PCI Group president Chris Kropac recently presented at the thINK Forum Annual Conference. This event includes the Canon community of inkjet printer customers, solution partners, and print industry experts. The gathering brings together those in the industry to learn, network, and collaborate. While there, Chris shared insights into the transactional print industry during an interview with David Zwang of WhatTheyThink.

As a Canon partner, Chris was excited to see new innovative equipment forthcoming and hear from thought leaders in the field. While many different types of businesses use Canon projects, very few specialize only in transactional print, as we do. Chris explained during the interview, “Everything we touch is mission-critical and relates to security and compliance, and that’s the area where we’re experts.”

PCI Group President and Co-Owner Chris Kropac recently appeared on Impressions Xchange, a show hosted by Mark Michelson, Editor-in-Chief of Printing Impressions. The show brings together thought leaders and innovators in the print space. Chris and Mark discussed PCI Group’s markets and operations along with discussing transactional mail trends.

Chris explained PCI Group’s business model to start. “We’re in the transactional market, highly compliant. We have two sides of the business, print-ready and document composition. We’ve tripled the size of the business in the past few years.”

Mark asked about the impact of COVID-19 on the business. “We’re 100% dedicated to transactional. We had setbacks at first, but we picked up new clients looking to outsource,” Chris replied.

PCI Group takes document destruction seriously. Working in many regulated industries with personal information often on letters, we have a responsibility to safeguard that data during destruction. In this video, you’ll see our operations and see our industrial paper shredder, the WEIMA WLK 10, in action.

All paper that requires shredding goes to a secure area. That location is locked and only accessible by authorized employees.

The WEIMA WLK 10 is a single-shaft shredder that can process paper, plastic, and more. Such systems are configurable to meet the application. Our machinery uses a conveyor. We move the paper from the secured shred area to the WEIMA WLK 10. It works fast, shredding a high volume of paper in seconds.

Technology provides the opportunity to understand the performance of just about anything. PCI Group has always been technology-forward. The ability to capture data from the floor and turn that into actionable insights that can optimize performance and outcomes is critical. That’s what we can do thanks to Bluecrest DirectView™ from Pitney Bowes, which is an analytics platform that comes standard on Epic® inserters. PCI Group President and Co-Owner Chris Kropac shared how the company is using this equipment.

“We have live shop floor analytics from Bluecrest DirectView. We have boards for all the Bluecrest Epic’s and MPS’s. With this data, we can build modes around jobs, whether that be a four-piece or one-piece job,” Chris said.

DirectView monitors production operations performance in real-time. We are able to access this critical information, which can improve productivity and maintain operational efficiencies. The technology delivers a transparent view of if jobs are on time.

With the BlueCrest Epic inserter solution, print and mail companies can expand beyond the #10 envelope and be assured of integrity. PCI Group uses this equipment to ensure compliance since we work with transactional mail for regulated industries, which includes many compliance measures. Perry Fernandes, VP of Operations, shared how this inserting system provided new possibilities for customers.

“When we looked at the postal change that allowed for three and a half ounce mail could ship at the same rate as one-ounce mail, we knew our customers would want to take advantage of this,” Perry said.

Taking advantage of this meant the ability to use different envelopes, but this can be time-consuming for changeovers and complex. The BlueCrest Epic inserter, however, changed the game. “We could easily transition from number tens, and we’re doing more six-by-nines than ever before.”

Pitney Bowes MPS (Mainstream Productivity Series) technology from Pitney Bowes enables PCI Group to track mail smarter and with greater detail. Perry Fernandes, VP of Operations, explained how the company uses it.

“MPS allows us to track the mail and the sheet all the way through the machine. We have the opportunity to go back and look at a quality issue. What MPS technology enables us to look at a sheet and envelope and how it traveled,” Perry said.

The Pitney Bowes MPS is a new generation of scalable, intelligent ultra-high-speed mail finishing systems. It enables flexibility, higher throughput, and integrity. It’s a closed-loop print reconciliation system that provides speed and accuracy without compromising either.

MRDF Printing Integrity in transactional mail isn’t optional. It’s the only way to do it, and even with high volume, there can be no compromises on this. To be confident that every letter enters the right envelope, PCI Group leverages MRDF printing (mail run data file) technology from Pitney Bowes to achieve this. President and Co-Owner Chris Kropac offers insights on this powerful functionality.

“MRDF printing technology is the index file that we feed to the inserter that comes from the print image file. It ensures you get every single sheet of paper into an envelope,” Chris explained.

The MRDF printing file delivers data about what the insertion equipment should expect and looks to match those up. “It’s a verifiable process, and if it doesn’t match up, it diverts the envelope right away,” Chris said.

For any business to succeed, they need strong partners. Having this kind of relationship elevates it from just a vendor. That’s how PCI Group feels about its BlueCrest (Pitney Bowes) partnership. President and Co-Owner Chris Kropac shared his thoughts on working with the company.

“It’s a partnership. It started as a vendor relationship and evolved,” Chris said. The interactions between BlueCrest (Pitney Bowes) and us grew as their technology capabilities did. Now, we’ve had the chance to work with their development and technology teams. We also have the technicians who install and maintain the equipment. “They know our workload and care about it. They want us to succeed.

Their desire to want their partners to do well isn’t just lip service. “If we’re not doing something right, they tell us to look at this and share best practices,” Chris noted.

As a transactional mail and mission-critical communication printer, PCI Group focuses on compliance and integrity. There’s no room for error in highly regulated industries. It requires sound processes and an integrity system that’s accurate for inserting. That emphasis on integrity and new opportunities required new equipment.

“PCI Group went through a transformation when the company had the opportunity to get into the healthcare space, and we grew by 200%. We had to up our game on the requirements of compliance,” Perry Fernandes, VP of Operations, said.

This evolution for the company put new parameters around integrity. The question was how to go from the old system of inserting to a white paper factory roll in and get it right. “The Epic was exactly what we wanted,” Perry added.