Content Critical Solutions leverages Pitney Bowes inserting systems to increase mailing capacity by 30 percent.

When a company needs to communicate with its customers, Content Critical Solutions is there to help. CCS has provided printing, packaging and mailing services to businesses in the New York area for more than a century. Now the company also offers technology-based solutions, such as online marketing portals and database services. Printing and mailing of hard-copy communications, from billing statements to privacy notices, remain a staple of the CCS business model.

Demand for the company’s transactional print and mailing services was growing. As CCS’s New York and New Jersey operations expanded, it was also preparing to open a new facility in Florida. But its disparate equipment infrastructure was struggling to keep up. Some of its inserters were nearly two decades old.

“We had aging equipment,” explains Fred Van Alstyne, chief operating officer for CCS. “We were concerned that eventually the machines could not be supported anymore. We also were looking for machines that could run faster and boost our output.”

CCS needed a new inserting system in each of its three locations. After considering various options, Van Alstyne and his team selected the Pitney Bowes Rival™ Productivity Series Inserting System. CCS particularly liked the Rival system’s small footprint and speed. It provided the right capacity at the right price to meet CCS’s needs.

To start, CCS installed one Rival inserting system in its New York facility. The team was immediately impressed. “In the past, we’ve had problems with bent envelopes,” says Mario Ragusa, vice president of operations for CCS. “But the Rival system has a mechanism that diverts defective envelopes so they don’t stop production. The new sheet feeder is vacuum-fed, which is also very helpful. The Rival inserters represent a big improvement in both areas.”

“The pilot project went well,” Van Alstyne reports. “The Rival system has been rock-solid for us, and it’s delivered great value, so we invested in two additional machines.” Now the company has one Rival system each in New York, New Jersey and Florida and is in discussions with Pitney Bowes about acquiring more.

Each of the Rival inserting systems provides 30 percent more output than the legacy machine it replaced, which has driven down employee overtime and other production costs. “The Pitney Bowes Rival inserters have taken our operations to the next level by increasing output by 30 percent.” says Carl Sattaur, operations manager of CCS’s New York facility. “Our legacy systems produced 3,500–4,000 finished pieces, whereas the Rival inserter is completing 5,000–7,000 per hour. We can turn out larger volumes at a quicker pace, making us much more efficient.”

At the same time, because the Rival systems are servo-driven, jobs can be set up more quickly. This has a noticeable effect on efficiency when the envelope size changes. “Most of our work involves #10 envelopes, but there are instances where we have to change over to another size,” Ragusa says. “Changing sizes used to take 45 minutes with the old equipment, but now it takes about 10 minutes.”

In addition to their improved productivity, the Rival systems are also helping boost CCS’s performance by enhancing the company’s job tracking capabilities. “Many of our clients want piece-level tracking,” Ragusa says. “With the help of the Pitney Bowes software, we have excellent tracking and can give audits to any clients that need them.

“Another benefit is that Pitney Bowes is an American company,” Ragusa adds. “We’ve had issues with support when we’ve dealt with companies that were overseas. Pitney Bowes has a fast response time as well.”

“We’ve been very impressed with the equipment and with the Pitney Bowes sales and technical staff who have come on site to help us make our decisions,” Van Alstyne concludes. “The Pitney Bowes Rival inserting systems have had a positive impact on both our top line and our bottom line.”