Striking the Perfect Balance

Shelter Insurance, a recognized insurance and financial services leader, has built a solid reputation on integrity, excellence and an ongoing commitment to improvement. That commitment is reflected in its full-service Document Services operation, located in Columbia, Mo.

"Our printing operation has grown in the past year and is dramatically different than it was just two years ago," explains Manager Linda Winn. "We have been able to strike the perfect balance between offset and digital services."

Having both has significantly slashed production time and costs by allowing the in-plant to select the most efficient printing option for each job. To further enhance its capabilities, the talented 28-employee team has added several major equipment and software systems in the past year and a half:

• An Avanti MIS system
• A four-color Shinohara perfecting press
• A Standard Horizon booklet maker
• A 45˝ Challenge cutter
• A Plastikoil spiral binding machine from Gateway Bookbinding Systems
• A Graphic Whizard creaser/folder

These joined the shop's one- and two-color Hamada presses, a Xerox iGen4 and a Xerox wide-format printer.

The Avanti MIS system has been especially instrumental to the in-plant's success, Winn says.

"Before the arrival of our MIS system, we relied on an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of our work and to provide estimates," Winn shares. A simple spreadsheet, however, couldn't provide an accurate real-time picture of the jobs in progress, waste, time frames and costs. "The new MIS system will provide us a more accurate picture," she says, "and allow us to greatly improve upon our workflows and processes."

Company Support

To justify all this new equipment and software, the in-plant had to show the return on investment, but Winn says the company supports the in-plant and knows it is working hard to help Shelter and its agents be successful.

"Shelter believes in providing a high level of customer service, not only to our policy holders but to our agents," she says.

Shelter's 1,300 agents, covering a 14-state territory, are the in-plant's most important customers, she says, and her shop assists the advertising department with supplying agents the tools they need to be successful. Another benefit of printing in-house, she adds, is that the in-plant ensures consistency of Shelter's brand identity.

All told, this efficient operation produces more than 9,000 printing projects annually including postcards, folders, business cards, brochures, stationery, direct-mail, postcards, booklets, banners and much more.

"Our large-format banners have been very popular, not only for our agency force, but for our outside customers," Winn says.

Fifteen percent of the in-plant's work is insourced from outside sources, she says. The shop does not promote its services externally, Winn says, but outside customers tend to hear about the in-plant through word of mouth.

"We do not advertise because we exist primarily for Shelter operations and our agency force," she says. "Accepting work from outside customers ensures our equipment will stay busy. They come to us because of quick turnaround and competitive prices."

Outside work helps to maximize the shop's equipment and staff, plus the extra revenue allows for equipment upgrades. "We keep our equipment and employees quite busy filling requests."

The in-plant's capabilities extend beyond just churning out traditional printing. The shop handles variable data and wide-format printing, and for some time now QR codes have been incorporated on company business cards and other printed pieces.

"Our graphic designers have been doing more work assisting our marketing partners with online advertising and presence within social media," Winn says.

Every Door Direct Mail

Another area of growth has been the use of the U.S. Postal Service's Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) program, which makes it easier to market locally. No names or addresses are required; customers just pick the audience they want to reach.

"We are not only saving our agents money on the cost of printing, but the postage rate for EDDM is about $0.14 bringing the cost per piece to less than $0.25 depending on quantity," Winn says. "This is also a big convenience for our agents. They pick the routes, we print, bundle and ship to their location. All the agent has to do is deliver them to their post office and the post office distributes to every mailbox on that route."

This has provided an affordable advertising option for customers. "We worked closely with our mail operation to learn the details and requirements of the system so we make it as easy as possible for our customers," she says.

What has the team learned from its growth and success in the last year?

"Review your processes and procedures," Winn suggests. "Ask yourself how can this be done better, faster, less expensively." The answer will outline your path for success.