Flexibility, Security, and Service: How Careington’s In-plant Delivers Value
![](https://www.inplantimpressions.com/thumb/?src=/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-3.03.51-PM.png&w=51&h=51&c=true)
When you ask Martin Schneider why Careington, a provider of dental, vision, and other health and wellness-focused savings plans, runs an in-house printing and fulfillment operation, he sums it up in five words: “Flexibility, reliability, accountability, security, and service,” lists Schneider, assistant vice president of Print, Production and Logistics for the Frisco, Texas-based company.
Those are important words, though. They’re traits every in-plant should aspire to, and they underscore the value Careington’s five-employee in-plant provides for the company and its more than 30 million members across all Careington companies, brands, products, and services.
![](https://www.inplantimpressions.com/thumb/?src=/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/01/IPI0325_Careington-Lynn-Garner-refilling-paper-on-V10002.jpg&w=214&h=284)
Inside Careington’s Print Production operation, Lynn Garner refills paper on one of the in-plant’s Canon imagePRESS V1000 digital presses.
“One of the biggest values, I think … is [senior leadership doesn’t] hear from us,” Schneider says. The in-plant is so adept at its work, he explains, that it flawlessly manages brand integrity, data security, and on-time delivery, while remaining flexible enough to handle last-minute schedule changes.
Equipped with four Canon imagePRESS V1000s and a Ricoh Pro C7500 with a fifth color station, the operation printed 11 million impressions in 2023 and was on track to hit 14 million impressions in 2024. Its printed products include billing statements, customer communication pieces, member notices, marketing materials, presentations, stationery, business cards, and more.
Related story: Productivity Soars at Careington With New Digital Presses
Amazing Productivity
“Our productivity per square foot is the best that I’ve ever seen,” remarks Schneider. “Between now and five years ago, we’ve got five times the amount of volume going through our facility” — with two-thirds the staff, he adds.
Some of this volume is printed for other healthcare companies that incorporate Careington benefits in their offerings. “Our fulfillment capability is a value-add” for those companies, Schneider says. They appreciate having the in-plant print and mail all their materials, he notes, and trust the operation to do it correctly. This requires understanding the brand requirements of these outside companies, something the in-plant is very proficient at doing.
![](https://www.inplantimpressions.com/thumb/?src=/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/01/IPI0325_Careington-Michael-Cull-runs-Quadient-DS-700i-inserter-scaled.jpg&w=253&h=337)
Michael Cull runs a Quadient DS-700 iQ folder/inserter. The in-plant handles both incoming and outgoing mail for Careington.
“All of our partners could go somewhere else for their services, but the fact that we can get it done consistently, we can turn on a dime, that we’re flexible, and the fact that we are exacting, means that this is one problem that people don’t have to worry about,” he says.
Schneider is especially proud of the security benefits his in-plant provides for Careington and its partners. Located in its own secure 7,000-sq.-ft. building next to the company’s headquarters a half hour north of Dallas, Print, Production and Logistics keeps company and customer data secure.
“We’re not sending data files out to third parties,” he explains. “That [data] does not have to go out beyond our servers.”
Because of their security mindset, in-plant employees have earned a high level of trust within Careington.
Despite the high volumes going through the shop on any given day, the in-plant can quickly locate any individual job.
“We know where every piece of paper is, down to the millisecond all the way through the process, in real time,” Schneider says. “When someone comes to me with a question, we instantly have answers.”
This, he insists, is a level of service an outside provider couldn’t offer. What’s more, when he investigated the viability of outsourcing a few years ago, he determined that doing this would not only decrease the service and security level, but increase the cost to Careington.
“On the labor front alone, I’d actually have to have a larger staff for vendor management than I do for actual production,” he says.
Flexibility to Handle Changes
The flexibility of the in-plant to accommodate sudden schedule changes is another key strength, he maintains. For example, if a natural disaster strikes one region and the company opts to extend the grace period for those zip codes just as bills are being printed, the in-plant can quickly adjust its production schedule.
“We have the flexibility to just stop and absorb that,” he points out.
This flexibility also enables the operation to accommodate last-minute internal requests, such as when the company holds an event and needs signage that includes the latest sponsors, or requires targeted marketing pieces printed and mailed to late registrants.
“We say ‘yes’ and find a way to make it happen,” Schneider says.
The in-plant’s flexibility comes in large part from its decision to stop using offset presses a few years ago and move to 100% digital printing, ending the wasteful process of printing variable data onto offset shells.
“I have seen pallets of preprinted material go into the recycle bin because someone changed their logo,” Schneider remarks. “It’s been a huge savings all across the board.”
![Careington](https://www.inplantimpressions.com/thumb/?src=/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/01/IPI0325_Careington-8-scaled-e1738178768944.jpg&w=517&h=204)
The in-plant is located in its own secure 7,000-sq.-ft. building next to the company’s headquarters.
In November 2022, the in-plant installed four Canon imagePRESS V1000s, two with high-capacity stackers that can hold 6,000 sheets, and two with bookletmakers and trimmers. Schneider praises the machines for their reliability and features like in-line spectrophotometers, which have helped increase productivity.
“There’s probably nothing with the same footprint that is as robust as the V1000s are,” he says. Having four of them provides crucial redundancy to ensure the shop meets its service level agreements.
Workflow Management
To handle workflow management the in-plant relies on Racami’s Alchem-e software, which comingles and groups various similar jobs to run together on the Canon imagePRESS V1000s.
“Their software is the core of our shop,” Schneider says, noting that all other systems tie into it. Alchem-e enhances MIS systems, adding production control and automation. At Careington, it provides job tracking and inventory management, and will soon integrate the in-plant with Careington’s call center so representatives can access customer communications from the in-plant’s database. There are also plans to use the Racami software to develop a digital storefront, he says.
While the V1000s handle mostly transactional printing, the shop’s Ricoh Pro C7500 does most of the graphic arts printing. Some of these materials, such as invitations to events, take advantage of the C7500’s fifth color station to print clear, white, neon, and gold embellishments.
For wide-format printing, the in-plant uses a Canon imagePROGRAF PRO-4100, which Schneider added before there was a strong demand, reasoning “if we had this capability, it will get used. Two years later, that machine runs nonstop.”
The in-plant prints a lot of signage, some of it mounted on foam core, as well as blueprints, in its dedicated sign and banner center.
The in-plant also handles incoming and outgoing mail for Careington, using a Quadient Mach 6 to print envelopes, two Quadient DS-700 iQ folder/inserters, and a DS-95i folder/inserter, as well as Quadient Inspire software. The shop can process 20,000 mailpieces an hour. Last year, the operation shipped six tons of parcels.
“The fulfillment team handles basically anything that comes in or out, so we make it very convenient,” Schneider says. “Someone comes in, tells us where it needs to go and what time it needs to be there, and the team figures out the most price-effective and efficient way to make that happen.”
This ability — and willingness — to handle everything the company needs has endeared the in-plant to upper management.
“We have a very close relationship with the management team,” says Schneider. “Really, our value is in the peace of mind that we have a culture in this department of service and security, and we hold both of those things in very high regard from a cultural standpoint. And I think that supersedes all the whiz-bang systems that we have, because none of those work unless everyone comes in and is proud of the level of service that they provide. And so, we prove our value … through our culture.”
![](https://www.inplantimpressions.com/thumb/?src=/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2021/11/Screen-Shot-2021-11-23-at-3.03.51-PM.png&w=51&h=51&c=true)
Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.