Color Printers Bring PGE Closer to Transpromo Goals

Portland General Electric (PGE) recently moved a step closer to its goal of providing transpromo communications to customers when it installed two InfoPrint Solutions (IPS) 5000 color digital inkjet printers in its in-plant. The roll-fed digital printers use drop-on-demand inkjet technology and reportedly consume less power than comparable printers. They went into production in November at the Portland, Ore.-based in-plant, replacing a pair of InfoPrint 4000 black-and-white printers, though one 4000 was retained for redundancy and check printing.

Getting the 5000s has been a long-time goal for Wes Friesen, manager of Revenue Collection & Community Offices, and Eric Houger, supervisor of Print & Mail Services (PAMS), who both went to Drupa in 2008 to check them out.

“Our existing black-and-white production printers were ready for vintage replacement,” notes Friesen. “We were looking for an end-to-end replacement solution that ideally included variable color capabilities.”

Houger acknowledges it took time to convince all the decision makers at PGE of the need for the devices, the benefits color transpromo printing could bring and to negotiate an acceptable price.

“I wanted to produce black-and-white at the same cost as my existing printers, and I wanted to be able to produce color for the same price, or cheaper, than a preprinted form could cost,” he says. In the end, he was able to get all that.

Included in the installation were a new Lasermax Roll Systems 550 unwinder, with an improved operator interface, and a Lasermax Roll Systems FX 590 folder.

“It automatically stacks the paper up vertically and auto unloads onto a cart, and so there’s no lifting, bending, twisting that needs to be done to get the stacks over to the inserters,” Houger explains.

Since installation, the IPS 5000s have been hard at work printing PGE’s 13 million annual customer bills, late notices, credit letters and other communication pieces. Once PGE acquires new document composition software later this year, Friesen says, the company plans to start adding transpromo content to its printing (i.e. personalized educational/marketing messages printed on bills and statements).

PGE is intentionally mapping out a strategy to increase the strength of its customer communications. The company realized that communicating in only one format and one voice to each customer was not presenting information and promoting products and services as effectively as possible, Friesen says. Looking to manage energy consumption through customer education, PGE will use data collected from its recently implemented “Smart Meters” project to help clients reduce power usage.

Future customized color monthly statements will provide customers relevant suggestions and offers based on the habits of each individual household. By adding vibrant colors with the IPS 5000s, PGE can also design clearer, more readable statements, which should lead to more on-time payments and reduce customer service calls.

By being a part of this company effort to improve communication to customers, the in-plant has increased its value to the parent company.

“Having these printers on the floor allows us to continue to add value to PGE through its paper communications,” affirms Houger.

Also being rolled out soon is InfoPrint Process Director (IPPD) Automated Document Factory workflow software. It enables the streamlining and automation of the statement production operations, with document level integrity and auditing. It will improve the in-plant’s ability to manipulate files, Houger says, allowing bar codes to be added or text to be covered up if necessary.

“It allows us to have better control over printing the files,” he says.

The IPS 5000s were installed in the space previously occupied by the 4000s. Installation went well, Houger reports.

“We had a great team effort, with IPS and our internal experts from IT, Facilities and PAMS all working together to pull off a timely and mistake-free install,” he says.

The PGE in-plant team stands with the new InfoPrint Solutions 5000 digital color printers.