Data Centers Merge and Move Ahead

The data center, she says, produced variable, black-and-white and color, single- and multiple-page statements and reports. The in-plant, known as Graphic Production Services, produced long-run, black-and-white and color documents. But over the last few years, Helms adds, that line has blurred.

A good example of just how faint the line has become is the company's 401(K) statements, which it sends regularly to all its customers. In the past, these forms were produced in black and white, as multi-page, 81⁄2x11˝ statements on single-color laser printers. As of August of 2000, these personalized statements are printed in full color on 11x17˝ sheets in Information Services (IS), then folded in the in-plant, sent back to IS to be inserted into personalized envelopes, and mailed out. Production crosses that vanishing line several times.