Compassion Upgrades to HP Indigo 100K, Expands Cutting, Inserting

Founded in 1952, Compassion International has a virtuous goal: to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name. The Christian child development organization pairs sponsors with children living in poverty around the world, encouraging each to develop a deeper relationship through monthly financial support, prayer, and letter writing. In the past year it has served more than 2.3 million children.

To help it accomplish this in the most efficient, cost-effective way possible, Compassion relies on its 16-employee printing, finishing, and inserting operation in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The in-plant prints all the letters written by sponsors and children — about 4 million per year — as well as the high-quality marketing pieces and event materials that bring in new supporters and donors.

Gary Benson

Letters are scanned at field offices and sent to the in-plant where they are printed on the shop’s Xerox Rialto 900 MP continuous-feed inkjet printer. To print marketing materials, however, the in-plant had long used a pair of Xerox iGen5 150 digital printers and a Xerox Versant 180. Last summer the shop made a major change when it replaced one of the iGens and the Versant with a new HP Indigo 100K B2-format press, which prints 6,000 sph and calibrates color while printing.

“The level of quality really rivals high-end litho,” declares Print Operations Manager Gary Benson.

The B2 sheet size on the 100K is another big plus, he adds.

“We can get a lot of images on the sheet,” he reports.

Benson also loves the press’ offset-like paper handling architecture, with a pile feeder and pile delivery.

“It’s just so much more efficient,” he lauds. “We’ve been able to bring in work that was typically outsourced before.” Benson and his team have identified more than 2 million previously outsourced pieces that they now print in-house, thanks to the 100K, and they expect to increase that to 4.5 million pieces by fiscal year’s end.

“The cost per piece is lower,” he says, and the ability to control turnaround times has increased the amount of print-on-demand work the in-plant does, lowering inventory.

That’s not the only new equipment the in-plant has added, though. It also recently replaced its 26.5" guillotine cutters with a pair of 31.5" Polar Mohr cutters with air cushion tables and a lift to raise the pallet, improving ergonomics for operators. The larger table size brings efficiency advantages, especially for B2-size output from the 100K.

“We can put the full sheet in either direction for the most efficient cut,” Benson points out.

Kevin Coleman shows off one of the new Polar Mohr cutters. | Credit: Compassion International

The in-plant also installed two Quadient DS-1200 G4i folders/inserters, one with in-line envelope printing. Running about 20% faster than the Quadient G3 inserters that preceded them, the G4is are used to process Compassion’s marketing materials and letters. But Benson sees even more possibilities.

“It gives us capability to [automate] closed-face envelopes … and move away from lots of hours of manual fulfillment,” he says.

Kimberly Walters (left) and Lori Byrd stand with one of the two new Quadient DS-1200 G4i folders/inserters. | Credit: Compassion International

Camera systems on the Quadient DS-1200 G4i folders/inserters ensure mail piece integrity by scanning barcodes on documents, and then inkjet heads spray recipients’ addresses and postal barcodes onto the outside of windowless envelopes. This new capability, Benson says, will trigger the insourcing of longer-run inserting jobs that are currently outsourced, saving money for Compassion.

“Everything is aimed at being good stewards of the donors’ money,” he notes.

The in-plant recently reconfigured the layout of its 15,000-sq.-ft. production area to change the flow of materials and add efficiency. The equipment support area was moved onto the shop floor.

“That’s been a huge improvement,” Benson says. He praises his team for adapting to these major changes and learning new skills, all while maintaining production levels to provide service to Compassion’s donors and supporters.

He is looking into envelope converting to save additional money for Compassion, and has his sights set on upgrading the Rialto inkjet press to a device with a 20" web width. The Rialto currently prints about 25% of the in-plant’s total yearly volume of 30 million impressions.

The shop, he adds, is also increasing its use of 3D printing to make replacement parts for its equipment.

“We print everything from gears [to] booklets, chains, [and] spacer blocks,” he says. “We’ve been able to avoid waiting two to three days for a part.”

For more information about the work of Compassion International, including interest in sponsoring a child living in extreme poverty, please visit Compassion.com.