Streamline Your Mail Center

Don't stop with merging mail and print. You can continue to bring savings and increase efficiency after the merger.

So you've merged your in-house mail and print departments? You've been through turmoil and tumultuous times, and you persevered?

Why stop there?

With the constant changes in technology, improvements to your in-plant mail and print operations should be ongoing. Keeping on top of trends, postal regulations and new ideas can only increase your parent organization's bottom line.

Take Brigham Young University, for example. The Provo, Utah, school merged its copying, printing and mail services more than two years ago and continues to make improvements that add up to tremendous cost savings for BYU. Thom Roylance, assistant director of the Print and Mail Production Center at BYU, says the department employs 60 full-time employees and more than 230 students. With an annual budget of $12 million, BYU processes a large number of mailings over the course of a year.

According to Roylance, having printing and mail services in one location is a huge benefit.

"Having everyone housed in the same area brings unity to the employees and produces a feeling of being one," he says. "When you change things on an organizational level, the employees need time to adjust to the change, and having them together made it better for everyone involved."

By combining departments and eliminating some positions via attrition, BYU immediately saved over $86,000 in salaries and benefits.

But Roylance isn't finished yet.

"We have many great ideas on the table," he says.

BYU plans to initiate an intranet site so that the center's clients can check on the status of a job at any time, whether it's in the print, bindery or mail stages.

"We're also looking into adding an ink-jet for bar coding to our stitcher/trimmer," says Roylance. "That will save us 24 hours [in] turnaround time."

Indeed, by combining bar coding with equipment typically used in the bindery area, turnaround time is drastically reduced, resulting in happier customers and one less step in the process.

Another service the in-plant will soon provide is pickup of mail, UPS and Federal Express packages from the 11 copy centers on campus.

"By having departments drop their outbound packages at the nearest copy center, we can pick them up as part of our normal delivery and pickup of copy and print jobs from the various centers around campus," Roylance says. "It just made sense."

Merger Kicks Off Modernization

Six months after Wal-Mart merged its print and mail operations, Dennis Fultz, manager of Mailing Services, still sees a "long row to hoe." With 30 employees in the mailing service area and 290 in the print area, the merger marked a significant change in the Bentonville, Ark., company's culture.

"Our mailing and sorting was done the same way by the same people for many years. We had an antiquated system," reveals Fultz. "Our employees wanted the change and we were lucky to have very positive and knowledgeable employees that made it all work."

When the two departments teamed up, they were housed together in the same area, which saved the company time, insurance costs and gave it a larger sense of security, particularly when completing payroll.

"One of our biggest savings came from having the Mailing Services department housed in the same place," he says, "Logistically, the change has made a big difference." With an annual budget of $5 million for First Class postage alone, and 12.5 million pieces of mail processed, the savings are adding up quickly.

Just four months ago, Fultz added a new bar code sorter to his operation, bringing drastic savings to the retail giant. Prior to bar coding, everything was done by hand or subcontracted

"We used to use a subcontractor, but now we only subcontract our overflow," says Fultz. "Our goal is to complete all mailing operations in-house within three to six months."

The Bottom Line

So how much money can you save your organization with upgrades and changes?

Bill May, director of Printing Services at the University of Alabama for over six years, says bulk mail systems at the university were upgraded to include delivery point bar coding when the U.S. Postal Reclassification of 1996 was enacted. Since then, mailing operations have saved the university over $340,000 through automation-compatible postage discounts. May sends his supervisors a memo each month detailing the savings.

May's operation charges other university departments for its services.

"People at the University don't have to use our mail shop," says May, "but they do so because of our quality, the amount of savings we can pass on and our quick turnaround time."

Sorting mail via bar coding dramatically reduced turnaround time at the university and resulted in increased postal savings.

One change that has proven most effective for the University has been the concept of cross-training.

"Our bulk mail and bindery personnel can help each other out as needed," says May. Not only does cross-training provide additional labor when and where it is needed, it also contributes to employee job satisfaction because it adds to the diversity of the job.

Cross-training has also proved beneficial at Marvin Windows and Doors, in Warroad, Minn.

"Cross-training was the most important thing we did," affirms Barb Clay, technical publications manager at the 21-employee shop. Clay merged print and mail operations over two years ago. By cross-training bindery and mail personnel, employees can lend a hand in the other department when the workload is heavy, she says. The employees are also much more satisfied, with greater variety in their day-to-day responsibilities, she adds.

"Another thing that we do that I would recommend is to hold meetings with representatives from every department when a mailing goes out," says Clay. Representatives from mailing, printing and design meet to discuss each aspect of a project before it starts. It saves time and energy, with fewer problems when everyone is involved from the beginning.

While Clay's mailroom handles all of the corporate interoffice mail, with over 75 daily stops, it also handles all outgoing regular mail and marketing mailings. The mailroom sorts by zip code as much as possible and utilizes a Pitney Bowes Paragon for metering. Marvin has seen remarkable savings resulting from the merger and streamlining of the two facilities.

"We are more efficient now," says Clay.

Sidebar: Five Tips From A Pro

It doesn't take much effort to get stuck in a rut.

"You always have to step back and take a fresh look at your operations, even if you recently merged departments" says Scott DeMayo, of DeMayo Mail Management Consultants, in Randolph, N.J. "The industry changes very quickly."

DeMayo is a consultant specializing in helping organizations merge their print and mail operations. Certified by both the United States Postal Services (USPS) and the Mailing Systems Management Association (MSMA), he conducts efficiency studies to provide organizations with an objective picture of their print and mail facilities.

DeMayo suggests several important ingredients to a smooth-flowing operation:

1) Hold group planning meetings to ensure everyone is on the same page. Include marketing, design/graphics, printing and the mailing/shipping departments.

2) Have your key players take advantage of professional education and certification programs like the MQC (Mailpiece Quality Control) program offered by the USPS, and CMDSM (Certified Mail & Distribution Systems Manager) certification from the MSMA.

3) Routinely review and evaluate your production environment for proper flow-through. Simply moving a few pieces of equipment can often save substantial amounts of time and labor.

4) Look at the production capabilities, speeds and quality of your equipment and evaluate whether it is feasible to include in your operation. Consider the pros and cons of getting rid of equipment, such as excess bulk that takes up floor space.

5) Have back-up resources lined up to help take some of the load. Be prepared for unexpectedly heavy volumes or special projects. Cross-training employees builds a more flexible, proactive team.

by Cindy L. Waeltermann