A way to cure printing blues

A key part of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina's operation is print production. Documents had been printed on a Xerox 4135 laser printer and finished as 5 1/2-inch by 8-inch saddle-stitched benefit booklets on a Macy binder. This process proved to be both time- and labor-intensive. Because the binder had to be hand-fed, one booklet at a time, 2 employees developed carpal tunnel syndrome. In 1992, Blue Cross and Blue Shield faced a double challenge: improving the booklet-making production while taking measures to help prevent employees from developing carpal tunnel syndrome. After much research and testing, the insurer decided on the Standard Gunther IFS 2000. It can feed up to 30,000 sheets per hour and produce up to 2,400 finished documents per hour, regardless of the format, and it maintains 100% document integrity. Repetitive motions have been eliminated, reducing the chance an employee will develop carpal tunnel syndrome from work-related activities.