in the housewares section of a department store, for example, so people can access bridal registry information. At car rental facilities, the same type of set up allows customers to request directions, get discount coupons and find out about hotels and area attractions—and it's all dispensed on rolled paper.
"Even the change converting machines spit out roll receipts that include security features," continued Wagoner. "And now gaming machines for poker and slots are using swipe cards—no money in, none out—so when someone wins, they get a receipt from a roll inside the machine to redeem."
Then you have the 40˝- and 50˝-diameter jumbo rolls used by banks, phone and insurance companies, large data center installations and process billing groups.
A typical 18x11˝ jumbo roll is a continuous form delivered in a roll and is roughly the equivalent of 36 cartons of 81⁄2x11˝ forms. It's manufactured utilizing the same basic techniques as a continuous fan-fold form, but instead of folding the product and packing it in cartons, it's rewound at the end of a press—in diameters up to 50˝—strapped to a pallet and shipped to the end-user.
According to Lumpkin, the first market to really convert to rolls was large phone companies for bill processing. Now, primary users include financial institutions, insurance companies and letter shops involved in the direct mail industry. Jumbo rolls have become more widely used in the past six to eight years largely as a result of closely targeted direct mail applications.
Tom Sawyer, sales representative for Stylecraft, Canton, Mich., explained that rolls run on web presses which accommodate large runs—like 200,000 pieces. "You go sheet-fed when you're doing a short quantity like 1,000," he said. "Web presses also allow functions such as hole punching and adding perfs to be done inline."
Rolls can also be printed two-wide for even greater efficiency. Some laser printer processes can sheet, fold and even insert the forms into envelopes—all in-line—maximizing time and re-sources when sending out large volumes of statements or an extensive direct mailing.
"Think about an environment where as many as eight or 10 of these high-speed production model laser printers are being used," suggested Clabaugh. "the increased output alone would be worth the investment. Couple that with a possible reduction in support staff and less material sent to land fills, and you have a win-win situation."
In addition, thermal printer technology has enabled roll products to offer precise quality without bad images or light copies.
Special Considerations
Jumbo rolls are...well, jumbo, and require lots of storage space and special handling and equipment—such as a clamp truck to turn and load the rolls, which can weigh 400 to 800 pounds and more.
"Rolls must be wound with the proper tension so as to prevent telescoping," warned Clabaugh. Other issues include monitoring the printed image to insure accurate registration and consistent ink coverage.
"After all," continued Clabaugh, "when the press is running at speeds in excess of 1,000 feet per minute, it's difficult—if not impossible—to view the printing with the naked eye." He explained that web cameras timed to the speed of the press enable the operator to view any area of the form as though it were static. "In the event of a problem, the affected area is marked and later removed in a piece of equipment called a roll doctor. The two good ends are then spliced and usable in laser printers without waste," he said.
He also added that partial shipments of roll products become a bit more complex than shipping a few cartons next day air, and therefore maintaining a close watch on inventory levels becomes critical.
Shipping jumbo rolls requires an experienced supplier. Otherwise, serious injury and damage to the product can occur.
"Printed rolls are loaded two or more onto a pallet with a moisture barrier between the pallet and the rolls to prevent the paper from absorbing moisture from the wood. The rolls can weigh as much as 1000 pounds. While standing up in roll position, they're secured to the pallets using banding material to prevent them from becoming loose and shifting during transit and storage," explained Clabaugh.
"If an inexperienced supplier ships rolls in pancake-fashion—down on the flat side—it can be a disaster, especially without a fork-lift clamp. There's just no way to pick them up and turn them around," said Lumpkin.
In addition to shipping and handling concerns, the direct mail applications responsible for much of the growth in roll products involve the use of multiple or process color printing, heavy ink coverage, and UV curing units on the presses. "If the image isn't properly cured," Clabaugh cautioned, "heavy ink coverage can offset onto fuser rollers, causing cumulative and costly damage to the equipment."
Forms distributors already understand printing, and there is little difference between form and roll products in this regard. But Sawyer advises distributors to make sure the customer has the correct thermal-transfer printer for the roll product. Also, know the core size on the customer's rewind equipment before placing an order—standard sizes for jumbo rolls are 3˝, 5˝ and 6˝. And with at least eight possible unwind options, it's critical to understand the unwind direction the customer needs for a project.
Again, an experienced roll manufacturer can guide the distributor through the order entry process and ensure the packaging and shipping are handled appropriately. And if there have been any major improvements in roll products, it's that the people making them have had a few years now to work out the production and delivery kinks.
"Another thing about rolls," said Lumpkin, "is the solid selling relationship the customers seem to have with the distributors. They're less likely to switch vendors than when carton products are at stake and show a greater degree of customer loyalty."
By Maggie DeWitt