A 1900mm-wide heatset web and one of the longest inline finishing systems in the world is a winning combination for direct mail printer SG360.

The US company – formerly Segerdahl Graphics – freed up two narrower (and much older) presses with the installation.

But vice president of manufacturing John Romita says he stopped to thin, “what can we do with that” before ordering the wider press. Now with a Goss Sunday 4000 feeding a full-width web into their custom finishing system, the company is delivering “efficiency, versatility and value that are hard to beat”.

The company is also a pioneer in combining offset and personalised inkjet content in a hybrid production process both online and offline. “The best bang for the buck in target marketing is in printed direct mail, and it will continue to be a very viable marketing channel in a world of multiple channels,” he says.

“And for direct mail, our press is unique. You would be hard pressed to find anyone running a 75-inch web with an inline finishing line that is as long and as versatile as what we have.”

A regular monthly job previously required two traditional 965mm-wide presses running in tandem. “Now we run that job faster and far more efficiently with one press – and one press crew – instead of two, and the print quality is out of this world.”

Integrating inkjet directly into the web offset platform makes the company more viable and more valuable in supporting the direct mail campaigns of its customers, Romita says. “A lot of the images and static copy will be printed offset, but addressing and some of the internal messaging can be variable, changing from piece to piece.”

Romita says he was “pleasantly surprised” by how smoothly the company was able to install and operate both the press and the integrated inline finishing system, and attributes that success partly to the press technology and manufacturer support.

• See the plant in this Goss International video