Print Vendor Information Partnership in Excellence Partnership

Print Vendor Information Partnership in Excellence

Partnership In Excellence • Valpak Direct Marketing Systems (VPDMS) accepts materials printed and provided by other print vendors with the expectation that we partner in ensuring a quality product is produced and delivered meeting our customer’s expectations • It is expected that print vendors supplying this material register with our Supply Chain Inbound department to ensure there is an understanding of our Valpak Manufacturing Center’s environment, processes and operational philosophy • This presentation coupled with the ‘Process Video’ (see under Media), should provide the viewer with a high level understanding of the processes, purpose and expectations in ensuring a quality product is delivered

Aerial view of the Valpak Manufacturing Center (VMC) in St. Petersburg, FL

VMC Warehouse Left: ASRS (Automated Storage & Retrieval System) warehouse • • The 8 -story warehouse is where finished mail and supplied inserts are stored. The warehouse is fully automated and climate controlled Above Right: VMC receiving dock and material induction stations.

VMC Supplied Insert Picking Process – part 1 • Views of the VMC supplied insert picking stations • A single pallet of material is delivered to the picking station • Every pallet will go through a sample weighing process by virtue of the ‘picking process’ • The material is removed from the boxes and put in bar-coded totes • Weight count per tote is determined; each tote is filled to the same quantity • The bar-coded totes filled with material are delivered via an automated conveyor system to High Density Storage (HDS) prior to being delivered to collation • The pallet is ‘picked clean’ and inventory systems are updated to reflect the material movement/quantities from one location to the next

VMC Supplied Insert Picking Process – part 2 To ensure accurate counts of supplied inserts: • Each tote is zeroed out on the scale (left) • A sample count of 100 pieces is counted/weighed to ensure an accurate piece count of the supplied inserts (right)

VMC Supplied Insert Picking Process – part 3 • Material is first inspected to ensure that it meets supplied insert specifications (above) • Material that is determined to be non-conforming will be rejected • Conforming material is removed from cartons and placed in totes (right)

VMC Supplied Insert Picking Process – part 4 • A completed tote ready to be temporarily stored in HDS prior to being delivered to the collation system (above) • Material is picked within 24 hours of producing the Valpak envelope • It is at this point in the process that a non-conformance issue or shortage of material is identified • As there is no time to rectify a material non-conformance incident or shortage it is important that quality is instilled “upstream” at the supplier’s facility

VMC Collation Left: View of the Collation department Right: An Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) transports a completed print signature roll to one of the collation systems

Supplied Insert Hopper – View A Material dimensional variations in excess of 2 mm can cause ads to be off of the separator bars and causes miss-feeds or doubles.

Supplied Insert Hopper – Views B & C View B: Corner and rear separator bars View C: Example of ads setting square in hopper

Collation System – Hopper Track Left: Material loaded on the supplied insert hopper track Below: Material being fed from the supplied insert hopper into the collation track

Collation System Track & Envelopment Process Top left: • Valpak inserts moving down the collation track Bottom left: • Inserts are entering the envelopment process • The Valpak envelope is formed and addressed

Completed Valpak Mail! Our objective is the same as yours … to satisfy our customers. By working proactively together we can achieve our goals!

VMC FYI • The VMC is a high speed facility which requires high quality inputs A Collation System operates between 18, 000 and 20, 000 envelopes being produced per hour • Specs are tightly adhered to Variances reduce throughput • Size consistency, both length and width, are key Inconsistent material can stop production

Print Vendor Information • Please take a moment to go to the Supplied Insert Specifications & Requirements link on this website and review the information • Thorough comprehension of the specs is key to everyone’s success • Print Vendor registration requests should be sent to the Supply Chain email link found under Print Vendor Information