EPIC Inserters Power IMS to New Levels of Productivity

There’s a saying that artisans use — measure twice, cut once. It’s about taking care to get the planning and preparation exactly right before taking action. IMS Inc., an omnichannel communications specialist based in Liverpool, NY, was founded in 1986 by current owner Lee Vanderpool. The growth of the business can be attributed to service excellence and the continued search for innovation. 

IMS serves clients in the healthcare, financial services, and government sectors. When it comes to communications, these sectors have two key factors in common — regular high volumes of mail, and a requirement to meet strict compliance rulings. Put simply, any error in communication can mean sensitive information going to the wrong recipient, with obvious repercussions for the brand or government department.

These two factors — volume and compliance — combine to present mailing specialists, such as IMS, with a major challenge — how can we ensure that things are done at top-speed while still maintaining document processing integrity? John Mashia, president and COO at IMS, recognized this challenge was getting more demanding, and serious planning and research began to find technology to help the business address today’s client needs and provide capacity for future growth.

“We looked for a compliance driven solution that gave our clients reassurance and security, but also had the necessary level of performance to drive efficiencies internally,” says Mashia.

“The BlueCrest (Booth N2652) name immediately came to mind, specifically the Epic inserting system. We already use BlueCrest’s Mailstream Evolution and Mailstream Productivity Series inserters, and we knew all about the reliability of the technology. We also knew that investing in the latest Epic would take our business to the next level.”

The Epic has been designed to deliver high productivity regardless of the format or complexity of the job. The system can reach speeds of up to 24,000 cycles/hr without compromising control or accuracy.

“People always talk about the speed of inserting technology, but it’s not just about speed, it’s about performance,” says Mashia. “Can the system maintain high throughput while minimizing diverts and delivering on accuracy and integrity? Results were excellent.”

Output on the Epic is doubling that of IMS’s other systems, a performance level that is further aided by the investment in expert service support from BlueCrest.

Mashia comments, “Having a BlueCrest technician on site has delivered clear advantages. We are seeing increased uptime. The BlueCrest Global Service has also been working to help cross-train our internal technicians to assist them in supporting the operation. We’ve been able to increase our volumes, and are now taking on full workloads from clients for whom we had previously only done a percentage of work.”

“BlueCrest is a true business partner,” says Mashia. “Together, we are working to deliver better outcomes for clients. It’s a partnership approach that we really appreciate.”