System Aids Mail Pre-Sorting And Postal Discounts

Bowe Bell and Howell has enhanced its Flexisort flats sorter to better facilitate pre-sorting discounts and mail-handling capabilities.

Bowe Bell and Howell has enhanced its Flexisort flats sorter to better facilitate pre-sorting discounts and mail-handling capabilities.

The enhancements include the addition of a high-speed linerless labeler 'in-line' as part of the sorting process and the improved ability to handle mixed mail as well as flats, enabling mailers to process a wider spectrum of mail, said the company.

Already the flats pre-sorter, as measured by installations in the United States, is now even better suited to handle the flats-sorting needs of high-volume mailers, added Bowe Bell and Howell.

Flexisort is one of the systems the company will be showcasing on stand 701 at the National Postal Forum, which is to be staged from March 25 - 28 in Washington DC.

With the impending postage price rises taking effect in May, mailers of one-ounce, or two-ounce flats will be further compelled to shift their volumes to a letter format, if feasible, in order to save on postage, believes the company.

Michael Swift, president of Bowe Bell and Howell's postal and sorting products division, explained: "We believe the new shape-based postage rates that will significantly increase the cost of non-automated flats will drive significant changes.

For mailers who prefer to stay in a flats format, the cost increase can be fully mitigated - particularly for heavier flats - by applying a delivery point barcode and pre-sorting.

Flexisort offers a great alternative for mailers to maintain their current document format, whilst controlling their postage costs." Bowe Bell and Howell added that it previously provided more than 1,600 flats labelers to the US Postal Service to create clear zones on flats.

The same technology has now been integrated in to Flexisort.

As linerless labels typically are one-third the cost of lined labels, thie in-line labeller is claimed to be economical.

The Flexisort's labeler is said to help standardise barcode printing by providing a common clear zone, thus maximising system throughput.

Whilst it is possible to adjust the position of the barcode area on the document, the process can slow throughput, given the multiple set-ups for what are often small batches of flats.

The labeller provides a more consistent approach that maximises throughput and labour efficiency, said the company.

The enhancements to Flexisort are also claimed to have improved its ability to handle mixed mail and flats.

Bowe Bell and Howell implemented various optimisations to the sorting transport to enable handling of a wider spectrum of flats documents up to 3/8" at claimed speeds of up to 18,000 pieces per hour.

The company added that for mailers that do not fully utilise system capacity sorting flats, Flexisort can also serve as a letter sorter - providing additional capacity for sorting letters at speeds up to 32,000 pieces per hour.

Those enhancements are supported by software that is used on all BBH sorting platforms.

The MMT Sabre software-based reading system facilitates address recognition and can support hand-print recognition with the option of MMT Sabre Plus.

Compliance with all USPS requirements and reports is accomplished through Winsort, Bowe Bell and Howell's sorting software for outgoing applications.

The design of the sort bins in Flexisort provides an added advantage in mail processing over the traditional tub design, claimed the company.

S orting mail in subsequent re-passes to maximise five-digit qualification becomes much easier because the mail is stacked properly in the bins.

Re-passing mail sorted to tubs is more time-consuming because of improper stacking, especially with mixed mail.

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