| Envelope Production | Die Cutting | Printing | Window Punching/Patching | Folding | Gumming and Sealing |
Envelope Machines: How to Start
Your Own
Envelope Production
There are two categories of envelope design produced today:
- Open side envelopes which include commercial, self seal, pointed, and booklet (or wallet) envelopes;
- Open end (or pocket) envelopes.
Envelopes are generally produced in three "run" sizes. For
purposes of our illustration, we have defined them as:
- short runs (25,000 to 200,000 envelopes per order),
- medium runs ( 200,000 to 10,000,000 envelopes per order),
- long runs (greater than 10,000,000 envelopes).
The long run are always produced on machines that are starting from
a roll of paper when the medium runs can be produced on machines that
have a dual feed and the short runs are always produced on machines
that are starting from pre-cut blanks. Before you can choose equipment
appropriate to your needs, you must define what category of envelope
design and in what quantities you wish to produce.
Basically, an envelope is produced with the following five processes
for envelopes produced by a paper blank fed machine:
- Die Cutting, which cuts paper into blanks,
- Printing , which allows you to print on the inside and/or the outside of the envelope,
- Window punching and patching, which cuts and patches the window film,
- Gumming and Sealing, which applies the glue on the edges of the blanks,
- Folding , to fold the blanks into envelopes.
One machine can perform several or all of these operations on-line (in one continuous process), or a different machine can be used for each step (this is called off-line production).
A simple and economical way in which to begin an envelope production
business would be to invest in a machine designed for short runs of
open side envelopes which will cut, fold, punch and patch a window,
and gum the closing flap. A machine which meets these requirements can
be purchased for approximately $20,000. To add printing capabilities
would require an additional investment of approximately $30,000 to $50,000.
The machine just described operates using sheets of paper. To produce
long runs of envelopes, a machine which operates using rolls of paper
(called webs) is required.
Assuming that all five processes are used, once the die has cut the
blanks, they are first printed, then the window is punched and patched,
then they are folded, and finally they are gummed.