Founder and owner Jamie Greer points to a fundamental change in the way many companies are currently doing business. "Turnaround time is now as important as quality. Not only are companies concerned about how quickly they can bring a product to market, they're also keeping a close eye on inventory levels to hold costs down. This trend toward expedited, short- notice delivery continues to put substantial pressure on our production capacity."

Maria Lackey (left) and Elbert Richard operate the new G&K V-14 Commercial/Miniature Folder. (The V-14 is configured for parallel folding)

From its 12,000 sq. ft. facility in Joshua, Texas, which is approximately eight miles south of Fort Worth, Unique Fold & Mail provides a full scope of web and sheet-fed printing to customers across the nation, encompassing an impressive following of large and small graphics and pharmaceutical marketers. Greer, says individual projects diversely range from inserts and outserts for pharmaceutical products, instructions for watch packages, tags for sunglasses, and leaflets for insertion into the blister packs of a broad array of consumer products. Quantities also vary from as few as a thousand to several million pieces.

Key to Unique's growth is Greer's constant effort to keep its post-press operation in balance with its pre-press operation. Its post-press operation is equipped to handle everything from miniature and pharmaceutical folding, to pattern gluing and a variety of tip-ons. "We're constantly looking at new equipment technology to improve our productive output, and our folding capacity has played an important role in our recent growth," says Greer. "We originally started out with 3 folders, and are now running 15 to keep up with the day-to-day workload." The last 4 folders were acquired in about the last 12 months.

10% growth in production
Having good experience with G&K folders, Unique purchased a new Vijuk–G&K V-14 Miniature/Commercial Folder in 1999, supplied by Vijuk Equipment, Inc., Elmhurst, Ill, exclusive distributor. The new V-14, equipped with the SAF top load/bottom feeder, has increased the number of folds per day for Unique by more than 10%.

Beyond the issue of just getting the work "out the door," Greer says, "We're also faced with customers demanding larger type to improve readability...and the availability of increased print areas to carry greater amounts of information. Since there's only so much you can print in a given area, the logical solution is to go to a larger sheet of paper."

The G&K machine gives us the capability to fold the larger sheets down to 5/8"," says Greer, in explaining how Unique Fold and Mail's latest folder responds to this crucial issue. He also notes that the folder consistently keeps up with production despite the fact it is often working with the difficult-to-handle, tissue-type stock that is required in order to fold down to sizes that small.

Greer is particularly impressed with the quick-change score shafts, which he credits with saving several hours of production time over the course of each week. Another time saver on the V-14, as well as all his other folders, is the Predetermined Counter MK-450 which performs batch counting, momentarily stopping the machine at pre-set quantities for batch bundling. "We also like the flexibility of having the controls on either the feed end or the receiving end, so you don't have to stand in one place to run the machine."

Due to the high volume of production that runs through Unique Fold and Mail on a daily basis, they place a high priority on a machine's operational availability. Greer explains that the V-14 proves to be very reliable with a limited amount of downtime—much like the reliable performance of their other G&K folders.

Operator Rolando Morales (rear) loads stock on the feeder while Dustin Geer collects the leaflets from the Vijuk-G&K V-14 folder. (The V-14 is configured for right angle folding)

Meeting the challenge nets growth in volume
"Apparently, there was a recent ruling to increase the point size of the type on insert leaflets for pharmaceutical products and medical devices," surmises Greer. "My customers are demanding that more square inches of paper, providing more copy space, be folded down to fit in their existing packaging. The challenge is to maintain the packaging sizes to control costs while enlarging the leaflet sizes." With the V-14, Unique was able to help its customers meet that challenge and has been rewarded with additional business. In the last four months, Unique added three more Vijuk SAF folders to accommodate the growth in volume.

Greer emphasizes, "Not only are the Vijuk G&K folders reliable, so are Vijuk's service support and parts delivery. Our good working relationship keeps my business humming. I enjoy it, and it is the reason I have so many Vijuk folders on my floor."
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Written by Jim Plunkett, freelance writer.