Mail Superiority: Paitec USA, a Dependable Source for Quality and Affordable Mailing and Paper Handling Solutions

If there’s one thing that Peter Nguyen—President and Chief Technology Officer—and Art Waganheim—Vice President of Operations and Chief Financial Officer—of Paitec USA understand about the office technology dealer channel, it’s that dealers are leaving money on the table if they’re not selling mailing and paper handling solutions, particularly pressure seal equipment.

That may sound biased coming from co-owners of a company that manufacturers this equipment, but both Nguyen and Waganheim possess a keen understanding of the dealer channel since each owned mailing solutions and office technology dealerships in Miami Lakes, FL prior to starting Paitec USA in 2008.

After their dealerships were acquired by their manufacturers, the two embarked on a joint venture: starting a company that manufactures pressure seal equipment.

“When we looked at the products we used to sell when we were dealers, there was this niche product that we were never satisfied with the quality of the equipment: pressure seal machines,” recalls Waganheim.

If you think that sounds crazy in a world where e-mail and other forms of electronic communication seem to be supplanting snail mail, you might have a valid argument. You might also have a legitimate argument that the mailing industry didn’t need another manufacturer of pressure seal equipment, especially since most of the pressure seal products currently on the market were being marketed by some of the more recognizable names in the mailing equipment industry.

However, after eight years in business, Paitec USA has proven the naysayers wrong. Turns out snail mail isn’t dead yet and the industry did need another pressure seal equipment manufacturer after all.

After finding an offshore manufacturer partner that would build the equipment to their specs, Waganheim and Nguyen now had the kinds of machines they wished they had when they were mailing equipment/office technology dealers.

Paitec USA also created a tag line showcasing its products as being environmentally friendly. The company has been marketing its products as “a greener way to mail” because no envelopes are needed.

According to Nguyen, “Our machines have made heroes of office managers and procurement officers all over the country who can tell their bosses they no longer need to order tens of thousands of custom printed envelopes for mailing checks, statements, and other single-page documents.”

Nguyen recalls one government agency which started saving the cost of over 50,000 envelopes per month for its monthly utility bills to customers.

“Without the need to insert documents into those envelopes, the customer can also replace their old and temperamental folder inserter machines with faster processing pressure seal machines,” adds Nguyen.  “For those customers who still need #9 return envelopes, there are pressure seal solutions which have built-in return envelopes in them so, again, no inserting is necessary.”

The Equipment

If you’re not familiar with pressure sealers, you’re not alone. It’s a good bet, however, that you’ve seen their output. If you’ve ever received a check or bill in the mail where you had to bend three sides of the mailing piece to open it, you’ve received a document that’s been run through a pressure seal machine.

The mailing piece is actually a special form that is printed on a printer or MFP and then run through the pressure sealer for folding and sealing. The forms are specifically made to seal under pressure. The pressure seal forms have dry cohesive glue around the edges so when a form is folded and pressure applied, the piece is sealed. In order for sealing to take place properly, there are fold perforations to ensure the fold lines up to create a single-page document and mailing piece. The glue is not affected by the high temperatures of a printer or MFP and the latest generation of forms don’t require water like earlier versions of the technology.

Although Paitec USA doesn’t manufacture the paper, being in the pressure seal business, they’ve become quite astute about the paper that’s run through their machines and are more than willing to share that knowledge with their customers.

Paitec USA’s pressure seal systems and paper jogging machines are manufactured by PAI Trading, Inc. The line includes standalone and in-line pressure seal machines and paper jogging machines engineered for specific mailing needs and volumes. The company’s pressure seal machines meet its goals of innovative and dependable designs with their oversized sealing rollers that allow for maximum pressure, a patented angle seal feed design, heavy-duty cycle volumes, and patented reverse-feed motor technology.

Compared to the machines sold by most of Paitec USA’s competitors, its equipment is equipped with more electronic controls while selling at a comparable price. For example, features such as double-feed detection and exit sensors aren’t typically found on competitors’ lower-end machines.

Common applications for pressure seal equipment encompass utility bills, paychecks, tax forms, and statements. While some companies are starting to electronically deliver those documents, Waganheim believes there’s still a need for the hard copy pressure seal forms, which helps explain the upward trajectory of Paitec USA’s sales during the past several years.

In Step with Inline Machines

Paitec USA has seven machines in its standalone pressure sealer line and has been expanding its offerings with the introduction of inline machines. Those devices are resonating with office technology dealers.

The inline machines enhance the workflow involved when processing forms. Typically, these forms are printed on a printer or MFP then manually removed from the output tray and either hand jogged or placed in a jogging machine to square them off before being placed into the feed table of a standalone pressure seal machine where they’re run through the device and sealed.

 

“People kept asking us; can you automate the process so [the forms] go directly from the printer to the auto-seal machine?” recalls Waganheim.

“Imagine the joy of a customer knowing that they no longer have to retrieve printed documents from the MFP or production printer, hand jog the forms, and then place stack after stack of forms into the feed table of the pressure seal machine,” adds Nguyen. “With an inline solution, the job is completed when the print job is completed.” And, of course, there are labor savings from eliminating manual work.”

Those requests led to the development of a low-volume inline machine and a mid-volume inline model. Now Paitec USA is expanding the line with a new high-speed inline machine that works with high-volume equipment from Konica Minolta, Océ, Canon, Kyocera, and Ricoh.

“Copier dealers were telling us, ‘We sell a few printers, but our primary products are production machines,’” observes Waganheim.

