September 1998

Scanner of the Month

Panasonic's New Powerhouse

Other scanners in this class include the Bell & Howell 8080 (80 ppm/ $20,000-$40,000), the Fujitsu 3099 (80 ppm/$26,000-$31,000), the Kodak 3500 (75 ppm/$20,990) and the VisionShape 7590A (75 ppm/$14,995).

Service bureau ImageMax (Philadelphia, 610-832-2111) scans about five million documents a day. They have 10 KV-SS855 high-speed scanners scattered throughout their 26 locations. They use them for proof of delivery tickets, invoices and claim forms. "We're very pleased with this machine," says Mark Creglow, director of the IT center. "Price, performance -- it does the deal."

ImageMax runs the KV-SS855 above its rated speed -- close to 90 ppm, using their own ScanTrax image capture software (available for $5,999). Taking into account document preparation, taking documents in and out of boxes, coffee breaks and other delays, Creglow estimates the scanners are each processing 2,500 pages an hour.

Durability is the number one thing Creglow looks for in a production scanner, and he says he hasn't been disappointed with the KV-SS855. In most ImageMax locations the scanners run continuously through two shifts, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. There were a few equipment problems in the beginning, as is normal with new scanners, but there have been no breakdowns.

When it comes to image quality, Creglow says, "on any job, you have to find the right equipment for the right application. That's what we have done. The image quality is good on the Panasonic KV-SS855. It's not as strong at adaptive thresholding as some other machines, but with fair to good quality documents it performs very well." Creglow says old documents, colorful documents and medical records fare better on scanners such as the Bell & Howell 2138 Ace, Kodak 3500 or Fujitsu 3099.

The scanner provides up to 400 dots-per-inch resolution on bitonal or grayscale images. It offers JBIG compression. Panasonic revised their Image Enhancement technology for the KV-SS855. It now can read barcode patch code and it detects page lengths. This is a useful feature if you scan batches of pages that differ in length. You don't have to set the scanner for the maximum size and get extra white space at the bottom of every page. The image enhancement software can also set white levels, reduce image distortion and separate photography from text in scanned images.

ImageMax has few paper jams on the Panasonic KV-SS855s. "A strength of the machine is its 1,000-page ADF and clean paper path," Creglow says. "In the event you do have a jam, it's very easy for the operators to get to the documents."

The KV-SS855 has a manual feed option. Some service bureaus use this feature to confirm that each page goes through and that there are no double feeds. Practiced operators are often so fast at putting the paper through that the scanner almost maintains its rated speed.

There's an optional imprinter that users can install themselves. The imprinter stamps pages after they've been scanned. This is done to satisfy legal and IRS requirements for verification.

A plus for ImageMax is that their operators like the fact that this scanner doesn't have a lot of buttons that need to be pushed. It's simple and straightforward.

Nontechnical people can replace the consummable items. The lamps have a long life, which ultimately makes them cost less. The cleaning kit costs $24.

There's no flatbed option on this scanner, a drawback for anyone who occasionally has books or damaged documents that can't be put through a feeder.

The scanner accepts a range of document sizes from business cards to ledger paper. It can handle thicknesses from onion skin to card stock.

The KV-SS855 is not huge at 22.4" x 15" x 9". But at 110 pounds it's not a lightweight either. This SCSI scanner supports the ISIS scanner driver and features a one-year limited warranty with a next-day exchange program for both in- and out-of-warranty repairs. This is a useful production machine for basic document scanning. Its speed and price combination is impressive. "We consider the Panasonic KV-SS855 to be one of the good choices for high-volume applications," Creglow concludes.