Joe Maloy of Polaris Direct sits down with Lois Ritarossi at Hunkeler Innovationdays 2023 to discuss the reliability of SCREEN technology and how the company’s sales team has helped its business.

Judith and Joe Maloy have ramped their company up from 3 employees and $3 million in sales in 2003 to over 100 employees and sales of $30 million. Along with their meteoric rise they say the technology is indeed ready for their market and customers.

The company is using SCREEN’s flagship high-speed inkjet web press as a “white paper in” solution, turning blank paper rolls into high-quality, four-color direct mail pieces with full personalization in a single step as an alternative option to traditional laser imaging of variable data onto offset printed shells.

“The marketplace is primed for this type of printing technology,” said Judith Maloy, director and chief executive officer. Direct marketers must be able to react quickly to customers’ needs and enhance the customer experience. Polaris Direct can take an incredible amount of data and print relevant information and highly personalized messaging that will drive consumer response.”

Typically running two production shifts, Polaris Direct prints and mails as many as 1.5 million pieces per day. Customers, many of them in the financial services, health care, insurance, retail and nonprofit sectors, recognize Polaris Direct as a constant in the midst of change, like its namesake, the Pole Star.

Featuring a maximum speed of 721 feet per minute, the Truepress Jet520ZZ is one of the industry’s fastest color inkjet devices. The dual-engine duplex model chosen by Polaris Direct prints both sides of the 20.4-inch paper roll at once, delivering two-up 8.5 x 11-inch letters with bleeds, as well as larger self-mailers and other forms.

“The Truepress not only handles a wide range of stocks, it also quickly accomplishes the transition from one type of stock to another material,” observed Joe Maloy, president and chief operating officer. “It prints on 50-pound paper as easily as 10-point stock with minimal downtime. The changeover is very fast.”

“We’ve been very pleased with the equipment’s superior image quality and efficient color management,” Joe Maloy said. “Every project we have run has been well received by our clients.”

SCREEN Americas announces the second installation of the Truepress Jet520ZZ series to Polaris Direct of Hooksett, New Hampshire. The company’s owners, Joe and Judith Maloy, whose first Truepress Jet520ZZ led to a 60 percent increase in revenue, decided to invest in a second identical press five years later to support the growing demand from its direct mail marketer client base to use roll-fed digital inkjet technology.

With the company’s initial Truepress Jet520ZZ running two shifts at least six days a week for approximately the past 24 months, it had proven to be a workhorse in the Polaris Direct print arsenal. By installing a second press, the printer was able to meet additional capacity needs and distribute the workload between the two presses. Aligned in close proximity, the two presses require only one operator per shift to handle large volumes of output. Despite the fact that one Truepress Jet520ZZ is older, the images from each press are exactly the same. “The two machines produce identical output in terms of color quality to the point where you can’t even tell the difference,” said Joe Maloy, president and COO of Polaris Direct.

The value of speed-to-market production has been a real game changer for marketers looking to bring their printed messages to customers in a timely manner. Those who depend on direct mail to market their myriad products and services have realized the benefit of not having to prepare pre-printed shells for personalized mail. Roll-fed digital inkjet technology has also allowed them the flexibility to make last minute changes to their copy and design even just prior to going to press. And, since today’s supply chain presents challenges with obtaining paper, print buyers have had to factor in additional time between a job order and its execution. “What was once a six-week waiting period for paper is now a 12-week period,” said Maloy. “The new timeframe has forced marketers to reconsider the suitability of traditional offset production because such technology could potentially lead to even longer lead times that result in consumer data becoming stale by the time the mail reaches its destination. With the Truepress Jet520ZZ, direct mail marketers can respond faster to demands from customers for information and marketing materials.”

To accompany the speed of SCREEN’s technology and gain an edge on its competition, Polaris Direct needed a finishing solution that could insert 22,000 envelopes in an hour. The couple decided to invest in two roll-fed Fusion Cross inserters from Bowe Systec. The solution not only resulted in exceptional productivity, but led to a considerable savings in labor costs since the Fusion Cross required fewer operators than a traditional bindery operation. “Instead of having four machines that needed a total of eight operators and two mechanics, the Fusion system only needs two or three operators to execute the same volume,” said Maloy.

