New Folder, Two iGen4s Boost Productivity and Quality

Fidelity Investments is an international provider of financial services and investment resources that help individuals and institutions meet their financial objectives. In addition to more than 300 mutual funds, Fidelity also offers discount brokerage services, retirement services, estate planning, wealth management, life insurance and much more.

Bryan Wheeler, process engineer for FEO Outbound Publishing Services at Fidelity Investments, is the man responsible for ensuring that a diverse portfolio of corporate covers, letters, postcards and custom marketing products are produced utilizing Fidelity's full-service, in-house printing capabilities.

In November 2009, Wheeler oversaw the implementation of a Baum AutoSet 2020 folder in his Covington, Ky.-based operation. It replaced the existing manual setup Baum 2020 right angle folder as the workhorse folder for all production. Though Wheeler says the reasons for introducing the Baum AutoSet 2020 into Fidelity's production are "too numerous to list" he is quick to itemize the attributes that make Fidelity's newly welcomed Baum invaluable.

"We reinvest a substantial portion of our revenues each year back into technology to deliver new products and services to investors. The Baum AutoSet 2020 was a key implementation to our mission to be the most efficient and flexible in-house printing firm possible," Wheeler reports. "The automation and fast, easy setup, combined with the ease of use and flexibility of the Baum AutoSet 2020 has saved us time, improved our performance and enabled us to produce more diverse and unique jobs faster. We easily gained at least 10 percent of our setup time." And that, he points out, goes directly to the bottom line in cost savings to the firm, ultimately reaching Fidelity's business partners and clients.

Baum recognizes the need to provide more than just automation, Wheeler reports. "They understand the importance of saving time and producing more. The Baum AutoSet 2020 does exactly that for us," he explains. "The flexibility and automation of the Baum 2020 is very important. We are now more flexible because we have a folder that can handle different jobs with ease, as well as vastly limit human errors thanks to [having] the automated controls in place."

As for Fidelity's two newly implemented Xerox iGen4 digital color presses, Wheeler is just as positive. Not only do the iGen4s boasts vibrant image quality that rivals offset and advanced color management tools that ensure consistent, high-definition color images, the digital presses are also saving Fidelity approximately four hours each day in setup and cleaning time.

"The valiant efforts of the past to get as close as possible to the colors a client wants are no longer good enough," Wheeler reports. "Today, critical color is a mandate, and that is what we are producing today with the iGen4 digital presses on our production floor."

Fidelity is producing about three million images a month on the iGen4s, Wheeler reports. With benchmark productivity that automates operator tasks for increased uptime, the iGen4s have boosted Fidelity's advanced color printing performance.

"We are a state-of-the-technology, full-service printing operation," Wheeler reports with pride. "We are a leader in providing digital color services and surpassing the performance expectations of the varied products we produce each day."