It began by making collators, then added bookletmakers and mailing systems, with the current range including envelope inserters and card mailing systems. The portfolio also includes bookletmakers, a polywrapper and the Integra, for inserting documents into magazines and folders.

Although ES fully retired in 2019, by then his sons had taken over the reins, with Stephen as managing director and Adrian as technical director. A third generation of Hampsteads are now involved, with Matthew Hampstead covering the commercial aspects of the business and his brother Dominic in software development.

Recollections of the early days of the company, even the source of the initials, is a little hazy. But what’s sure is that the company expanded with two more facilities at Hatfield and Dunstable, before moving into its current purpose-built head office and factory in Brewers Hill Road, Dunstable in 1995.

The 3,500sqm KAS site includes the machine manufacturing and assembly facility, spare parts and machine storage, design and testing department, offices and the machine showroom. KAS employs 25 people, many who have worked there 20 years or more, and Stephen Hampstead has calculated they have combined experience of 370 years!

He emphasises that these machines are “built to last”. They are mainly made of metal, and most components are machined at the site. Mechanical, electrical and software design is all done in-house. All mechanical and sheet metal parts are processed and manufactured in the factory, using the latest laser cutting, CNC, grinding, drilling, milling, bending and welding machinery – the only outsourced process is spray painting of the machine panels. KAS makes everything except for buying in some electrical components and some consumable parts such as rubber rollers and drive belts.

“From the start there were a number of different finishing machines being sold by the company but the main standout products for the first three decades were collators, back in the day when they were all horizontal,” says Hampstead. “There were models for standard 80gsm paper and others incorporated a separate system for NCR. These were sold by distributors worldwide. In the 1990s the company designed and manufactured bookletmakers and this soon took over as being the main product, sold worldwide to over 50 countries. These were standalone, hand-fed, with or without a trimmer, or inline with collators manufactured by KAS Paper Systems. As collators went vertical a modular jogger conveyor interface was developed to further increase sales.”

Mailing equipment started to be manufactured alongside the finishing equipment before taking over as the core product. The original mailing product placed a document onto a die-cut envelope shape which was then folded and glued around the letter. The first KAS Mailmaster was produced in the 1970s, inserting into pre-made DL envelopes.

The Velopost took it a step further, inserting into C5 envelopes as well. In the 90s KAS came up with the concept of a C4 envelope inserter that could go inline with a collator. Some of this collated material had to go in the post, and so it proved popular. KAS’ own feeders were also integrated to insert books, envelopes and pre-folded documents to add to the collated sets.

This eventually was transformed into the definitive Mailmaster 465: a simple-setup, quick-changeover inserter handling envelope sizes between DL and oversize C4. The Mailmaster 465 (C65 is the European equivalent of DL) is still a current product, though the latest generation has a new control system and significant upgrades.

Ascent is the newest envelope inserter, again inserting into DL to C4 envelopes, but quicker and with automated changeover. Extra features include camera reading on the enclosure feeders to match personalised documents with the primary document, or simply to make sure the correct item has been loaded into the feeder; 1D, 2D, OCR and pattern recognition; additional folding stations so an enclosure can also be folded inline; corner or edge stapling of the primary document, or an enclosure; a small item feeder; in-line address printing; and reporting.

“Generally, a mailing system could be as simple as folding a single addressed document and adding a couple of inserts, hence the Mailmaster Compact,” Hampstead explains. “However, the majority involve a primary sheet feeder accumulator with folding for a multi-page addressed personalised document. Using a camera to read a code, 2D matrix, 1D barcode or OCR to check the sequence of the documents and find the end of a set. Enclosure stations can feed items from a single sheet to a book, all inserted into an envelope.

“Modularity is a key feature. A customer can add equipment at a later date and a system can be custom-built. Bespoke machinery has always been a part of our company’s offering, reacting to customer demand. Additional features you may not think of are corner or edge stapling of the multi-page set, bookletmaking online, inserting items as small as business cards. Occasional items can be hand-fed.”

Card mailing systems include the Enfolder, for folding documents with one to four cards attached, either as a standalone unit, or inline to a card match/attach device and/or a mail inserting line.

Latest developments

KAS recently launched its own card match/attach system, the KAS CardMailer, for matching a letter, either pre-printed or printed inline, with one or more cards (plastic, paper-based or even wood) and attaching the card or cards to the letter with hot-melt glue.

It has already manufactured and sold two of these systems to the APS Group in Runcorn, for matching and attaching the Blue Badge parking permits. Since these are larger than the standard credit card size, at 148x106mm, KAS was able to specially design and build a system to handle these larger formats.

The Integra inserts documents of various dimensions and thicknesses into a folder or book or magazine. Feeders are similar to those on the Mailmaster 465 but instead of the envelope inserter there is a feeder and an opener. The Integra can be then integrated with an envelope inserter if the resulting pack is being posted. It has also been integrated to run with the Horizon Stitchliner and similar products.

Stephen Hampstead says that KAS has a very diverse range of customers, both in the UK and overseas. “Mailing houses have been a longstanding part of our customer base, as have printing companies in recent decades, as increasing competition and labour costs have forced them to look at bringing services, such as mailing, in-house. In the UK, KAS has sold many inserters to councils and local authorities.

“Also in the UK, we have sold numerous machines to financial institutions and banks, such as The Bank of Tokyo, Chelsea Building Society and Nationwide. The business process outsourcing company, Capita, had a Mailmaster 465HS which fed around 60m sheets into 25m envelopes!

Other notable UK users in include car retailer Arnold Clark, bank card manufacturer Gemalto (now part of Thales), Hotel Chocolat, The RBLI, Unison and healthcare providers SimplyHealth and Western Provident Association, APS, Likewize, Xerox and Unison.

About 80% of production is exported. “North America has been important, as have various European countries,” says Hampstead. “The company has also sold into the Middle and Far East, Australia. Papua New Guinea and Guam must be amongst the most remote. The most recent new territory is the Philippines.”

He says that many overseas customers would not be household names in the UK, “but most would be familiar with the FBI, US Postal Service and the IRS in the USA!”

KAS sells through a network of overseas distributors and agencies, he adds. “Generally, the company sells through distributors, who also provide the service support. Those distributors can also be manufacturers of seemingly competing products, but often we are providing a product that complements their range. KAS Paper Systems has worked with most of the other inserter manufacturers.”

The company has always exhibited at Drupa and other trade shows. “Back then the company was dependent on trade shows to grow the business,” says Hampstead. “It was an opportunity to keep in contact with existing distributors and customers and of course meet new ones. The main ones were CeBIT and Drupa in Germany, Ipex in the UK and Print or Graph Expo in the USA. But other countries would have significant print shows as well. There was much more travelling then, whether KAS itself was exhibiting, or supporting distributors, in pre-internet days.

“KAS participated at Drupa in 2024. Not many of our competitors did. It was an opportunity for the younger generation of Hampsteads to experience a major show.”