The Ricoh Document Center uses DocBridge Pilot software to control output of documents over physical and digital channels. The Compart solution functions as a hub, taking in data in any format, preparing it, and passing it on to the production system.

“Data is our most important raw material.” Dr. Jan Wirsam of the Ricoh Document Center in Brackenheim puts the company's self-concept in a nutshell. Over the long term, the company intends to make its mark as a leading service provider of efficient data management across the full breadth of physical and digital document processing. One major step along this path was the introduction of DocBridge Pilot as the central output management system. Powered by technology developed by Compart, since 2012 the document center has been modifying, converting, bundling, and outputting documents for all the standard delivery channels. The principle: DocBridge Pilot takes the raw data from the customer, prepares it, supplements it with additional processing data (such as adding inserts, metering, enveloping), and passes it on to production.

Central data hub sought

The project's starting point was a specific customer requirement that included converting PCL to AFP files. Normally DocBridge Mill, another solution from Compart would have been perfectly adequate. But at the same time, sales reported that more and more customers needed to generate output but they lacked the software that could support both print and digital output channels. So the Document Center thought, why not just relieve the customer of this work and do the entire document dispatch task for them? “We had the idea to install a kind of hub internally that would take the raw data from the customer, prepare it, and then transfer it to the Ricoh production system.” Wirsam's statement articulates one main criterion for the company's choice of DocBridge Pilot:  the Compart tool knows its way around all the standard data formats on the market. “I could not find any other comparable solution with this kind of diversity.” The head of the document center also pointed to Pilot's other strengths, such as extraordinary scalability and powerful performance.

DocBridge Pilot: Funnel for all data

Based on these benefits, a quick consensus was reached. The new solution was implemented in only four months and went live in the spring of 2012. The proximity of the Ricoh and Compart locations surely played a role in the swift implementation. The round-the-clock availability of the Compart consultants, even on short notice, was an important factor in their choice, according to Wirsam.

Currently the Ricoh Document Center is using the new software to serve five major customers, among them a well-known insurance company that delivers its documents in PCL, a data stream with a special syntax. Alexander Burkhardt, IT Consultancy Team Manager: “Compart has superior know-how in handling PCL and macro resources, enabling us to tackle complex projects extremely well.” Now they want to gradually introduce DocBridge Pilot in other areas.  The goal is to expand the solution into a hub that will combine the data from different clients/customers, prepare it, and send it on to the production line already set up for optimal machine utilization.  This should considerably reduce set-up times in production.

Equipped for digitalization

The Brackenheim site processes approx. 200 million transaction documents (invoices, statements, payment forms, dunning letters, policies, etc.) annually as well as 180 million dialog marketing documents. Print is still the dominant output channel, but depending on the customer and time of year, the ratio of physical to electronic documents is already 30:70.  In any event, the future of the Ricoh Document Center lies in online portals à la eBoks (Denmark) and Metaposta (Spain). “Surely banks and insurance companies will soon be offering similar solutions and motivate their customers to use them for correspondence and permanent archiving,” states Alexander Burkhardt with confidence. With future-proof technologies such as DocBridge Pilot, continues Burkhardt, Ricoh is optimally equipped for the progressive digitalization in document processing.

Dr. Jan Wirsam knowingly counts on Compart's innovative strength. “The company is constantly pursuing innovations and always tightly tailors solutions to customer needs.  At the same time, they are always looking ahead, and it's especially this foresight that trend-setting companies like us depend on.” In any case, both Jan Wirsam and Alexander Burkhardt have big plans in the digitalization world. Ricoh will be developing even greater competence in working with the different data streams. Both managers agree that in this endeavor, Compart is a reliable and internationally experienced partner.