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 2mm 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

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 link found under Print Vendor Information Print Vendor Information