In-plant Profiles

PHYSICIANS MUTUAL relies on direct mail as one method of reaching prospects for its individual health and life insurance products. The ability to connect with potential customers has enabled the Omaha-based insurer to write more than one million policies. In 2006, Physicians Mutual’s 73 full-time print and mail shop employees were responsible for 71 million pieces of mail, including promotional and fulfillment mailings. About 60 percent of those pieces were printed on the Mail Processing Center’s Océ Pagestreams and Xerox color and black-and-white printers, which include a new Docu Color 8000. Though the operation

OUR IN-PLANT just made a big change in the way it does business: we sprang for “Big Color”—a digital color press. Over an eight-month period we considered the Canon C7000VP, the HP Indigo 3050, the IKON CPP 650, the Kodak NexPress 2100, the Konica Minolta bizhub PRO C6500, Océ’s CPS900 and CS650 Pro, and Xerox’s DocuColor 6060, 7000 and 260. Many of you are considering a similar acquisition, so I will share some aspects of our experience with you.

VERY YEAR, the City of Los Angeles Publishing Services holds an open house to show off its capabilities and meet its customers. This year’s event had a very special twist: it celebrated the in-plant’s 100th year of existence. Established in 1907 with two police officers working part time, the city’s in-plant has flourished over the past century to become a 47-employee operation incorporating some of the latest digital technologies. Only a handful of in-plants can boast 100 years of operation, and Publishing Services made the most of this accomplishment at its recent open house. The event celebrated the rich history of the shop

After multiple delays, the 65 employees of Purdue University Printing Services have finally moved into their new home, a freshly built 29,000-square-foot structure about a mile south of their previous facility. Not only is it 7,000 square feet larger—with access to existing docks in an adjacent building and a garage for loading delivery vans—the new plant allows workflow advantages undreamed of in the old building. The previous facility, which had housed the in-plant for 36 years, was shaped like a long rectangle, so jobs often had to be moved long distances to reach the next stage in the process. Some employees who needed to communicate

THE GIRLS and Boys Town Print Shop recently received a cornucopia of graphic arts delights that would make even the largest commercial printer envious.
The seven-employee in-plant, located just outside of Omaha, took ownership of a two-color Heidelberg Quickmaster 46 press, a two-color Hamada H248CX press, a Mitsubishi DPX2 platesetter, a Xerox DocuColor 8000 and a Xerox 250.

SCOTT NELSON was a high school freshman when printing first caught his eye. He was touring his school’s vocational programs, and something about the dark room and the old Multi presses excited him. He started classes the next year. Nearly four decades later, the excitement is still there. Today, Nelson is supervisor of the 10-employee in-plant at Otter Tail Power Co., one of the largest employers in his home town of Fergus Falls, Minn. He started there as a summer intern in 1970, acting on a tip from the father of his girlfriend (now his wife). After graduating the next

The Washington State Department of Printing (PRT) has received two American In-house Design Awards from Graphic Design USA, a national magazine for design professionals. PRT’s Graphic Design Manager, Starlit Bear, designed the winning pieces: a 2006 Executive Summary and a 2005 Fiscal Report. Bear created the award-winning Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation 2006 Executive Summary for Greg Griffith, Deputy State Historic Preservation Officer. The six-page tri-fold layout effectively showcased several success stories of historic preservation in Washington. The second award was for the 2005 Fiscal Report for the Department of Ecology’s Model Toxics Control Account. Trish Akana, Program Manager, was seeking to create

Western & Southern Financial Group’s 18-employee in-plant was awarded the 2007 Management Award from the In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) for providing outstanding support to its parent company. Not only did employees successfully move and integrate equipment from a member company’s in-plant into their Cincinnati facility, they handled a major increase in jobs with a 98 percent on-time record, while saving hundreds of thousands of dollars. “In 2006, our print shop experienced a 56 percent increase in jobs completed and a 20 percent increase in total impressions over 2005,” notes Daniel B. Cowan, print shop manager. “This, together with the savings we’re able to

When a two-employee in-plant gets a four-color press, you know there’s a lot of demand for color. That’s exactly the case at Iowa Bankers Association, in Johnston, Iowa, which counts 93 percent of the state’s banks as members. “Everything just started moving to four color,” remarks Todd Palmer, print shop coordinator. He produces the newsletters, conference promotional materials, marketing brochures and other items for those member banks. When the amount of four-color work he and his coworker Kristi Junkin were printing on their two-color Hamada increased dramatically, Palmer knew it was time to upgrade. He did a cost justification for a four-color press, with

Those who attended the recent In-plant Printing and Mailing Association conference in Oklahoma City had the opportunity to visit the University of Oklahoma’s 45,000-square-foot in-plant. IPG captured that tour on video. Now you can join attendees as they explore the large in-plant, which has two five-color presses, an eight-page platesetter, several wide-format ink-jet printers and much more. Administrator John Sarantakos narrates this video tour of his facility, which not only won an impressive nine In-Print awards this year, but was also the proud recipient of both IPMA’s Mail Center of the Year award and its Promotional Excellence award. Here’s a link to the