News > Case Studies > 2004 > Moen Keeps Invoices Flowing Smoothly with Neopost Folder Inserter

Moen Keeps Invoices Flowing Smoothly with Neopost Folder Inserter

As seen in document, April 2004

When you sell the #1 brand of faucets in North America, you’re certain to have a high volume of invoices streaming out the door every day. That’s the situation at Moen, the renowned plumbing products manufacturer and one of the world’s leading suppliers of faucets, residential and commercial sinks, shower and bathroom accessories and plumbing repair specialty products.

Moen sends out about 1,200 invoices in envelopes every day, plus a variety of other mailed pieces including marketing materials and letters. When it comes to folding, inserting and mailing out these materials to customers, Moen’s goal is to keep things flowing smoothly and accurately. In the past, Moen had outsourced this task, but found this to be expensive and inefficient. They decided to bring the mail prep function in-house, turning for assistance to Neopost, a reputable vendor they’d had a relationship with for over ten years.

That Moen has a strong working relationship with Neopost should come as no surprise, since both are respected innovators in their respective industries. Since introducing the world to the single-handle faucet back in 1947 (the brain-child of inventor and Moen founder, Al Moen), Moen has introduced many other firsts to the world. These have included the company’s washerless cartridge system that eases maintenance, its Swing’n’Spray® aerator that changes a faucet’s flow to a forceful spray, and its Riser® family of faucets that can be lifted up to 10” above the sink.

Likewise, Neopost’s history includes numerous product innovations. Neopost is the second largest provider of mailing, addressing, document handling and logistics systems worldwide. In the folder inserter market alone, the company’s innovations include the first compact desktop folder inserter, the first tabletop folder inserter to insert both flats and business-size envelopes, and a high security optical mark reading system.

To meet Moen’s unique needs, Department Manager, John Borer, was looking for a folder inserter that was versatile enough to handle a wide variety of mailings, ranging from standard business letters to brochures and pamphlets. To make maximum use of the company’s resources while maintaining the highest level of service, Moen was seeking a product that was completely automated, accurate, secure, and user-friendly as well. It was a lot to look for in one system, but Borer found what he was looking for in Neopost’s SI92 VersaMailer II.

Borer explains, “Moen’s customers have high expectations. This new tabletop Versamailer II has the latest technology to help us meet those expectations. In fact, Neopost’s folder inserters are, hands down, the best we’ve seen. They offer the most flexibility for handling pamphlets, letters, newsletters, and, most importantly, invoices. Other systems we had experience with just do flats, but the VersaMailer II handles both flats as well as #10 envelopes, even working with the landscape format.”

Moen’s office services associate and system operator, Joan Price, appreciates the user-friendly nature of the VersaMailer II. “The system’s centralized control settings make programming and adjustments between jobs extremely easy. In fact, after pre-setting the job, adjustments are automatically made at the right time. There’s no manual sorting and stopping the machine to adjust the types or lengths of folds. And the folds are done exactly to pre-set specifications -- I never have to play with the folds to get them right.”

In the event of a paper stoppage, the system’s real-time “help” messages with large graphic display enables users to pinpoint the stoppage location. And the machine’s open architecture allows for easy access and safe removal of the paper. According to Price, “There’s not a lot of downtime with this system -- after removing the jam I just press the reset button. Downtime is rarely more than 30 seconds.”

Security and accuracy are of the utmost importance to Moen, particularly in terms of maintaining customer satisfaction. “Just imagine the potential for disaster if customers were to get the wrong invoices, or no invoices, or more than one,” said Borer. “Not only would we look extremely unprofessional, but we could be exposing confidential customer information as well as our own private discount structures. With the true security of the VersaMailer II’s Optical Mark Recognition (OMR), I don’t have to lose sleep worrying about mistakes.”

The most secure form of OMR in the industry, Neopost’s dual track OMR prints the same amount of marks on every form. This ensures that an ink smudge or accidental mark is detected as an error, not a command. The errors are then redirected to one of two divert stations, and the system keeps flowing.

”The team at Neopost helped us set up the secure OMR code that is printed on our documents that our VersaMailer II automatically reads,” said Borer. “Because the document accumulation and inserting is automatic, there’s no human error, and productivity is greatly enhanced.”

”Also, for additional security and efficiency,” Borer continues, “the Versamailer II features battery-augmented memory. So if there’s a power outage, programming memory remains securely stored.”

Perhaps the greatest advantage Moen has seen from using this new Neopost system is a savings in labor and related costs. “The VersaMailer II has enabled us to maximize our resources while maintaining the highest level of service,” Borer explains. “With its automated benefits, manual sorting is a thing of the past. The system’s folder is particularly phenomenal in its ability to fold and insert into number 10 envelopes or direct document sets to bypass the folder and just insert into flats all in-line. It is able to switch jobs in mid-stream to a completely different fold type and/or size, to give us accurate folds every time.”

Clearly, the people at Moen are more than satisfied with the stream of benefits they’re receiving from the new VersaMailer II tabletop folder inserter. In fact, you could say they’re positively gushing.