Partner & Customer Solutions
Integrated Print & Fulfillment
NPC was awarded a 10-year contract with a large government agency in November 1997 to maintain a database of nearly 500 forms. The concept was simple – supply printed forms to customers across the United States on-demand, rather than pulling already-printed forms from a large warehouse inventory. Not only did NPC design and scan the forms, and store them in a database, but we integrated a print and fulfillment solutions by printing all the forms, managing the system and distributing the forms to locations nationwide.
The Challenge
Because of the logistics of supplying 500 different forms to 35,000 customer locations, the system had to be paperless and seamless to reduce waste and improve turnaround time for the distribution of new and revised forms. Formerly, when a new or revised form was needed, the agency would have to go through a procurement process, review bids and choose a contractor, then allow for manufacturing and shipping time, all of which could take anywhere from 4-6 weeks. As a result, obsolescence became a cost and timeliness issue for the agency.
“Traditionally, a couple of million of these forms were printed and then stored in a warehouse,” NPC Senior Account Representative Don Ciambotti says. “Sometimes, 6 months later a regulation change would come along and millions of forms would need to be destroyed, re-printed and re-stocked in a warehouse until the cycle started over."
NPC's Solution
In addition to providing the lowest cost for printing, NPC also provided the lowest mailing costs for the customer. NPC “batched” orders to consolidate shipments to customers, guaranteeing that the fewest number of packages were shipped to assure the lowest cost for the customer.
NPC created an Internet-based document management system and processed between 800 and 2,000 electronically transmitted orders per day, using that “Internet-based system for e-commerce way before that word was even popularized.” NPC then filled and shipped the orders, and electronically invoiced the customer.
“NPC used digital print for an on-demand solution and traditional web offset printing equipment for longer runs,” Don Ciambotti explains. “We didn’t really have an (Information Technology) vehicle then to pull the orders and handle billing, so our software development team built that system from scratch. We were able to reduce the turnaround time to 3-4 days.”
Results
The agency was able to get out of the “forms warehousing” business and concentrate on their core business. Additionally, they no longer had to worry about wasteful obsolescence in their constantly changing document library.
NPC was able to develop a strategic plan that would reach broadly across the organization. NPC’s traditional print, digital print, bindery, warehousing and fulfillment departments all partnered to make this contract a success. NPC was effectively able to take this solution and repurpose it for the rest of our customer base.
“Since we already had a system in place, it really didn’t have to be exclusive to forms,” Don Ciambotti says. “NPC has a long history of producing books and was able to grow this project by producing the agency’s training materials as well.”
Learn more ...
If you would like to learn more about our customized, integrated solutions, contact an NPC representative today at 800-847-5757 or email info@npcweb.com.