Bret Moriarty on Inkjet Printing of Financial and Regulatory Documents
At its in-plant printing operation, financial services firm Raymond James produces over 120 million transactional documents a year. Learn more about the facility and how Canon inkjet technology plays a role in helping the company streamline operations, reduce costs, and quickly scale to best serve its clients.
Optimizing In-Plant Financial Printing: Canon Supports Raymond James' Operational Efficiency
In the highly regulated financial services sector, delivering accurate and timely transactional documents is a fundamental operational requirement. Financial institutions must manage enormous volumes of sensitive client information while adhering to strict regulatory standards and mandatory delivery deadlines.
Raymond James, a prominent financial company, navigates these complex demands through a robust internal printing operation. Operating a dedicated in-plant facility allows the organization to maintain complete control over its critical communications, ensuring total privacy and precision for its entire client base. To manage this massive undertaking, the company relies on advanced digital printing solutions to help keep operations efficient, compliant, and cost-effective.
The Challenge: Scaling for Massive Print Volumes and Regulatory Demands
Managing an in-house printing facility for a major financial institution involves significant logistical hurdles, particularly when dealing with dramatic fluctuations in production cycles. The Raymond James in-plant facility has been fully operational for over two decades, evolving continuously over the years to help meet the growing needs of the business.
Currently, the internal facility produces approximately 120 million sheets of paper annually. The production floor is strictly responsible for a wide variety of regulatory documents, including routine client statements, transaction confirmations, complex tax documents, and various other essential client letters. Because the output is managed strictly in-house for internal clients, there is an intense focus on accuracy, compliance, and reliability.
One of the primary challenges the facility faces is the extreme variability in production volume throughout the calendar year. During standard, non-statement periods, the printing operation requires a lean staff of about eight employees to successfully manage the daily workload. However, during critical statement runs, the production environment experiences a massive surge in demand.
To accommodate this spike, the facility must rapidly scale its workforce to approximately thirty personnel. During these peak periods, the operation transitions from a single shift to running three full shifts, operating twenty-four hours a day to ensure all client materials are printed and mailed on time. Maintaining flawless output during these intense, round-the-clock production cycles requires highly dependable printing equipment that can handle immense stress without sacrificing quality. Furthermore, the final documents, which are primarily flat or bi-fold layouts rather than multi-page booklets, must seamlessly pass through complex inserting and mailing equipment without errors.
Transitioning to High-Volume Inkjet Technology
To overcome the challenges of high-volume financial printing and improve overall operational workflows, the leadership at Raymond James recognized the need to modernize their print technology. Approximately a decade ago, the company made the strategic decision to transition into inkjet printing, which helped to fundamentally transform their production capabilities. To build this new, highly efficient infrastructure, the financial firm invested in Canon technology, specifically acquiring a pair of Canon ColorStream 3600 continuous feed inkjet presses.
These high-speed presses serve as the core workhorses of the facility, enabling the team to power through their massive 120 million annual sheet volume. In addition to the ColorStream systems, the Raymond James production floor utilizes a diverse fleet of equipment to handle specific print applications.
The entire Canon-driven print hardware ecosystem is supported by sophisticated tracking software that helps manage postage, applies Intelligent Mail Barcodes, and tracks the lifecycle of each piece to provide mandatory completion reports to regulatory bodies.
The Benefits: Enhanced Efficiency and Cost-Effectiveness
The implementation of Canon inkjet technology has delivered profound operational and financial benefits for the Raymond James in-plant facility. By upgrading to the ColorStream 3600 presses, the organization has improved its ability to get critical materials processed and mailed out to clients without delay. The high-speed capabilities of the inkjet systems ensure that even during the high-pressure, twenty-four-hour statement production cycles, the equipment can easily meet the most demanding turnaround times.
Beyond sheer speed, the transition to Canon technology has made a substantial difference in the facility's overall cost-effectiveness. The efficiency of the inkjet presses allows the financial company to manage its vast printing requirements much more economically than before. The reliability of the Canon equipment also helps minimize downtime during critical regulatory reporting windows, ensuring that the company consistently maintains its high standards for client communication.
As the commercial printing industry continues to evolve, facility leaders remain highly engaged with Canon, continuously seeking out new information regarding equipment advancements and service enhancements to further optimize their operations. Ultimately, the strategic partnership with Canon has empowered the financial institution to successfully operate a highly efficient, cost-controlled, and strictly compliant internal printing facility.
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