What could be easier? What could be more flexible? You give us your copy in a computer file, be it a basic PDF generated from a business application such as Word or WordPerfect, or in a page-layout format from an application such as Quark or PageMaker, or scanned original materials, and our digital printing devices convert the files into digital high-resolution files that can be stored and imaged on demand.

Our digital color press is a NexPress 2100, designed and constructed by Kodak, a worldwide leader in digital press manufacturing. The NexPress delivers consistent quality on all your projects, be they short-run color jobs or marketing campaigns employing variable data printing options.

Our three DocuTech 6180 high-speed black-and-white devices feature in-line finishing options and can be married with color output from the NexPress. The DocuTech printers use the DigiPath PDF-based workflow that allows us to store your originals in PDF format, whether they were scanned from hard copy or supplied electronically.

Variable Information

With variable data printing (VDP), we can design documents on which every element changes, including graphics and text, to create one-of-a-kind pages that our digital printing devices produce at extremely high speeds. Each page includes information specific to its targeted recipient. This allows you to reach your customers with materials that are far more effective than traditional direct mail or mass mailings.

The technical process behind VDP is called conditional logic. This procedure analyzes information gathered from a database or from data acquired on the fly through a Web interface and uses it to answer a series of questions. The answers to these questions determine what information is formatted into each printed piece.

There are many useful applications for this technique:

• Creating sales materials that target the recipient's specific interests. A sporting goods manufacturer wants to inform prospective buyers about his different types of equipment. He conducts a survey to find out what sports his customers are most interested in. The results of this survey show that customer A prefers kayaking, and customer B enjoys golf. When creating sales brochures for these customers, he incorporates these preferences into each piece so that customer A gets a brochure featuring various models of kayaks, paddles, and life vests along with special offers for hull-mending products, and customer B receives a brochure featuring pictures of golfers using the latest clubs and wearing fashionable golf clothes and includes a notice of a sale on putters.
• Managing accounts and sending automated statements. An association offers various service options to its membership. It assesses association dues and fees to its members based on the services they chose. When the association's bills are printed, information from the association's database is pulled to create a custom statement automatically totaling each member's dues for the current billing cycle.

For ideas on how you can use VDP in your business, check out some case studies of how our customers have employed this technique.

Equipment

• NexPress 2100 Digital Color Press: A 71-page-per-minute full-color digital press designed for short-run color work and VDP (variable data printing). For more information on the capabilities of the NexPress, please click here.
• 3 Xerox 6180 DocuTechs: 180- page-per-minute DocuTech with in-line stitching, tape binding, plastic coil punching, Postscript RIP, and off-line document archiving and storage

HBP Inc. • 952 Frederick St., Hagerstown, MD 21740 • 800-638-3508 • 301-733-2000 • FAX 301-733-6586