Since 2003, Polaris Direct has been providing direct marketing solutions for high-volume print and mail for its Fortune 500 clients in the financial services, health care, insurance, retail, pharmaceuticals, non-profit and telecommunications industries. A full-service supplier with a capacity to mail over 1.5 million pieces per day, Polaris provides end-to-end, multi-channel marketing solutions focused on increasing its customers’ return on investment for their campaigns. In 2021, Polaris Direct was recognized by industry experts for its productivity and efficiency and received the 2021 Innovator of the Year award. Polaris Direct is a certified member of the WBENC, holds Hi-Trust, ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certifications for data security and is a G7 Certified Master Printer.

The combination of industry expertise and patented technology has propelled Polaris Direct along its meteoric rise in the graphic communications industry. A full-service lettershop and direct marketing specialist, Polaris Direct has installed the SCREEN Truepress Jet520ZZ at its headquarters in Hooksett, New Hampshire.

The company is using SCREEN’s flagship high-speed inkjet web press as a “white paper in” solution, turning blank paper rolls into high-quality, four-color direct mail pieces with full personalization in a single step as an alternative option to traditional laser imaging of variable data onto offset printed shells.

“The marketplace is primed for this type of printing technology,” said Judith Maloy, director and chief executive officer. “In an omnichannel environment where speed to market is paramount, direct marketers must be able to react quickly to customers’ needs and enhance the customer experience. Polaris Direct can take an incredible amount of data and print relevant information and highly personalized messaging that will drive consumer response.”

Polaris Direct was founded in 2003. Annual sales have soared from $3 million in its inaugural year to more than $33 million in 2015, with “the most dynamic growth occurring during the economic downtown of 2008 to 2010,” the executive pointed out.

Employment at Polaris Direct has kept pace with revenues. About 105 people currently work at the company.

Typically running two production shifts, Polaris Direct prints and mails as many as 1.5 million pieces per day. Customers, many of them in the financial services, health care, insurance, retail and nonprofit sectors, recognize Polaris Direct as a constant in the midst of change, like its namesake, the Pole Star. And like the Pole Star, Polaris Direct’s unwavering presence guides direct marketers in search of effective and efficient solutions through uncertain territory.

“At Polaris Direct, we take a deliberate and conservative approach,” Maloy noted. “We evaluate risk and what that means for us and our customers. We have been monitoring high-speed continuous-feed inkjet technology and the companies that manufacture the equipment for eight years. We came to the conclusion that the SCREEN Truepress was the best fit for our diverse base of customers and the verticals in which we participate.”

Several factors contributed to the decision to purchase the Truepress Jet520ZZ, according to Maloy, including speed, quality, high uptime, ease of operation and stock versatility.

“This equipment is such a game changer,” she said. “Four-color variable inkjet gives a lot of flexibility to marketers. They can say more in an unlimited number of versions without incurring the high cost of versioning in the traditional offset platform.”

Featuring a maximum speed of 721 feet per minute, the Truepress Jet520ZZ is one of the industry’s fastest color inkjet devices. The dual-engine duplex model chosen by Polaris Direct prints both sides of the 20.4-inch paper roll at once, delivering two-up 8.5 x 11-inch letters with bleeds, as well as larger self-mailers and other forms.

“The Truepress not only handles a wide range of stocks, it also quickly accomplishes the transition from one type of stock to another material,” observed Joe Maloy, president and chief operating officer. “It prints on 50-pound paper as easily as 10-point stock with minimal downtime. The changeover is very fast.”

Machine reliability is critical to printing multimillion-piece direct mail campaigns.

“In researching the Jet520ZZ, we visited companies that were operating the device and spoke directly to users,” Joe Maloy said. “We received a great deal of information about the concept behind the design and the engineering that went into producing a more user-friendly device. When you consider all the output devices SCREEN already has in the graphic communications industry, you quickly realize that you are dealing with an industry leader.”

The Truepress Jet520ZZ prints at 720 x 360 dpi. A built-in quality control scanner facilitates automatic correction to ensure consistent output.

“We’ve been very pleased with the equipment’s superior image quality and efficient color management,” Joe Maloy said. “Every project we have run has been well received by our clients.”