A cost-effective solution for the mailing industry

Bell and Howell’s Forerunner inserters are easy to operate, are equipped with the industry’s best enclosure handling technology and include advanced innovations making this proven technology even more productive. Forerunner inserters set the benchmark for dependability and low cost per piece.

Your profitability and return on investment rely on having the fewest operators, maximizing production in a shorter run environment and controlling operating costs. Bell and Howell Forerunner inserters are specifically designed to be run by a single operator. Forerunner inserters are perfect for short to mid-length runs, come equipped with advanced productivity management software and help operators become highly efficient. Unmatched material flexibility, simple tool-free changeovers and the throughput to meet your schedule are a few of the many reasons the Forerunner is the system our industry has come to depend on.

The Forerunner 11 inserting system from Bell and Howell is an intelligent and easy-to-use mail inserter designed to enhance the productivity and efficiency of your mailing center. The Forerunner 11 offers one of the fastest, most cost-effective methods of processing mail, while still maintaining job integrity.

The Forerunner 11 provides detailed job statistics for use in job analysis, as well as the ability to save files for future access, and provides one of the highest ratios of throughput-to-cycling speed on the market. This powerful management tool enables accurate production scheduling and increases efficiencies, resulting in lower operating costs.

Navigator system controller

The Forerunner 11 also features the Bell and Howell Navigator system controller, which acts as a master command center for virtually any device. With Navigator, operators are free to engage in their operational duties while communicating with the system using the voice command option. This allows them to focus on keeping the system running and lowering your cost per piece.

Base features

• Six pneumatic gripper-arm base
• Turnover or conveyor delivery
• Intelligent machine control enables the speed to be increased and decreased without the need for mechanical changes in the setup parameters
• Auto-calibration of miss/double detection
• Integrated diverter for quality checks and miss/double diverts
• Miss/double tolerance configurable
• Insert station backup on gripper arm miss detection
• Job setup, save & recall through easy-to-use touchscreen interface
• Production reporting by job
• Optional digital meter support and other delivery options like stamp affixing and printing

Productivity features

• Intuitive user control screen—Increases operator productivity by using simple icons and graphics for system operation and control
• Highly reliable—Provides for minimal wear, longer system life and fewer maintenance requirements by integrating pneumatic technology
• Automatic calibration of gripper arms—Eliminates manual setup labor for each insert station by allowing setups to be stored as part of the job for later recall
• Automatic rejects of misses and doubles—Reduces number of machine stoppages and improves overall throughput efficiencies by diverting questionable mailpieces for inspection
• Envelope flap opening with air jet—Reduces jams and allows easy access to materials for removal when necessary
• Insert station backup—Reduces occurrences of stoppages for missed inserts by automatically pulling inserts from the next station
• Photocell flap detection—Reduces envelope stoppages by using photocells instead of moving parts in the flap detection system
• Sequential shutdown—Allows the operator to complete any job in process by sequentially turning off all insert stations and clearing the machine

Efficiency features

• Job setup and storage—Reduces setup time by allowing jobs to be saved, recalled at the touch of a screen, and copied to other Forerunner 11 inserting systems with the same machine configuration
• Tool-free adjustments—Reduces setup time by requiring no tools for insert and raceway adjustment
• Intelligent machine control—Performs machine adjustments by advancing or retarding the timing on the fly to accommodate for changes in machine speed and performance
• Programmable quality-control diverting—Allows the operator to inspect the quality of the mailpieces without interrupting production
• Spray envelope sealing—Improves dependability of the envelope seal, reduces maintenance and results in higher efficiency

Safety features

• Safety and emergency stops—Halts system immediately when a cover is opened
• Two-button safety start—Virtually eliminates an inadvertent start up of system

Specifications

Max cycle speed

• 11,000 cycles per hour
• 81% throughput efficiency of max cycle speed

Feeder types

• Gripper arm
• Optional stream

Envelope sizes

• Mininum: 3.25” x 6” (82.6 mm x 152.4 mm)
• Maximum: 6.25” x 9.5” (158.8 mm x 241.3 mm)
• Flap depth: 1” to 1.625” (25.4 mm to 41.3 mm)
• Side clearance: 0.25” each side (6.4 mm)
• Maximum collation thickness:
  • With doubles detection: 0.06” (1.5 mm)
  • Without doubles detection: 0.08” (2.0 mm)

Insert sizes

• Minimum: 3” x 5.5” (76.2 mm x 139.7 mm)
• Maximum: 6” x 9” (152.4 mm x 228.6 mm)