Product category:
Print Finishing (Binding, Folding, Inserting, Stitching, etc.)
News Release from: KAS Paper Systems | Subject: Mailmaster 465HS
Edited by the Printingtalk Editorial
Team on 28 September 2006
In-House Mailing Streamlined With
Envelope System
The London Borough of Newham has brought in-house all its mailing and fulfilment work with the installation of a Mailmaster 465HS enveloping machine with customised software.
The London Borough of Newham has brought in-house all its mailing and fulfilment work with the installation of a Mailmaster 465HS enveloping machine with customised software to meet its specific requirements Prior to this, virtually all the work was outsourced, except for the distribution of cheques, which were processed on a small desktop-mailing machine
This article was originally published on Printingtalk on 8 Sep 2004 at 8.00am (UK)
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Paul Bull, contract and printing services manager at Newham Borough Council, said: "We wanted to reduce the time it was taking to send out cheques, bills and other documentation.
By setting up our own on-site mailing unit, we have significantly reduced the turn-around time.
Working on the premise that the sooner the bills went out, the quicker they would be paid, it made a big difference to our revenue section, which sends out about GBP30m worth of bills a year." That figure excludes Council Tax billing.
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And he added: "The KAS 456HS means we are now able to despatch work in two working days instead of anything between five to nine days." The council looked at most of the mailing machines on the market before ordering the KAS Mailmaster.
Bull explained: "Accuracy and control were of paramount importance because we are mailing out highly sensitive personalised information." Documentation, with variable data, comes from two print sources.
Consequently, there are two piles of documentation, which have to be accurately merged, folded and inserted in to envelopes with up to four further booklets and reply envelopes.
Two sheet feeders are fitted with barcode readers to read pre-printed barcodes on the documents, said KAS.
If the barcodes from the two separate streams do not match each other then the system automatically stops.
Bull continued: "On our shortlist only some of the companies that could provide this type of bespoke software but the other companies did not offer us the versatility we were looking for.
The KAS 465HS also provides us with the ability to insert in to both C5 and C4 envelopes." He added: "KAS have also configured the machine with a management information system, which gives us an audit trail through the bar codes.
If anybody queries what was sent or when, we have the data to validate the inserting pattern and time of inserting.
We are considering dispensing with PIP envelopes by adding a franking machine on-line to the Mailmaster." He commented that those developments will save the council money and it will have a date stamped on the envelope, which PIP envelopes do not.
Bull explained further: "We also felt comfortable with the design and build of the Mailmaster.
It's not made of plastic like some of the competing machines as the metal structure is designed to last.
The set-up and change-over time between C4 to C5 and vice versa are very quick and easy.
We estimate that it takes about 10 minutes." It used to take four or five weeks for the third party mailing houses to process 100,000 Council Tax bills.
This year the job was complete in less than two weeks, whilst still handling the council's regular daily workload, with the Mailmaster operating from 7.30am to 10.00pm during the period.
Bull expanded on the volume production capabilities of the new system: "We estimate that we will be inserting somewhere in the region of 1.5 million envelopes a year.
What has been interesting is the amount of fulfilment work that is now coming our way, which we hadn't even known about when we put forward a business case to buy the machine." KAS has just moved the Mailmaster to a ground floor location in an adjacent building at Newham Borough Council, so that it has a totally secure unit for variable printing and despatch.
Bull observed: "It was a very impressive move because, despite the need for a crane, we were only out of production for half a day.
We are now in good shape to promote our services to the rest of the council, which we are progressing with confidence, knowing that with the KAS465HS we are able to offer a first class service to our clients.".
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