STAMFORD, Conn. - Just one year after debuting the AcceleJet printing and finishing system at Graph Expo 2015, Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI), a global technology company that provides innovative products and solutions to power commerce, is celebrating the success of its mid-volume solution and highlighting speed and functionality upgrades.

On Friday, Mele Printing, one of the first Pitney Bowes clients to install an AcceleJet, hosted print and mail service providers at its Covington, LA headquarters to demonstrate the printing and finishing system and the benefits of its seamless integration with Pitney Bowes production mail inserting solutions.

As a leading commercial printing, mailing and fulfillment company, Mele Printing processes more than three million mail pieces each month for clients in various industries. Remaining a leader in this competitive industry required a solution that could increase operational efficiency, offer enhanced capabilities and lower overall costs. Mele Printing found an answer to this challenge in AcceleJet.

“The AcceleJet system met every expectation that we were looking for, including compact size (just 28’ end-to-end), low noise, operation simplicity and high print quality,” said Mallery Mele, CEO/Owner, Mele Printing. “The print quality of the machine has been the number one asset. Immediately, it was a significant improvement in how we serve our customers.”

AcceleJet is an innovative roll to cut-sheet printing solution that provides a simple, cost-effective path to 100% variable data color inkjet at a cost comparable to many monochrome options. It is ideal for mid-sized transactional mail operations with a monthly print volume of one to ten million impressions. It combines high quality color output, integrated finishing and dynamic perforation. Customer communications are transformed into personalized pieces – creating greater impact with bills, statements, enrollment forms and offers.

“Our customers like the quality of the product. We are seeing new opportunities from customers who were not giving us their business,” Mele said. “Today, our confidence index is 100%. It has changed dramatically because of the type of work we can take in with the AcceleJet.”

Output is also optimized for processing on Pitney Bowes inserting systems to deliver the benefits of a Pitney Bowes White Paper Factory solution. By integrating the AcceleJet system with FlowMaster inserters, Mele Printing consolidated its workflow by using rolls of plain white paper rather than preprinted forms. This improves speed, accuracy and precision for each print job.

“Working with one vendor, combined with the continuity of labor, has increased our efficiency and cost savings. Overall, the AcceleJet is a perfect machine. It does a great job, and it's easy to adapt the printing and finishing system to meet diverse needs,” said Mele.

Speed and Functionality Upgrades

Pitney Bowes announced in June that AcceleJet can be upgraded to deliver 33% faster print speeds – up to 328’ per minute providing 716 letter impressions per minute. This upgrade is available now.

“This speed upgrade is exciting for our clients and for the future of AcceleJet. Beyond the obvious advantage of greater productivity, it also demonstrates the flexibility and upgradeability of our machines. We are constantly working with our clients to improve the speed and performance of our solutions, so that an investment in a Pitney Bowes solution is an investment in our innovation model as well,” said Grant Miller, Chief Operating Officer, Pitney Bowes Document Messaging Technologies.

Pitney Bowes is in the process of developing future enhancements to the AcceleJet printing and finishing system, including adding MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) capability, which will enable clients to print checks and other negotiable documents. Pitney Bowes also plans to adapt its Clarity Solutions Suite to its portfolio of production printers, including AcceleJet. The Clarity Solutions Suite, currently offered on high-speed mail inserting solutions, leverages the physical and digital technologies of the Industrial Internet to integrate and organize data collected from machines to support real-time insight, predictive analytics and prescriptive maintenance. These innovations are targeted for commercial availability in 2017.

Pitney Bowes offers the industry’s broadest range of inkjet format sizes, with a portfolio that includes the AcceleJet, IntelliJet 20, IntelliJet 20 HD, IntelliJet 30, IntelliJet 42 and IntelliJet 42 HD.