The threat of climate change continues to be a global concern, making consumers and brands view sustainability as a core value in their purchasing decisions. They want to do business with eco-friendly companies. This trend has led many companies to adopt sustainable packaging solutions to reduce their environmental impact.

EnvironPrint, a digital printing service, based in Grapevine, Texas, is on a mission to help meet these demands with eco-friendly products and services.  Since its establishment in March 2021, the company has devoted itself to minimizing its carbon footprint by providing customers with the products they want with the advantage of a smaller impact on the environment. This is achieved by utilizing digital printing and digital die-cutting and creasing technologies for short runs, minimizing waste production, and recycling as much as possible. In addition, no minimum order quantities (MOQs) means that its customers can order packaging in precise quantities without the risk of obsolescence.

EnvironPrint customers can also help the environment with their purchases. GreenSpark has partnered with EnvironPrint to help recycle plastic bottles, plant trees, and reduce carbon emissions. Through this plant-supporting initiative, EnvironPrint and Greenpark has planted over 2,088 trees, saved over 4,473 plastic bottles which would have polluted the ocean, and offset over 4.9 tonnes of carbon emissions.

“When you talk to customers it’s sort of like an added benefit. They not only get a good price but also an eco-friendly experience,” said Shaun Robertson, Director of E-commerce at EnvironPrint. “We have a wide range of customers, including small businesses, entrepreneurs, and companies looking for environmentally friendly products. We have companies that are getting marketing materials and we also have designers that are using our abilities to send products directly to their customers. It’s kind of unique. We have had people in Europe doing design work for clients in California. They upload their files and then have their orders delivered right to their customer’s doorstep in California.”

Digital Bringing in New Revenue Year Over Year

EnvironPrint is 100% digital, with multiple printing devices and a Highcon Beam digital cutting and creasing system. This digital technology has played a significant role in expanding its production capacity and generating new revenue.  Job requests ranging from highly creative and distinctive cards, flyers, marketing essentials, and packaging, are coming from a broad section of US and international-based clients using EnvironPrint’s online platform. Their business model has become a convenient and popular way to shop.

“We invested in a Highcon Beam, and what we realized is that we could do a lot more than just packaging. There are no MOQ and our products are more environmentally safe since there are no plates, make readies are lower and you don’t have dies for die cuttings. We are also filling in more capacity on all our presses,” said Robertson.

With a speed of up to 5,000 sheets per hour, the Highcon Beam system replaces the expensive and slow conventional die-making and setup process with a digital technology that delivers rapid delivery to market, design flexibility, and the ability to perform a wide range of applications in-house. Robertson says they are finding that another benefit of the Highcon is the efficiency it brings to the entire production plant.

“All of the efficiencies come into place with ganging. If we can gang different jobs and then print them and cut them on the same sheet using one die; you have just done several jobs with the same waste as one job,” said Robertson. “As of now, we probably gang about 30% of our jobs from EnvironPrint. By ganging you are probably saving 80% of your time.”

According to EnvironPrint, lead times for marketing materials are typically four business days, and six days for packaging. With this agility and time savings, some customers are ordering on a JIT basis, avoiding obsolescence and reacting quickly to trends.

“For packaging the longest lead time is 10 days. This compares with a typical average lead time of six weeks. So, you are saving them four weeks,” said Robertson adding that the Highcon system has opened up several new revenue streams for the company, including custom circle hanging tags and shelf wobblers of all shapes and sizes.

“I had no idea that circle hanging tags are such a big deal, but they are, and it’s one of our top selling products and with the Highcon they are easy to produce. There is no setup and you can fit hundreds of circles on a sheet. To produce them conventionally is awful,” said Robertson.  “We have no MOQ. So you can order a single circle hang tag to ensure you are happy with the design before placing a full order. First, you get people that want 50 of them, then you get people that want 200 of them and then they come back and order a  thousand of them.“

This is just a small sample of the growth opportunities! Thanks to Highcon’s Digital Finishing, EnvironPrint has also gained new customers from new segments, such as beverage and CBD packaging, and individuals looking for small runs of customized invitations.

“We’ve done a bunch of jobs which we honestly couldn’t do without the Highcon. We had a job, it was a guy, who wanted laser-cut graduation cards. It was a silhouette of him, a graduation gown, and a chain necklace that went around a 5 by 7 [inch] card. There’s no way you could have cut out little circles for the chain and all the intricate details around the border without a Highcon. If it would have been done on our CAD table, it probably would have been ripped to shreds.” said Robertson.