Mailing Pros, a small, 4-employee letter shop in Huntington Beach, Calif., produces about 1 million pieces of direct mail per month. Looking to grow the business to producing more than 2.5 million pieces per month, the company decided to replace its old HP cartridge-based printing system.

“The HP was OK, but I was beginning to push the edge of what the system could do,” said Mailing Pros owner Chris West. “I needed a system that would allow me to increase my production levels without increasing my costs.”

The company settled on a Passport 4300 inkjet system from Scitex Digital Printing and soon found that it accomplished both goals, and gained new business to boot.

West estimates that he’s increased throughput by 50%, since he’s seen a significant decrease in downtime with the 4300. He also says operational costs are down 65% to 75%. “I’ve been printing from the same ink container for two weeks now,” he says. “With my other system, I would have already gone through a slew of cartridges.”

Productivity is also much higher with the 4300. For example, West says his old system used to print 3,500 pieces an hour at 300 dpi, whereas the 4300 prints 11,000 pieces an hour for the same job. Plus, the new system doesn’t experience the drying problems he saw with the HP cartridge-based system on various coated stocks and other types of paper. As a result, Mailing Pros has been able to grow its business significantly.

West says with the 4300 in place, he plans on hiring new staff and expanding his production facility by 50%. “There is no doubt that the 4300 has helped me grow my business,” he said.