Paper envelopes are a daily necessity of life. The market is huge and ever-growing. Automatic paper envelope making is considered a very profitable small business manufacturing project.
The return on investment also is high. With a low start-up capital investment, any entrepreneur may set up a small paper envelope-making business.
Here are the 7 Steps to Start Envelope Making Business
1. Understand the Local Market
It is essential to take feedback regarding the local demand and competition in the local market before starting a paper envelope manufacturing business. It is advised to do market research and find out the gaps in the existing market, and plan accordingly.
2. Create a Business Plan
Based on the information collected, start creating your business project plan document. If are looking for funds to initiate the business, hire a professional business plan writer and develop your envelope manufacturing business plan document. Some of the key topics that must be addressed are the following:
- Startup and recurring costs for at least 6 months
- Target customers
- Pricing strategies
- How do you plan to sell your envelopes?
3. Ways to Start Envelope Manufacturing Business
You can establish a paper envelope-making manufacturing unit in two ways. One is by fully automatic machines and the other one is by manual or offline setup.
One machine can perform several or all of these operations in one continuous process, or a different machine can be used for each step (this is called offline production).
Related: Profitable Paper Related Business Ideas
A simple and economical way in which to initiate a paper envelope-making 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.
4. Machinery for Envelope Making
First, you have to buy a roll of paper. One needs to buy this from the local market.
You need to put the paper sheet in the indicated place of the machine. Additionally, one may use dies of different sizes to make envelopes of different sizes.
Now start the paper envelope making machine and the envelopes will be made automatically. With this machine, you can make 40 to 50 envelopes in a minute.
The machine normally needs 2 horsepower motors and 220 volts to operate.
5. Envelope Making Process
The process of making an envelope is simple. The basic process is the following:
- Die Cutting which cuts paper into blanks,
- Printing, which allows you to print on the inside and/or the outside of the envelope,
- WindowPunching and Patching, which cuts and patches the window film,
- Gumming and Sealing, which applies glue on the edges of the blanks,
- Folding, to fold the blanks into envelopes.
6. Price of the Automatic Paper Envelope Making Machine
The price of the Automatic Envelope Making Machine ranges from $10,000 to $20,000. However, the price of a semi-automatic or manual envelope-making machine will be much lower.
7. Promote your Envelope Business
All said and done unless you develop an effective marketing plan, it is difficult to build a profitable paper envelope-making business. Developing a distribution network to sell your envelopes through the retail network is very important. Create promotional tools like visiting cards and brochures. Creating a website is a must nowadays not only to reach more customers but also for brand growth. Also, make your presence felt on social media platforms.
Editorial Team at 99BusinessIdeas is a team of experts led by Rupak Chakrabarty with over 25 years of experience in starting and running small businesses. Started in 2010, 99BusinessIdeas is now one of the largest free small business resources in the industry.