It was an ambitious undertaking made even more demanding by the exceptional situation of the Covid-19 pandemic. The print and mailing center of Provinzial Rheinland modernized its automatic inserting technology by installing two BÖWE SYSTEC Fusion Cross high-speed inserting systems. The fact that two systems would now be handling the same volume as the three old ones and that after several decades there was to be a change of equipment supplier made the project all the more interesting.
There’s rather more to the print and mailing center of Provinzial Rheinland in Düsseldorf than you might expect from its name, since the center actually produces documents for the entire Munster-based Provinzial Holding AG group. Provinzial Holding, which is the second-largest public insurer in Germany, is part of the Sparkassen financial services group. The insurer, which has more than five million private and corporate clients and a premium income of over six billion Euros was created in mid 2020, following the merger of the Provinzial Rheinland and the Provinzial NordWest insurance groups.
Heavily reliant on efficient customer communications
As is the norm in the insurance industry, much of the communication with its customers is via letter post and the volumes handled by the Düsseldorf center are correspondingly impressive. Around 130 million A4 pages are printed every year and some 16 million letters mailed. 15 employees work in the print center, which operates a three-shift cycle from Monday morning to Friday evening, to manage this output.
The department is busiest in the fourth quarter of each year, with peaks in demand in November and December. This is when the key year-end business takes place for the various insurance policies. It is the volume of premium notices, annual reports and statements issued during this period that determines the performance levels that the inserting equipment must achieve. In early August 2020 two Fusion Cross inserting systems from BÖWE SYSTEC replaced three inserting systems from another manufacturer that had worked with the insurer for the last 24 years.
Three become two
“We generally change our machines after eight years and when our old inserting systems had reached that point we wanted to take the opportunity to cut the numbers from three machines to two; but the two new ones would need to match the performance of the three old ones”, explains Andrea Rabus, Head of the In- and Output Management department. “We also wanted a full backup solution. The new machines needed to be identical and networked with each other, so that we could quickly switch from one system to the other, if necessary. The two Fusion Cross systems meet these requirements. Obviously, one system less also meant a lower investment and, in consequence, lower servicing costs.”
“It was important to us that the new system could process the DL (#10) and C4 formats (9 x 12 Flats) and that it was capable of switching between the two quickly and easily, because around 90% of our mailings are DL and the rest C4. The Fusion Cross systems fit the bill perfectly. Although, at first glance, the tenders from the various manufacturers did not seem that different, the capabilities of the Fusion Cross and the outstanding support offered by BÖWE SYSTEC had already won us over by the planning and tendering phase”, adds Klaus Müllers, Head of the Print and Mailing Center. He then goes into detail about why the choice fell on BÖWE SYSTEC. “Capable of inserting up to 22,000 DL envelopes per hour, the Fusion Cross met our performance requirements; but what really convinced us was its special inserting method, the Flow-Principle, which we think is superb technology. It means that the inserting system delivers a constant performance and achieves a high net output on the stacker. The inserting technology from BÖWE SYSTEC with its broad bandwidth of applications and enclosures, its stable, non-stop operation and the Flow-Principle really made the difference.”
Provinzial Rheinland ordered the Fusion Cross systems with three infeed channels each. Besides one for the continuous processing of rolls, they are equipped with a cut-sheet feeder as well as with a feeder for service cards. As a result, the systems are very versatile in terms of their infeed channel processing as well as their application and enclosure spectrum. The roll-on, roll-off infeed channel, which allows a fast changeover from cut-sheet to continuous processing, is key to ensuring the flexibility of the Fusion Cross.
Covid-19 meant that the project experienced unforeseen difficulties and much had to be done in an unconventional way. “Usually, for example, our customer’s operators receive intensive training at our Augsburg Headquarters and normally acceptance of the system takes place in our factory prior to delivery”, explains Jens Abels from BÖWE SYSTEC Sales, who managed the entire project. However, the pandemic meant that we had to be flexible and by working closely with Provinzial it was possible for both the operator training and the final acceptance to take place on site in Düsseldorf.”
Fusion Cross enhances productivity
“Our goal was to have the systems in full production by September 2020, because by then the high-volume end of year business would be approaching. Thanks to the committed support for the project provided by BÖWE SYSTEC and the intensive two-way communication, things have gone very well”, reports Klaus Müllers. “Just as we were looked after outstandingly well by BÖWE SYSTEC right from the start, so our operators were excellently trained by the BÖWE engineers under the very trying conditions imposed by Covid-19.”
“After 24 years in a different system universe there were understandable concerns amongst our employees at one point or another. However, their acceptance grew pretty quickly as they were trained on the new inserting systems. Most of all, they were won over by the operator-friendly BÖWE Cockpit control software, with its intuitive user interface”, explains Andrea Rabus. The ease of operation makes quick changeovers between jobs possible. In addition, the software enhances the efficiency of the networking of the two Fusion Cross systems. This means, for example, that “recipes” (sets of material parameters used for preparing jobs) can be entered and then easily transferred from one Fusion Cross to the other – the benefits of this digital ease of operation: reduced changeover times.
When it comes to the efficiency of the Fusion Cross systems, Klaus Müllers has this to say: “Overall we were able to improve productivity compared with the previous equipment. The sustained performance means that we can achieve an average net output of 22,000 DIN Long items per hour. For the C4 format, where we have numerous small applications during daily production, the Fusion Cross systems have enabled us to increase our productivity by a factor of six compared with the previous systems.”
Space for more
“Our experience with the Fusion Cross systems has been extremely positive. The successful handling of the 2020 year-end business was the crucial test. Besides the performance of the systems, what has really won us over has been the really committed support, and partnership approach by the sales and technical experts from BÖWE SYSTEC, especially given the difficult conditions caused by the pandemic”, stresses Andrea Rabus. She also highlights another benefit. One inserting system less frees up space that will be very useful during the ongoing expansion of the department to become the group’s in-house printer. The resulting commercial print jobs such as flyers, mailings or brochures should also generate added inserting volumes. Thanks to their SMTS concept (Single Machine Type Strategy), which delivers maximum application versatility and enclosure flexibility, the Fusion Cross systems are perfectly suited to such additional work.
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