At Your Service

Having co-owners with decades of experience as dealers in the mailing equipment business is an asset.

“We’re a manufacturer, but are still dealers at heart,” concedes Waganheim.

That means keeping things as simple as possible for its dealers. For instance, prior to shipping equipment, Paitec USA does a final test and preset of the machine so that it’s practically plug and play.

“We think seriously about how to make it easier for the service techs,” says Waganheim. “They love us because our equipment is ready to use out of the box.”

Whenever mechanical equipment is involved, ensuring that the equipment is serviced promptly and accurately is essential. That’s why Paitec USA goes above and beyond to ensure that virtually all key machine parts are available to its dealers and resellers when needed. Requests for parts that arrive by 3 p.m. eastern time are shipped the same day. With customers from Maine to Hawaii, Latin America, and Canada, the company responds to e-mails and phone calls morning, noon, and night.

It Works

Although sales represent a valid method for tracking how well Paitec USA is doing, there’s still nothing like customer feedback and the company receives plenty of positive feedback. Waganheim recalls the mailing equipment dealer who was purchased by his national vendor and when asked by that vendor why he sold Paitec USA pressure sealers and not the vendor’s line his response was, “Because the Paitec machines work.”

“That’s the best compliment we can get,” says Waganheim. “Pressure seal machines can be temperamental. The folds have to be correct, the glue correct, and we take great pride that our machines work.”

Reaching Out to the Office Technology Dealer Channel

Paitec USA continues to partner with more office technology dealers in addition to mailing equipment dealers and graphic arts resellers, but Waganheim knows there are many more who can benefit from the company’s products who have yet to discover Paitec let alone pressure seal equipment.

“They’re leaving money on the table if all they’re doing is selling printers and copiers and not looking at the finishing end,” he says. “This can open up a new revenue source.”

Dealers who sell Paitec USA products often provide their customers with the forms too—another viable revenue source.

Then there are the additional clicks.

“Since the forms are being run through their copiers and printers, that counts toward the per-click maintenance because they now have a new use for their machines,” adds Waganheim.

He firmly believes that dealers need to keep an open mind about selling pressure seal equipment. He recalls the dealer who once told him they never run into opportunities for these devices.

“The reason they never ran into it was because their sales reps were talking to the mailroom manager and didn’t go down the hall to see the accounts payable manager or the payroll manager,” says Waganheim. “The target market is not the mailroom manager or manager of the print shop; there’s business out there but they don’t believe it because they never run into it, and they never run into it because they don’t think out of the box.”

How might a dealer hone in on those opportunities, whether low volume, mid volume, or high volume? Waganheim suggests starting with their existing customer base and calculating how many are taking a single piece of paper and folding and inserting it into a number 10 envelope.

“Pressure seal forms were created to be a single-page self mailer,” observes Waganheim. “Customers just doing that single page, there’s your prospect.”

Helping Dealers Be Successful

Paitec USA does its part to help its dealers sell too, much of it rooted in Waganheim’s realistic view of Paitec’s product line.

“Pressure seal equipment is a niche product and has always been a niche product,” acknowledges Waganheim. “We do not expect any of the sales representatives at any of our dealers, whether they are mailing equipment dealers, graphics arts dealers, forms resellers, or office equipment dealers to be experts.”

That’s why Paitec personnel are available as needed for conference calls with customers and to conduct video demos of their equipment. To ensure that a customer will be confident that the equipment they’re purchasing will meet their needs, Paitec encourages its dealers to send them customer’s forms that will be run through the machine. The company will then create a video, which is posted on a private website so the customer can see their forms being run on the machine. The company will also do live video demos as well as provide dealers with references from satisfied customers.

“Between the reputation we have and the ability to get on a conference call with a customer at any time and our video demos, we provide sales reps with all the tools they need to succeed,” affirms Waganheim.

That’s why Paitec USA updated its website to make it more mobile friendly last year.

“Because our product is a niche product it’s important that the dealers and their sales reps could pull out their tablet at the customer site to view video demos of the equipment,” says Waganheim.

Paitec USA also has dedicated web pages showcasing the benefits of pressure sealing along with comparisons of its various machines so dealers and customers can identify the best machine for their applications and volume.

Waganheim has some additional advice that can help ensure success centered around matching the customer with the appropriate machine for their applications and volume.

“A lot of people rate their machines based on monthly volume,” explains Waganheim. “Monthly duty cycle is important, but what kind of volumes are your customers doing [at a time]?”

He explains that a customer running 5,000 forms a month probably isn’t a good fit for a machine rated for 5,000 forms a month if they’re running 5,000 forms in one batch because that machine will be too slow.

“We make sure there’s no miscommunication and can help our dealers fact find and make sure they have the right machine for the right audience,” notes Waganheim.

It’s not unusual for Paitec to turn down a sale because they aren’t comfortable their machines will meet a customer’s expectations. One time a dealer’s customer sent them forms to run through the machine, but the forms were of such poor quality that Waganheim had to let the dealer and the customer know that they weren’t comfortable running those forms through their machine.

“We’re picky in who we sell to and who we deal with,” concludes Waganheim. “Every machine has to work for our customers if Paitec USA will continue to grow and maintain its great industry reputation.”

Finally, he emphasizes that Paitec USA is not just into box sales even though what they’re selling is primarily a box.

“We’re not into what’s your numbers this month vs. last month? It’s how many satisfied customers have you made that you can build your reference base with? We’re serious about that.”

For more information about Paitec USA call (877)295-7325 or visit www.paitec.com.