Devon & Cornwall Police increase mailing capacity and cut costs with Quadient
Devon & Cornwall Police serve a community population of over 1.5 million on the UK’s south coast. Road safety is an essential part of its operations, with a target to reduce death and serious injury on the roads by 50% by 2030 and down to zero by 2040. Enforcement supports this objective, with around 1,000 letters a month sent notifying road users of suspected safety contraventions.
In 2023, Devon & Cornwall Police upgraded its Quadient mailing solutions to meet the communications demand generated by a 40% increase in detected road safety offences. It successfully raised its production capacity, and at the same time achieved a 25% reduction in postage costs and automated mailing verification for data integrity.
The challenge: to meet high-volume outbound mailing demand, reduce costs and maximise data integrity
In addition to the 1,000 notifications a month, Devon & Cornwall Police’s road safety unit also issues reminders and information on speed awareness courses, around 80,000 of which were attended in 2022. In total, the unit sends around 200,000 mailings a year. The team must print, envelope, apply postage and mail each item. It also sends out warning letters under the Community Speed Watch scheme, standing at around 25,000 per annum.
The constabulary’s crackdown on road safety violations had resulted in a 40% increase in detected offences and its existing mailing solution struggled to process the higher demand. Capacity was therefore a key driver for change, but so too was cost efficiency. The team wanted to explore ways to minimise postage costs, while continuing to send notifications by mandated Royal Mail 1st Class.
Any new equipment or software also needed to deliver the highest level of data security and integrity. It is critical that mailings are sent to the correct addresses, contain all the required pages and that nothing is included that shouldn’t be. The road safety team wanted to ensure maximum verification formed part of its upgraded outbound mailing solution.
The process: smooth proceedings
Devon & Cornwall Police’s procurement process initiated a review of the market and Quadient, an existing supplier to the constabulary, was among those invited to submit a proposal.
Quadient assessed the requirement, visited the constabulary to gather information and recommended an integrated hardware/software solution to meet the increase in communications demand.
“The new equipment would be more efficient and would operate at higher volumes,” says Gary Williamson, road safety manager at Devon & Cornwall Police. “We were kept up to date at every step of the process, with lots of documentation to explain what the new equipment did.”
The solution: Quadient Impress Automate, folder inserters, AIMS and Mailroom Architect
Quadient recommended automation software, two folder inserters to fold and envelope mailings and an address checker that would also apply postage marks.
Quadient Impress Automate is a comprehensive outbound document management platform that automates manual processes involved in creating and distributing mailings. It centralises document preparation and distribution and manages communications workflows according to business processing rules.
The solution efficiently processes information from data feeds to generate communications and send them to print and mail. For Devon & Cornwall Police, data uploaded from van-based and handheld cameras is checked and verified and then fed directly into Impress Automate which uses it to generate notices and other communications.
Two DS-95i folder inserters, each with a capacity of 4,300 mail pieces an hour, then prepare communications for posting. Scanning technology ‘reads’ the barcodes printed on the mailings to verify that only the correct pages go into each envelope. This important functionality helps organisations protect against outbound mailing data breaches.
The Automated Insertion Management System (AIMS) software works with the folder inserters. It verifies, in real-time, that each mail piece in a job has been completed and identifies where any items may need reprocessing. This also provides an audit trail of everything that has been produced for management information and to help meet compliance requirements.
Finally, Mailroom Architect imports data, checks it against Royal Mail’s Postcode Address File (PAF) and applies a Mailmark® barcode to the printed letters. This gives Devon & Cornwall Police immediate access to lower postage tariffs and volume-related discounts.
Together, the hardware and software meet the high production demands of the road safety unit to efficiently print, envelope and issue around 200,000 mailings a year.
The results: higher capacity, reduced costs and automated verification
Devon & Cornwall Police successfully increased its communications capacity to meet the demand of a 40% increase in detected road safety offences.
“As we grew, we outgrew the old equipment that just wasn’t up to the volumes we were trying to put through,” explains Gary. “We’re not getting delays caused by jams now, when often we would resort to manual insertion for small amounts, or pay overtime for larger runs to get the work done.”
Less overtime is just one way the upgraded solution has delivered savings. It has also reduced the team’s postage costs by around 25% by taking advantage of Royal Mail’s Mailmark® tariffs.
The postage and mailing process is now highly efficient as Mailmark® barcoding removes the additional need for franking, and effective as automated ‘bad address’ identification reduces the risk of mailings not reaching intended recipients.
The integrated nature of the equipment and software also supports the high level of data integrity and mailing verification the road safety team needs. This ensures each mailing is correct, and pages meant for another mailing aren’t misfed into the wrong envelope.
Throughout, the strong working partnership with Quadient ensured requirements were thoroughly assessed, understood and met through a comprehensive communications package that supports Devon & Cornwall Police’s road safety objectives.
For information on Quadient Impress Automate visit quadient.com/en-gb/customer-communications/impress-platform/automate
Customer feedback
Gary Williamson, road safety manager at Devon & Cornwall Police, says: “The Quadient solution has given us a cheaper rate of postage, which has resulted in cost savings, and using the inserters and barcode readers with AIMs allows us to ensure we’re not putting two notices in the same envelope, thereby eradicating GDPR breaches.”
Devon & Cornwall Police
Devon & Cornwall Police serve a community of over 1.5 million. Road safety measures are an essential part of operations.
Challenge
To meet the communications demand of a 40% increase in detected road safety offences.
Results
200,000 mailings a year, automatically verified for data integrity, issued without increasing overtime and with a 25% reduction in postage costs.
Solution
Quadient Impress Automate, two DS-95i folder inserters, AIMS and Mailroom Architect.
Method
Quadient recommended an integrated solution and worked closely with the road safety team to implement.
