The Wal-Mart Way

"The ability to give a very quick turnaround time on anything time-sensitive is a very big benefit to have in an in-plant," Funkhouser says. "We can reprioritize all work and turn on a dime."

Protecting the confidentiality of printed work is another reason Wal-Mart values its in-plant. While outside vendors don't necessarily violate confidentiality, Funkhouser says, "it's always a risk you assume. For us, it's our profit sharing and stock, and we're going to do everything we can to get the job turned around and keep it under hat until the information needs to be revealed."