Reprographics and Mail Services Headcount

The following grid depicts the total number of support staff, by service type, used by this company to produce and deliver print jobs, and to pick up, sort, and process inbound and interoffice mail and packages.

Support Type	Total Staff	# Associates Supported	Headcount per 1,000
Reprographics	5	12,000	.44
Mail Services	19	12,000	1.6

Productivity

ECS uses various tools in order to assist clients in assessing staffing level benchmarks. These tools include productivity standards that examine mail and print automation, manual functions, and cycle times. First, ECS uses hourly production time estimates for "base functions" such as mail sorting and processing, print prep/production, and assembly. Next, ECS charts the clients productivity levels (output per hour) to establish a proficiency number, one being the lowest and five being the highest. This proficiency number, a highly useful performance measurement, can then be benchmarked against peer organizations within and across various markets and industries to determine competitiveness. Finally, ECS develops a staffing model, with production standards that the client can utilize across the entire organization to measure performance and chart production progress. Included below are production standards for two highly labor intensive processes; reprographics and mail services.

Example A—Reprographics

Production Standard Type: Automation

Xerox Docutech 135 Production Standard = 135 cpm (copies per minute)
135 x 60 minutes = 8100 cph (copies per hour) -1.5 percent waste = 7978.5

This job requires one key operator working for 1.5 hours to prep, print, and assemble 79 sets (training manuals, market reports, etc,.) at 100 pages each.

On average, a single reprographics key operator can produce between one and 1.5 million copies per month. To reach one million copies, 1,000 associates would only have to request 45 copies each every day for 22 days.

Example B—Mail Services

Production Standard Type: Manual

Mail Sortation Production Standard = 20 lpm (letters per minute)
20 x 60 minutes = 1200 lph (letters per hour) -1.5 percent errors = 1188

This job requires one key operator working for one hour to manually sort letters into bins. (This does not include pre-delivery prep, band, and load.)

Since the inbound mail sorting process is primarily an early morning activity, the same resource may also handle other functions such as accountable mail logging, volume tracking, outbound processing, interoffice mail, and delivery. The following chart indicates how a single Mail Services resource could support a 1,000 (or more) headcount facility.

Production Chart for Determining Staffing Model

In 2002, the United States Postal Service handled in excess of 201 billion pieces of mail. According to recent studies, associates in mid-sized to large corporations workers receive an average of 9 pieces of mail. A 1000 headcount facility would receive 9000 pieces daily requiring approximately one support person per thousand pieces to sort, log and deliver mail.

MAIL SERVICES
	Production Standard

Base Activity	Pieces per hour	Total Pieces	Est. time in hours	Resources Required
Mail Sort	1200	9000	7.5	1 FTE
Logging	120	65	.5	.5 FTE
Delivery	---	**9065	1.0	1 FTE
Processing Outbound Mail	11,500	5462	.5	.5 FTE
		14,527	9.5	3 FTE

** Total mail pieces delivered include inbound mail and accountable mail logged.

In one hour a mail center resource can:
• Sort 1200 pieces of mail.
• Deliver letters to 120-150 stops.
• Process 12000 pieces of same weight mail.

For more information

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Biography

Executive Consulting Services (ECS) is a leading benchmarking firm that produces market reports that include trends in corporate services and facilities management, comparative cost metrics (labor, cost per square foot), general administrative costs (mail & print production, records management, etc.