 Eighteen months ago Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield's print and mail operation in Washington was preparing to launch a variety of changes that included purchasing new digital print and bindery equipment, completely re-organizing the shop floor, and reassigning staff to accommodate the changing workflow.
Print Services Supervisor Justin Johnson admits that he was concerned about how the 19-person team would handle the flood of changes. The print team, however, met the news with eagerness and excitement. Their openness to change may be rooted in the enormous amount of time and effort that they have invested in the company, making them ready and willing to do whatever is necessary to ensure its continued success. Regence Print & Mail employees are encouraged to participate in innovation, not just production. "This type of collaboration has certainly helped us adapt to change more rapidly and effectively, said Johnson."
 Thanks to a total buy-in by staff, the shop has been able to make giant strides. The two HP Indigo 5500 digital presses, installed about a year and a half ago, are already pushing 11 million impressions each. "These digital presses give us the added muscle to be able to meet 4-color and print on demand needs." Their new Standard Horizon Stitchliner has already produced well over 1 million booklets. "It was the perfect complement to the Indigos, enabling our bindery to finish booklets faster and more efficiently than ever before." Their #10 mail inserter was replaced by a flats inserter to allow for automation of some of the fulfillment work. "We are focusing more on our bread and butter and sending the #10 work to our much larger mail facility in Portland." In addition, the team has stopped insourcing work to focus all of its available resources on inside print and fulfillment.
 What fueled all of the equipment upgrades?
The changes were based on the decision to bring inside some large print and fulfillment projects that had been outsourced, the bulk being 8.5 x 11 pre-sales packets stuffed with collateral materials. Using Avanti software, requests for these packets are relayed from other departments and even outside the state directly to the fulfillment department. "We are sending as many as 18,000 pieces out of our fulfillment department per month, and this number continues to grow. That's 18,000 more than we were sending out a year and a half ago, said Johnson." This has had an impact on the mail staff as well, who now manages up to 110,000 outbound mail pieces and approximately 1,000 packages monthly.
Just a little over a year after the first round of changes, this in-plant is more productive than ever, generating a wider variety of products and processing far more fulfillment work. "We have invested in new equipment, shifted and added staff to accommodate, and refined the flow of work to meet changing demands. As a result, we can provide our customers with products that you would expect from a state-of-the-art print and mail facility."
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