A New Source Of Business

This point of view, shared by other in-plants, bothers Mark Krammer, Graphic Services manager at Ace Hardware. The Downers Grove, Ill.-based in-plant has been printing commercial work for over 10 years. Such work now accounts for more than 20 percent of Graphic Services' volume.

"They are stereotyping themselves to less than what they really are," he says of in-plants that don't want to take in commercial work. "If you're a consummate professional, you're every bit as good as any commercial shop, and that's the attitude you have to have. All the ingredients of managing your internal shop are no different if you're a good manager. It's an attitude."