Short make-ready times, thanks to the make-ready system, are among the great advantages of the Concepta.

Moselle-Vieillemard ventured into the direct mail business ind the 1980's - as one ot the first French forms printers to do so.This was a decision that was made with entrepreneurial foresight because while the forms business has continually lost importance in recent years, the volume of mailings has been heavily on the rise. And today, thanks to its extensive knowledge, Moselle-Vieillemard is among France’s leading companies in the growing direct mail business segment.

Close Ties with Muller Martini
The rise of the family company, founded in 1948, to a specialist in direct marketing is closely connected with web offset printing presses from Muller Martini. Twenty-one years ago, outside of Paris in Villebon-sur-Yvette, the first Progress web offset printing press with UV drying was installed to enable Moselle-Vieillemard to target the future-oriented business segment of printed direct mail.

Later on, three eight-color Concepts from Muller Martini were added simultaneously. All three Concepts continue to run today, to the great satisfaction of majority shareholder and Executive President Philippe Leveau.

First Concepta in France
Mailings have become more complex and deadline pressures have risen. As a result, Moselle-Vieillemard chose to make another jump forward in innovation in 2005. The company was the first French printer to commission a Concepta with eight offset units plus a laminating unit.

According to Philippe Leveau, there were five reasons favoring the purchase of the printing press from Muller Martini, released in 2005: “First of all, the speed. Secondly, the fast size change. Thirdly, the low waste. Fourth, the printing inserts are compatible with the Concept’s. And fifth, our machine operators profit from their experience on the proven Concept printing presses.”

Executive President Philippe Leveau (center), Production Manager Jean-Pierre Poitou (right) and Pierre Antoine Collin, Product Manager, Muller Martini France in front of the eight-color Concepta at Moselle-Vieillemard.

Continually Tighter Deadlines
The production speed, significantly faster than in predecessor models (the Concepta prints at up to 365 meters per minute), is particularly important for the full-service company which offers pre-press, printing, personalization and print finishing services – and also has its own mailroom department because customer deadlines are getting increasingly tighter. According to Production Manager Jean-Pierre Poitou: “The orders come in with much less time to spare today. As a result, we are reliant on quick set-up, fast-printing and reliable machines with automatic roll change.”

The rise of new electronic media has had two key consequences for the design of mailings, according to Philippe Leveau: “For one thing, our customers, such as banks, insurance companies or mail-order companies from all over Europe, are making more and more combined Internet/print campaigns. For another, the direct-mail products are designed with more and more extravagance in order to capture the attention of consumers. This places high demands on quality, which the Concepta fulfills to the best possible degree.”

Productivity Increased Enormously
Moselle-Vieillemard also prints many simpler 2/2 and 4/4 color mailings – particularly for charitable organizations. For that reason, the successful company installed a second Concepta only one year after the first one was installed. In addition to four print units, it also has a web register adjustment for multiple web passes for four-color printing in the front and back. Like the eight-color Concepta before it, the second Concepta replaced an older Progress machine.

As he was familiar with the predecessor models, Philippe Leveau is also thoroughly satisfied with the two Conceptas, which both run in three-shift operation.The jobs run in 2006 on the four 8-color presses (three Concepts, one Concepta) only had a negligible .35 percent to correct - "clear proof of the reliability of Muller Martini printing presses" (Philippe Leveau).