PORTFOLIO

Forms Plus press release: Simultaneous savings

A Cornish company has found a way for businesses which pack and label large numbers of parcels to make substantial savings.

The new Duotherm labels, from Helston-based label and form specialist Forms Plus, not only save material costs and processing time but increase their users’ environmental credibility.

The labels incorporate two-sided thermal technology which allows simultaneous printing on the front and back, allowing the reverse of the address label to be used for picking notes and invoice information.

As well as reducing the amount of paper needed, this avoids the time-consuming task of matching up two or more separate documents – and the costly consequences of accidental mismatches.

Thermal printing requires no toner, and so eliminates a further significant material cost along with the mess and wastefulness of all those not-quite-empty cartridges.

To give an idea of the cost reduction on printing alone, laser printer users typically pay something like £4.80 per thousand labels for toner and printer-related consumables. Using thermal printing, there is a relatively small printer-related cost, every 400,000 labels or so, to replace the thermal heads. This equates to about 80p per thousand labels, so the saving is around £4 per thousand (or £4,000 per million).

Another material cost eliminated is that of the familiar plastic ‘document enclosed’ wallet. The new labels offer a choice between two wallet-free formats.

For parcels which are already sealed, all of the information can be applied to the outside. The labels have adhesive edges and a central section which can be simply peeled back to reveal the printed information on its reverse.

For open parcels there is an alternative option in which the reverse-side printed information is on the ‘release liner’, which would normally be thrown away. The adhesive label is peeled and applied to the outside, while its release liner is placed inside the parcel.

In both cases, application of the Duotherm labels is almost instantaneous compared to the lengthy process of folding documents and inserting them into a wallet. Forms Plus is keen to point out that all time costs money and that the new approach offers substantial savings in that respect.

The printing itself is also exceptionally quick and allows simple, on-demand customisation of each label. Individualised communication with each customer, giving a very positive impression of the sender’s company, gives added value to the system.

In addition to the labels, Forms Plus can supply competitively priced two-sided thermal printers and will be happy to arrange a demonstration of how the system works.

For Sales Director Gordon Leer, there is much more to the new product than its obvious contribution to business profitability:

“At Forms Plus we have a strict environmental policy and we are very aware of the growing demand from our clients and their customers for social responsibility in this area. By saving on raw materials and consumables, the Duotherm system helps the environment and shows customers that the sender cares.”

He adds: “The ability to give extra information to customers at no extra cost is another great bonus. We hope that couriers will want to offer this to their clients, and that clients will ask their couriers for it.”

For further information on products and services from Forms Plus, call  01326 564331 , email mail@formsplus.co.uk or visit www.formsplus.co.uk.

Contact: Mark Nicholson Copywriting – mark@mncopywriting.com