Service Bureau Turns To Alaris To Deliver Superior, Cost-Effective Mailroom And Document Management Solutions

Situation
MEI Mail & Document Management Services needs to meet growing volume demands.

Objectives
To increase productivity and efficiency by replacing their existing scanners with scanners from Alaris.

Solution
Two high-speed Kodak i5850 Scanners.

Results
Significant increases in volume and efficiency, greater staff enthusiasm due to ease of use, and plans to add more units to enable further growth.

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with multiple locations across the country, MEI began operations in 1993 as a mail room outsourcing firm and has since expanded into document  imaging and document management. Determined to be leading edge in its industry, MEI has leveraged technology and innovation to provide optimal scanning solutions for its customers.

Expanding their capabilities

In the Fall of 2017, as part of its strategic plan for growth, MEI needed to increase their document imaging and content management capabilities. That also meant a need to scan more information— while looking at how to control and cut costs, reduce prep time and improve quality control.

“To help us make our decision, Alaris sent us an i5850 for our staff to demo, which was a brilliant idea! Once we started using it, we could see the efficiencies right away.” - Leslie Marshall, CEO, MEI

The efficiency factor

Leslie Marshall has been at the helm of MEI since the beginning. In his time as CEO, he’s seen his business evolve and wants to make sure his company stays ahead of the curve — increasing volumes and maintaining quality control for customers, all while cutting internal costs. Leslie found himself asking the same question over and over again, “How can we get the most documents through our system in the shortest amount of time, while maintaining the high level of quality clients have come to expect with the latest technology?” The answer became clear as soon as the i5850 Scanner arrived.

Compared to their previous scanning solution, MEI went from processing 9k to 32k documents per 8-hour day. “We needed to push more volume per imaging specialist. So we initially had purchased a scanner from another manufacturer that promised to reduce the amount of upfront prep work, but it just didn’t deliver. We needed to find a workhorse that was easy to use, but feared there would be a trade off in terms of image quality. To increase our overall scanning capacity, we were willing to commit to additional file prep to assist with quality control on the front end. But ultimately, the i5850 proved so easy to use, our scanning efficiencies increased significantly, and the quality of the scans was outstanding. “

MEI can now scan 8 boxes of documents per day for the Army Corps of Engineers, one of MEI’s largest clients, containing anywhere from three to five thousand documents per box. In addition, MEI has been able to work through the Army Corps’ backlog of paper files, enabling all of their legacy files to be accessed digitally. MEI has similarly used the i5850 Scanner to support another large customer, the Veterans Administration’s Michael E. DeBakey Medical Center in Houston, Texas.

Second-to-none customer support

MEI has had a wonderful experience with the Alaris repair and maintenance services team.  With its multi-industry range of customers, MEI sometimes needs to scan very old documents, which can leave a dust build-up on the scanner. Alaris service technicians showed the MEI team how to clean the dusty cameras using special cloths and air compressors to reduce the accumulation of dust and keep the i5850 running smoothly. Technicians were also able to show the MEI Imaging Specialists how to get the most out of Alaris Perfect Page Technology, which automatically improves the image quality of scanned documents. “The support from Alaris is outstanding,” says Angela Freeman, MEI’s Director of Sales and Operations. 

Less need for quality control

Thanks to the i5850 Scanner’s ease of use combined with Perfect Page Technology, the image quality of scanned files is significantly improved. Perfect Page also shifts gears automatically to handle a wide range of documents, so there’s virtually no presorting, minimal rescanning and image quality can actually be better than the original.

A decrease in labor costs

Thanks to all the productivity gains resulting from the i5850 Scanners, fewer imaging specialists are needed to scan higher volumes of documents, resulting in a significant decrease in labor costs. According to internal figures, when factoring in initial investment costs, annual hardware costs, maintenance, and labor costs, the i5850 is 66% less expensive to operate than MEI’s previous solution.

Overall, Leslie and the MEI staff are entirely satisfied with their investment in the i5850 Scanners from Alaris and they plan to add more as part of their growth strategy moving forward.

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