You need to boost mail center productivity by 35%. You're buried under current production demands and increasing mail volumes, putting you three days behind schedule. To top it all off, your mail system is down, causing a delay in the delivery of time-sensitive billing statements. If you find yourself in a similar predicament, it's time to re-evaluate your mail operations and look into upgrading your current mail equipment or purchasing new equipment.

As information moves faster through the marketplace, the need for efficient yet flexible document processing is more prevalent than ever before. Business mailings are becoming more complex, and the need for error-free processing of critical information is, well, critical. For many reasons, businesses are investing in new technologies that boost performance. Today's mail center operators need automated equipment that can handle the vast variety of mailing applications quickly and efficiently and with as little operator intervention as possible. High-demand mail center managers will agree that both speed and productivity are vital. Most managers feel that the single most important document processing benefit is error-proof, reliable operation.

In an effort to continuously improve operations, effective managers are assessing mail equipment to determine if it meets present and future business objectives. If the current equipment is ineffective or even counterproductive, it's worthwhile to look into the benefits of other mail equipment. It's also important to weigh the expense of new equipment versus the long-term savings it could bring. The results, in terms of improved system reliability and speed, have to clearly be worth the financial outlay.

When making purchases, most organizations will seek standard mail equipment, such as postage meters or folder/inserters. Let's take a look at one facet of recent technological advancements in the mail center desktop folding/inserting systems.

Outgoing mail is one of the most cost-effective and important methods of communication that companies have with customers and suppliers. With desktop folder/inserters for the office, documents such as invoices, statements, checks and marketing materials are quickly and easily processed.

In the past, companies relied on expensive, cumbersome machines that, over the years, became archaic and even obsolete. With these older machines came costly maintenance and support, expensive parts replacement and ineffective document handling. As they were far from user-friendly, these systems required a dedicated operator, and a simple paper jam created a major challenge. When a machine went down, an operator could spend hours trouble-shooting a problem, only to learn that he was unable to · continue the operation without ordering replacement parts this resulted in additional downtime.

Over the last few years, there have been many significant advances in technology and design of mailing equipment. New machines are economical, fast and compact. They can now handle multifaceted, complex projects within a smaller footprint. They are more functional, and their modular designs offer flexibility to accommodate new or evolving mail applications.

The new breed of vertical folder/inserters reaps the rewards of years of interface design and ergonomic enhancements. You can now do more with tabletop machines than ever before. These economical machines handle complex jobs that formerly required the services of longer, more expensive horizontal tabletop machines.

Modern folder/inserters are built to be user-friendly. They are able to check for correct document thickness at the feed stations and at the point of insertion. This feature ensures mailers that business-critical, variable-length document sets, including statements and invoices, are accurately inserted for each customer. This greatly increases reliability, reduces processing time and eliminates document damage ultimately contributing to the bottom line with time and cost savings.

Today's tabletop machines feature a modular design that can accommodate future enhancements. They have other advanced features including roller inserters that will eliminate document destruction and double document detection as well as Optical Mark Recognition (OMR) codes for improved security and adjustable job setup and programming that eliminate the need for a dedicated operator.

The trends toward size reduction, technical sophistication and simple user interfaces will continue. In fact, the entire mailing and document handling process will be streamlined as folder/inserters are integrated with printers and mail machines. As companies continue their efforts to personalize communications with customers through one-to-one marketing, folder/inserter applications will increasingly employ OMR to process each mailpiece as a custom job.

While it is beneficial to improve operations, it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of advancing technology and automation. Customers can overspend for solutions that work but do not have the right cost or value relationship. One common mistake is that companies are not realistic about their space requirements, and they acquire equipment that disrupts their workflow rather than improves it. Customers can also limit themselves to equipment that can handle current production demands but not future, unforeseen projects. When comparing prices of equipment, customers should take into consideration the cost of replacement parts and supplies that can incur long-term expenses.

In order to avoid these common mistakes, customers can determine which solution is the best for them by following a simple step-by-step process: