STAMFORD, Conn., May 12 -- Pitney Bowes Inc. announced the Flexible Bindery Interface, a new input interface designed to increase productivity and streamline operations for direct mail lettershops and service bureaus by integrating their existing stand-alone bindery process with Pitney Bowes high-speed inserters. The Flexible Bindery Interface, which Pitney Bowes will showcase at MAILCOM thru May 12 in Atlantic City, N.J., is an automated solution that streamlines the transfer of printed and folded materials through the service bureau's unwinders, cutters and folders into Pitney Bowes' high-speed inserters. "There's a production bottleneck between the cutter/folder and older-style swing-arm inserters," said Clint Dally, Pitney Bowes Document Messaging Technologies' vice president, product line management. "Today's sophisticated bindery systems process insertion materials at an incredibly high rate, often six to seven times faster than those inserters can handle. Stacks of finished materials then need to be manually transported and loaded into the inserter." "The Flexible Bindery Interface changes that by replacing multiple manual loading and transport processes with a seamless automated flow of materials that feed directly into a high-speed Pitney Bowes inserter," Dally added. MAILCOM visitors will see first-hand how the Flexible Bindery Interface is integrated with the bindery process. The interface will be inline with an unwinder, cutter and folder-from multiple vendors-and feed directly into an enclosure feeder on a Pitney Bowes FPS(TM) Flexible Productivity Inserting System. The folded materials will be scanned to help ensure integrity as they exit the feeder and be processed on the deck at speeds up to 14,000 mail pieces per hour. The interface can also be integrated with FlowMaster PLC Inserting System. Offering Investment Protection and a Platform for New Services "Even with the use of digital communication channels like e-mail, direct mail volumes continue to grow, increasing pressure on service bureaus to make the most of their space and equipment," said Brian Wilson, Pitney Bowes Document Messaging Technologies vice president of service bureau sales. "With the Flexible Bindery Interface, service bureaus can now deploy integrated bindery/inserter high-speed work cells. This in turn will enable them to replace two or even three older, manually-fed, swing-arm inserters, while protecting their big investments in bindery equipment." Bindery integration with high-speed inserters can also help broaden a service bureau's customer base by expanding capabilities beyond the traditional direct mail role with the addition of services for transactional mailers. "The ability to easily integrate a service bureau's existing bindery systems with FPS and FlowMaster high-performance inserters has the potential to open up new markets and new customers for service bureaus," said Wilson.