Tension Envelope

Source: Manufacturing Digital

Date :08/05/2008 06:26:49

To casual observers, envelopes may seem like nothing more than a commodity, with little reason for manufacturers to distinguish themselves from one another. Tension Envelope Corp. feels differently, however, as Exec learns

Written by Megan Santosus and Produced by Alex Hortaridis

As president and CEO of Tension Envelope Corporation, Bill Berkley knows more than most about the humble envelope. Tension, a Kansas City, MO-based company, is the international manufacturer of hundreds of different styles of custom envelope products, ranging from standard window envelopes to media sleeves and to the “hot potato” — an envelope with a perforated flap used to elicit a response from a recipient. “Over the years we’ve built our reputation on the high quality of our products and services,” says Berkley, who clearly thinks the indispensable envelope is much more than a commodity product.

Berkley’s comments are based on a long history and heritage in the envelope industry. He represents the fourth generation to take the helm at Tension – a 122-year old family-owned and operated company. “When it comes to customer service quality, our customers want and expect exacting consistency,” he says.

Tension sells its various envelope products directly to customers, such as financial institutions, insurance companies, public utilities and direct marketers. (Tension also has a division providing automated packaging systems with equipment and material for order fulfillment.) With high-speed manufacturing equipment, Tension can produce up to 1,200 envelopes per minute – a process that includes cutting the envelope from a roll of paper, the application of window film, the custom printing inside and outside, the application of adhesive, the folding, and then the insertion into a carton for shipping.

Delivering quality

In addition to delivering high-quality products, Tension adds value for customers through the services of its in-house graphics design department. “We provide the creative design and produce graphics for many of our customers, working with them to create the images and deliver the messages they want to convey to their customers,” says Berkley.

As he sees it, an envelope isn’t simply a vehicle for sending correspondence; it’s “a tremendous opportunity to stay in touch with your customers,” he says.

For this reason, Tension also offers numerous specialty marketing-style envelopes that customers can use to entice recipients to open them up and see what’s inside. Tension offers envelopes with interactive openers, rip-open tear strips, pull-tabs and other devices and designs aimed at helping marketers and mailers make their messages stand out in the mailbox. Other envelopes have special display windows or may be printed using a four-color flexography process that provides excellent quality at lower cost than lithography.

Close to customers

Tension differentiates itself in the marketplace by collaborating closely with customers to produce envelopes that fit their exact needs – selecting unique configurations of size and style, paper, windows and printing. The company has its own direct sales force that works in partnership with clients to provide value-added services. “We practice consultative selling – we strive to understand the issues that our customers are facing,” explains Berkley. To this end, members of Tension’s sales team stay in regular contact with their customers, handling most business on a face-to-face basis.

One example of the way that Tension provides customized service is by offering to help customers evaluate the role that envelopes play in their supply chain and processes. “In today’s environment, you have to be an organization that can go to a customer and look at their product needs, but you have to place those needs in the context of their business processes, too.” Berkley says. “You don’t become the primary supplier to businesses all over the country in so many industries otherwise.”

As customers everywhere are feeling the pinch of rising costs, Tension focuses on processing costs as well as smart product design. There are significant opportunities to reduce waste and create sustainable cost savings in supply-chain processes. Tension maintains a website where customers can track their envelope inventories and even make special shipping arrangements. Berkley says hundreds of customers use the site to efficiently and cost-effectively do business with Tension.

Competitive industry

Like all successful companies today, Tension must contend with the rising cost of raw materials. For envelopes, that’s everything from paper and adhesives to window film. “We are competitive on the product side,” says Berkley. “We understand how to manufacture envelopes in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.

“We also look at ways to reduce inventory levels and other costs, by using ‘Just-in-Time’ practices,” Berkley says. “We can also minimize freight expenses by using any of our eight U.S.-based manufacturing facilities to supply the customer.”

Tension can also reduce customer operating costs through its various product designs and innovations. For example, the company’s patented Performance Plus envelope can be used by customers with any mail inserting machine made by such companies as Böwe Bell & Howell, Pitney Bowes and Kern. “Inserting efficiency and productivity is greater with our envelopes, which reduces total processing costs,” Berkley says.

In addition to working closely with customers, Tension also partners with suppliers. “We have many products, but we keep our number of raw materials suppliers small,” he adds. “This enables us to work more closely with suppliers on product development and new initiatives for competitive production.”

Lean Sigma

Tension is a proponent of Lean Sigma, a combination of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma. Utilizing this management philosophy, the company encourages the involvement and input of employees to eliminate waste and increase efficiency in manufacturing, sales and administration.

Tension offers employees a significant amount of education and training, and in fact, says Berkley: “We are the only envelope manufacturer to have a formal technical school, led by experienced senior people, to teach advanced mechanical skills.” These are the skills needed to change a machine from manufacturing one product style to another. As a job shop that outfits each machine to produce custom orders, employees need to have the requisite adjuster skills to change machines for factors such as size, position of the window on an envelope and ink color.

Training and education has paid off in terms of employee retention. “We have a long-tenured workforce and a highly professional atmosphere,” Berkley says, adding that these are two characteristics that certainly contribute to Tension’s reputation for quality and consistency.

For many years, Tension has also been a leader and proponent of “green” practices, initiated well before it was fashionable to do so. Nearly all Tension products are recyclable for their end users. Internally, the company vigorously recycles production trim and waste, office waste and scrap metals, while taking extra waste reduction steps on the factory floor, such as reformulating spent inks into secondary colors. The company even recirculates the heat produced by vacuum systems, using it to dry envelope adhesives.

“Environmental concern has always been a part of our core values. It’s good business and an important part of our commitment to manufacturing efficiency, high-quality products, service excellence and active citizenship in the business community,” says Berkley.