The Customer

Sailpost is a company that has been operating in the postal and logistics sector for more than 20 years. The company boasts widespread coverage of the territory, with more than 140 post offices and more than 300 mail points within businesses throughout Italy. In July 2018, Sailpost acquired 100 percent of the national courier Hermes Italia, now HR Parcel, with the aim of expanding its distribution network and increasing opportunities in the logistics and e-commerce sectors.

Thanks to the two networks, today Sailpost can boast a distribution network capable of covering the entire country, offering both postal and courier service. Sailpost, moreover, was the first private postal operator to obtain a special national license for the delivery of court documents and fines, attesting itself as the only concrete alternative to Poste Italiane for this type of communication.

The Challenge

In the complex processing cycle that characterises this type of activity, a critical component is the need to define and implement proper management of returns while trying to find the right balance between practicality and ease of handling. If all returns are sent to the CSR (Regional Service Centre) where they are digitised and made available, an additional level of complexity in the operation is the format of the envelopes.

In fact, the envelopes that are received and digitised are of a myriad of different formats, from the classic AR coupon to envelopes with ad hoc formats for different postal products, which is why Sailpost was looking for a scanning solution that could quickly digitize items while offering great flexibility in both formats and thicknesses.

Before implementing PFU (EMEA) Limited's solutions, Sailpost was using other scanners, but they had a significant limitation related to envelope thickness. In fact, when they had to handle particularly thick envelopes, the scanners ran into great difficulty and the scanning procedure was thus particularly cumbersome and time-consuming.

The Solution

Sailpost then turned to PFU (EMEA) Limited to find the ideal solution to properly, quickly, and easily manage the digitisation of returns. After an initial implementation of the Ricoh fi-7700 and Ricoh fi-7600 models (with Ricoh fi-760prb endorser), the company also installed the new Ricoh fi-8190 and Ricoh fi-8290.

With a 100-sheet ADF (Automatic Document Feeder) and a duplex scanning speed of 90 ppm, the Ricoh fi-8290 and Ricoh fi-8190 scanners offer unparalleled productivity, easily scanning documents that vary widely in size-from 20gsm to 465gsm, papers or booklets up to 7mm thick – responding perfectly to Sailpost's requirements. On all Ricoh fi-8000 devices, the new PFU Clear Image Capture technology ensures exceptional image quality, far exceeding the capabilities of current CIS or CCDs. Aiming to set new standards, PFU Clear Image Capture ensures the best levels of OCR accuracy in the industry, as well as the ability to capture the widest range of documents.