Anaheim, Calif., May 19, 2008 – At this year's National Postal Forum, visitors to BÖWE BELL + HOWELL's Booth No. 607 will be able to see firsthand how the Intelligent Mail barcode (IMB) provides piece-level tracking through the production mail lifecycle. BBH's booth theme "Follow the IMB" will show mailers how IMB implementation can increase postage discounts, provide the benefits of piece-level tracking, and give better access to new and existing services.
 
The expected 6,500-plus attendees at the Forum will see how BÖWE BELL + HOWELL's new Criterion APEX sorter and NetSort suite of software products can help mailrooms increase sorting efficiency and take full advantage of U.S. Postal Service automation discounts available to mailers who use IMBs.
 
"The IMB is revolutionizing the way mailers approach their jobs by providing greater transparency and increased integrity in the mailstream," said Michael R. Swift, president, Postal and Sorting Solutions. "The new Criterion APEX and NetSort represent two of the most important sorting product launches in BBH's recent history. Combined, these two products enable mailers to maximize discounts with new innovative offerings, improve quality, and increase the efficiency of their production services."

Criterion APEX
The Criterion APEX sorter has been designed with the latest technology to increase productivity, process a wider variety of mail, and ensure greater flexibility for ever-changing needs. The Criterion APEX sorter can be configured either as a multi-line optical character reader (MLOCR) or barcode reader, and is available in multiple models to fit various mail-sorting needs.
 
The Criterion APEX sorter delivers exceptional sorting speeds up to 35 to 40 percent faster than previous models. The Criterion APEX can process up to 70,000 postcards per hour and 55,000 #10 envelopes per hour.
 
Designed to handle the full spectrum of business and collection mail, the Criterion APEX sorter efficiently processes mail in uniform batches or mixed with various types and sizes. The new BBH Controlled Gap Feeder features constant gap control, constant pressure and pick-off speed to ensure the highest throughput, keeping the processing time of every job to a minimum.
 
BÖWE BELL + HOWELL's renowned flexibility and modular design provides numerous options for the Criterion APEX sorter, including the doubles detector (which helps to maintain integrity by detecting and rejecting doubles), a metal detector, height detector, indicia detector and thickness detector. Additional options include the WayMark in-line weighing module, linerless in-line high-speed labeler, and a significantly extended in-feed magazine.
 
NetSort
NetSort is the new sorting software platform from BÖWE BELL + HOWELL incorporating a suite of products designed to grow the customer's business. The NetSort suite of products offers new capabilities in addition to the sorting functionality currently provided by WinSort and MaxiSORT.
 
NetSort helps mailers maximize the benefits of full-service IMB implementation by maintaining unique mailpiece IDs per the U.S. Postal Service's 45-day requirement, ensuring compliance with the latest USPS electronic mailing reports, and meeting new tray- and container-tracking requirements.
 
Using NetSort, mailers with multiple production sites can achieve greater USPS discounts with better qualification levels by merging mail with their other sites. Results from initial deployment indicate that large operators can see up to a 40 percent increase in 5-digit qualification rates for national mailings. In addition, piece-level tracking provided through NetSort's validation mode minimizes the probability of errors as mail moves between sites.
 
NetSort brings the same cleansing functionality used in data- and list-processing environments to the sorting environment by interfacing with address-matching engines, such as NCOALink, ACS and others, using the BCC Mail Manager FS engine.
 
For more information on BÖWE BELL + HOWELL, contact Eileen Sarro at 919-767-7625 or [email protected], or visit www.bowebellhowell.com.