by Scott Gerschwer
Manager of Media Relations
Pitney Bowes Document Messaging Technologies

One of the greatest challenges facing managers of print/mail finishing centers is the need to set and achieve Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for quality, cost and turnaround time.

SiteView, a process monitoring technology available from Pitney Bowes, offers managers of print/mail finishing centers the chance to exert an unprecedented level of control over resources and jobs and manage their business in a truly 'pro-active' manner.

SiteView is a totally integrated tracking system that defines work steps and monitors the progress of a specific job across all platforms from initial data processing through printing, mail finishing and ultimately to drop-off with the USPS.

SiteView is being implemented at State Street, a leading financial services firm and is already achieving remarkable results.

"Thanks to the real-time data provided by SiteView, I am managing the entire print/mail finishing operation far more effectively, plus I can provide customers with online access so they can view the actual status of their jobs without the need to interrupt the shop-floor production," says Tim McKeon, Manager of Operations Planning for State Street.

Whether volumes are low or high, whether applications are varied or constant, customer expectations must be met. But setting and achieving service level standards has been difficult for the vast majority of print/mail finishing managers because they lack the means to manage events and resources. Specifically, they have little advance notice of when jobs arrive for processing, and virtually no ability to alter the sequence of jobs, or split jobs among multiple resources, for faster or more efficient processing, once jobs arrive in the center.

As a result, print/mail finishing centers must either maintain costly excess capacity to handle the unpredictable and inevitable conflicts in demand. Or they must work harder and at a higher cost -- due to overtime expenses and the impact on morale -- by 'catching-up' and processing jobs during rest periods, lunch breaks or after the shift ends to meet the promised delivery standard.

Neither approach is ideal over the long-term and both trap the manager in a never-ending cycle of re-acting to events rather than pro-actively managing resources to accommodate the shifts in demand and priorities that are present in any dynamic work environment. SiteView can help you break that cycle and regain control over your mail production center.

In the final analysis, a successful business requires managing relationships well--relationships with customers, vendors, managers and staff. SiteView can help your document production facility deliver the most efficient communications and reach unprecedented levels of effectiveness.

Call 1-877-536-2736 for more information.

Product capabilities at a glance
SiteView Real-Time Production Control and Reporting

SiteView enables companies or customers to monitor -- from a single, even remote point of control via the Internet -- the progress of every application and every mail piece throughout the entire document production process, from point of job receipt to final distribution through both print and electronic channels.

Real-time updates -- in an easy-to-understand graphic format -- along with throughput analyses and detailed reports enable managers to:

• Track and schedule jobs more effectively.
• Allocate resources more efficiently.
• Calculate costs and profitability more quickly.
• Identify areas for improvement more readily.
• Measure the effectiveness of equipment and operators to help achieve
  maximum processing efficiency.
• Manage your Just in Time (JIT) inventory supply more accurately.

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