In-plant Profiles

The chocolate king's in-plant has done away with its DocuTechs in favor of clustered printers—and added a new folder and wide-format printer to boot. Hershey Foods Corp. is always moving forward. Whether increasing the size of its Kit Kat bar or expanding its visitors' center, Hershey's Chocolate World, the 118-year-old company never stops looking ahead. Its in-plant shares this philosophy. In recent years the 10-employee shop has acquired a five-color Shinohara press and an Encad wide-format printer, to name just a few additions. Now the Hershey, Pa.-based in-plant is at it again. The operation recently installed a new T/R Systems Micropress cluster printing system,

After 33 years of planning the future for the St. Tammany Parish School District, Frank Gennusa finally gets to plan his own. by Allan Martin Kemler FRANK GENNUSA doesn't fly. If he can't get somewhere on foot, by car, by boat or by train, he's not going. But that doesn't mean he hasn't traveled. Like many roads, though, his eventually led back home, to Covington, La. Thirty-one miles north of the Big Easy, across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway, and swaddled in acres of cypress, magnolia and moss-draped oak, Covington is a close-knit bedroom community that serves as the parish seat for St. Tammany, the

For the past 14 years Debbie Pavletich's vision has led Briggs & Stratton's graphic services department through productive and profitable times. NOT EVERYONE who's a good typist in high school ends up running a graphic arts operation with an $8.5 million budget. But not everyone is Debbie Pavletich. Back in high school, long before becoming graphic services manager at Briggs & Stratton's 35-employee in-plant, Pavletich's typing skills led her to join a co-op program designed to help students learn typesetting. After graduation, she took a job typesetting at a Milwaukee ad agency. At the time, she says, she couldn't quite put her finger on

Federal Reserve Bank in-plants don't print money, but they work together to try to save it. COSMO CORVAGLIA has a kingdom—though he'd probably prefer to call it an area, or maybe just a district. Either way, he's the one responsible for it. This kingdom (or district if you prefer) stretches from Trenton, N.J., to Rehoboth, Del., and from Pittsburgh to Cape May Point, N.J. And although he isn't really a king, or even a prince for that matter, he is part of an organization few understand—and even fewer could live without. Cos Corvaglia is print manager for the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.

When he started his job, strict rules and inflexibility ruled his in-plant. Today it's one of the most customer-friendly departments on campus. Monday used to be a red-letter day at Grand Rapids Community College. In fact, it was the only day when red ink—or green, or blue—touched the in-plant's presses. "They only ran colored ink on Monday," says Doug Miller, recalling his first days at the in-plant, 18 years ago. "There were very strict guidelines as to what got done when and by whom." Miller's arrival changed all that. Since taking over as director of Printing and Graphic Services, he has upgraded equipment, increased

A new Heidelberg Digimaster 9110 and a dedicated staff have helped Case Western Reserve University refine course pack production. When Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland, Ohio, outsourced its offset press work and bookstore operations, it considered outsourcing all printing services at the same time. That might have happened, too, had Lisa Gerlach, printing services manager, not been able to demonstrate that her department achieves lower per copy costs than outside providers—while simultaneously providing outstanding service. Gerlach's staff focuses on creating a professional image for the university, while maintaining low costs for students. When the staff processes copyright clearances for course packs,

As the largest insurance in-plant in the country, the Allstate Print Communications Center uses cutting-edge technology to provide unrivaled service. "You're in good hands." That's what Allstate Insurance tells its customers to reassure them that the company is looking out for their best interests. It's also what the Allstate Print Communications Center believes describes its relationship with its parent company. After all, in addition to both offset printing and digital black-and-white and color printing, the in-plant offers ink-jet addressing, mail processing, billing statement output, electronic prepress, bindery, distribution and more to support Allstate and its commerical business for external customers. Just about the only

Charlie Tonoff has worked at the same in-plant since he was in high school. In 30 years he has expanded the operation considerably. Charlie Tonoff wasn't even out of high school when he walked in off the street in May of 1971 and applied for a job as a press operator at Pennsylvania Blue Shield, in Harrisburg. Today, almost 30 years later, Tonoff still works in that print shop. There are differences, though. He's now manager, for one thing. And what was then a four-person operation is now a modern, 23-employee in-plant in a new 15,000-square-foot facility in Camp Hill, Pa. When he reflects

In-Plant Graphics recently conducted a survey of insurance company in-plants. We received 39 responses by our deadline and we have listed those in-plants below, along with the information they provided us about their operations. Be sure to check out the results of our survey. BUDGET KEY a=Under $249,999; b=$250,000 to $499,000; c=$500,000 to $999,999; d=$1 million to $2.99 million; e=$3 million to $4.99 million; f=More than $5 million In-plant Operating Budget

Though the insurance industry has some of the largest, most sophisticated in-plants in the country, getting them to respond to our surveys has never been easy. Our recent survey drew 39 responses by the deadline—coincidentally, the exact number that responded to our 1997 survey of insurance in-plants. Among the facts we uncovered: • 69.2% have the right of first refusal • 30.8% insource printing • 46.2% print variable data—with 27.8 percent of those adding color to their variable printing • 23.1 percent have satellite copy shops • 23.1 percent have their own Web sites Read on to learn more about in-plants in