GETTING A NEW ENVELOPE OUT TO MARKET FAST

THE CHALLENGE

When the United States Postal Service introduced the 14-H priority mail envelope, it wasn't expecting a big seller. Just larger than letter-size and with a large window, the 14-H would allow postal customers to insert a pre-addressed envelope and send it by priority mail without filling out an address label when they got to the post office.

So when sales of the product took off, the Postal Service was delighted. At least, they were until their supplier couldn't make enough envelopes to keep up with demand. Despite being a major producer of courier-style envelopes and the subsidiary of a major paper mill, the supplier could not able to ramp-up production fast enough to meet the growing quantity requirements. Backorders for the 14-H started piling up and kept getting larger.

What should have been a profitable new product for the Postal Service had turned into a big problem. They decided to bid out an interim, seven-month contract to reduce backorders and get the popular new product into post offices across the country. Bell Incorporated, another major supplier of courier-style envelopes, won the bidding process.

THE SOLUTION

As soon as the contract was signed, the Bell organization made it a priority to get the 14-H rolling off their lines. The entire organization committed itself to eliminating the Post Office's backlogs as quickly as possible.

Bell utilized its advanced digital capabilities and in-house graphic design department to quickly create plates. Production teams got to work optimizing Bell's inline tape-and-tear string application technology for the 14-H and getting tooling in place to handle the window application. Meanwhile, the scheduling department reworked production schedules. Within days, high-speed production of the 14-H was up and running.

THE RESULTS

In an effort to reduce back-orders, the Postal Service specified an initial quantity target for the 19th day after the contract was signed. Bell Incorporated produced and shipped more than double this target. In just four months, Bell shipped the entire quantity called for in the seven-month contract. As a result, backorders of the 14-H were eliminated; the new product was again a success. The Postal Service breathed a sigh of relief.

Soon after the end of the interim contract, Bell Incorporated was awarded the entire 14-H business. Bell continues to make millions of the envelope every year. And Bell continues to be the largest producer of overnight and courier-style envelopes in the world.