"This machine is aimed at direct mail houses and transactional mailers that need flexibility," said Pitney Bowes head of marketing international David Jefferies. "It uses both rotary and friction feeders, so it can handle any kind of insert you throw at it."

The FPS sits between the APS and Comet series machines and uses the same high-end operating system.

It can handle envelopes from DL through to C4, reel or cut-sheet input, and pack collations up to 100 sheets. The FPS uses a post-collation folder set-up and is capable of speeds of 9,000iph for flats to 14,000iph for letters.

It can be configured with between three and 24 interchangeable feeder stations (in multiples of three), in any combination of friction and rotary drives.

"When the jobs come in, you simply assign the feeders with the right technology, either friction or rotary," said Jefferies.

Options include a range of integrity packages from simple quality assurance to automated job reconciliation and reprint, file-based inserting, weighing and franking units, closed-face ink-jet addressing system, envelope divert and postcode sort.

The FPS was launched in the US at Print 05 in Chicago in September. The UK launch was at Pitney Bowes demo facilities in Winnersh, Berkshire last week.

The firm has already sold its first machine to an unnamed customer.

FPS factfile
- Feeder types friction, rotary

- Speed 9,000iph flats, 14,000iph letters

- Insert stations 3-24

- Max pack thickness 10mm

- Envelope formats DL to C4

- Envelope hopper capacity 3,500 C5 and C6, 1,500 C4