All the advantages of FP inserter machines at a glance
If you are choosing a new inserter system, price is not the only factor. Pay attention to operation, accessibility, and quality as well. We have listed the most important advantages of our FPI inserter machines for you, in direct comparison with competing devices.
Advantage: Fast loading
Fast loading and unloading of the feeders significantly increases productivity. The full-size feeders of the FPi 2300, 2500, 4800, 5600 & 6600-2 are quick and easy to load: Simply fold down the side guide of the document feeder. The transport rollers are automatically raised, and the stack of documents can be inserted into the feeder. Loading can be completed in about 3 seconds.
The document feeders of some competitors resemble the paper cassettes in copiers: The operator must press down a spring-loaded metal plate while inserting the stack of paper to ensure that the stack is positioned below the transport rollers. This requires both hands. The recommended operator position is directly in front of the feeders.
One problem is that some inserters are usually positioned at the right end of the table to leave space for the (hanging) output tray. Then the operator has to load awkwardly with the left hand while pressing down the top edge of the stack. This is especially problematic with larger stacks.
Advantage: Accessibility
All FP inserter machines offer the extremely user-friendly folding tray design. This allows the operator to access the entire paper path by lifting once. The operator can quickly and easily reach every area in the machine, for example to remove material in the event of occasional stoppages.
Good accessibility is more than just convenience, however. Efficient clearing of paper jams minimizes machine downtime and thus increases productivity. In addition, the well-designed paper path helps prevent tearing, crumpling, or complete destruction of documents in the event of a paper jam. Documents processed with FP inserters are rarely damaged by paper jams and therefore seldom need to be reprinted.
Tabletop inserters from competitors have many similarities to copiers. Some have many narrow access areas where paper or envelopes can get trapped. For example, there are five different access areas, each with different steps for removing the material. Some even have 10 access areas! To make matters worse, many of these areas cannot be reached without removing the feeders and/or the folding pockets. Many competitor customers use tools such as needle-nose pliers to remove stuck paper from places that are too tight for a human hand. To make matters worse, documents in a paper jam are often destroyed, and restoring them takes time. Clearing paper jams in competitors' tabletop inserters is often a laborious process.
Advantage: Collect before folding
In the segment up to 40,000 letters/month, there is another important advantage over competitors. The FPi 2300 / 2500 / 4800 are equipped with a collecting unit. These models feed the sheets down a vertical path to the collecting area, where they are stacked on top of each other. This later allows the sheets to be folded together, even when reading is used, instead of separate individually folded documents. As a result, the recipient receives a professionally processed mailing when opening the envelope, with everything folded together in one set.
Beyond the appearance, there is another advantage to collecting before folding. The frequency of errors when inserting the folded sheets into the envelope is significantly reduced. Why? Because the system opens the envelope only once to insert the documents. As a result, collecting before folding increases both the reliability and the active operating time of the system, in addition to the professional appearance mentioned above.
Competitors do not offer consistent "collect before folding." If one sheet is fed from each of two feeders, these are collected and folded together. So far so good. But: if more than one sheet is fed from one of the two feeders, these additional sheets are folded and inserted separately. The same applies to OMR reading, where folding and insertion are done individually. One could call this "collecting in the envelope."
With each folded sheet that is inserted individually, there is less and less space left in the envelope for any sheets that may follow. The less space, the higher the risk of errors. Not to mention the appearance of the mailing from the recipient's point of view: often an unorganized pile of sheets, some folded together, others not. It can be quite difficult for the recipient to tell which side of the contents is page 1, page 2, or 3.
Advantage: FlexFeed
The FPI FlexFeed feeders can take both documents and inserts. Competitor systems have purpose-built feeders that accept either documents or inserts, but not both. Customers who want to buy an inserter system only for a very limited number of applications should still pay attention to application flexibility. Most customers change the materials used and/or program completely new jobs during the system's service life. Even if such changes are not expected at first, it is always better to "have something and maybe not need it" than to "not have it even though you need it."
Advantage: Document security
FP inserters use industry-exclusive solutions to ensure the correct envelope contents.
- secure'n Feed calculates the thickness of each document fed from all feeders (all models). The precise electromechanical technology determines the physical dimensions of each fed document.
- secure'n Feed calculates the thickness of each completed, folded document set before it is inserted. (Only FPi 5600 & 6600-2). Here too, the calculation is electromechanical.
Documents whose measured values are too thick, or sets that are thicker or thinner than expected, are reliably detected. This makes errors regarding envelope contents as unlikely as can be achieved with a tabletop inserter.
Tabletop inserters from competitors use light-based double-feed detection in the feeders. A measurement of the incidence of light is taken for each document. This is an indirect method compared with electromechanical technology. Light-based double-feed detection is significantly more error-prone. Dust, dirt, ambient lighting, dark or thick paper can cause errors.
Customers who process confidential documents such as statements, invoices, or checks should be aware of the security risks associated with the light-based method. In certain cases, companies that send documents to the wrong recipient could be penalized.
Advantage: Power Fold technology
With our folding technology, the paper is pressed by a knife/blade between two rollers. The blade is not sharp enough to cut the paper. It simply folds the paper at the desired point and presses it toward the rollers. As the paper passes through the rollers, it is compressed and the fold is formed. (FPi 2300, 2500, 4800, 5600 & 6600-2).
Knife-/blade fold:
- Produces a crisp and perfect fold
- Efficient handling of a wide variety of paper types
- Best suited for folding thick sets consisting of multiple documents
- Does not lose effectiveness when rollers are coated with dust or ink
Tabletop inserters from competitors work with the pocket-fold principle. With this technology, the paper is fed at high speed until it reaches the end of a metal folding pocket. The paper then forms a "hump," which is gripped by rollers. As it passes through the rollers, the fold is formed.
Pocket fold:
- Produces poor folding results with dirty rollers (dust, ink)
- Requires frequent roller cleaning
- Lower tolerance in terms of thickness/passage. The number of pages that can be folded together is therefore limited
