In-plant Profiles

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

Doug Larsen used to sow seeds on his father's farm. Now, he sows the seeds for in-plant success. WHEN Girls and Boys Town, in Omaha, Neb., needed to update its in-plant, the organization hired a guy with next to no printing experience. But Doug Larsen, the man who took the job, says it doesn't matter; his responsibilities have more to do with making customers happy than the technical minutiae of running a four-color press. Similarly, when asked about his role in reviving the stagnant Girls and Boys Town in-plant, Larsen prefers to deflect praise with self-deprecating humor. "All I do is talk and

Tyson Foods Springdale, Ark. Nobody knows which came first, the chicken or Don Tyson's idea for complete vertical integration. But Russell Gayer, manager of printing services for Tyson Foods, knows that his in-plant didn't always print such a tremendous volume of work. "It started out in 1975 as just a little room in the corporate office with a couple of duplicators," explains Gayer, "But over the years it's snowballed into what we have here today." And what the company has is a 62-employee in-plant that prints over 62 million labels a month. That's a lot of snowballing. Tyson's executives charted a course

If you've got a problem with your American Express card statement don't bother calling Mark Ostley, manager of document-related services for American Express Financial Advisors. He has nothing to do with it. He is, however, part of a team that oversees nearly everything else the credit card behemoth's in-plant produces. And it produces quite a lot. "We do everything from stationery to letterhead and business cards, all the way to digital color promotional material, such as booklets and brochures," explains Ostley. "It's actually pretty far reaching." Though the 248-employee in-plant outsources nearly 80 percent of its work, when it does decide to take on

Yale University New Haven, Conn. Yale University provides its professors and students an environment that's unlikely to be matched at any other campus—and that includes the services provided by its in-plant. "In the academic world, we're unique in the wide range of services that we provide to our clients," says Richard Masotta, director of Yale's Reprographic and Imaging Services (RIS). That boast isn't mere sales talk. With roughly 100 employees and workspace at three locations on campus, RIS's myriad offerings range from graphic design and Web site development to copier maintenance and electronic, color, laser and offset printing. RIS also manages a technology

Cigna Printing and Distribution Charleston, S.C. If there's one thing John Panhorst doesn't want to do, it's get his hands dirty. Not that Panhorst, assistant vice-president of printing in Cigna's Printing and Distribution department, has a problem with working; he just knows that the in-plant runs a lot more smoothly and efficiently if people don't get in the way of the machines. "We've got our systems so automated that when an order comes in to ship 500 books, the whole thing drops into the demand print queue automatically," he says. "We don't interface with it at all, and frequently we put those

Amway Ada, Michigan. Amway—the little business that could—went from a basement office in 1959 to an estimated $5 billion in retail sales 40 years later. But to long-term employees like Mike King, director of paper products, Amway's success is no accident; it's a manifestation of the pure entrepreneurial spirit of Amway's two creators, Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel. "In the beginning, everybody thought they were nutso," says King, with a chuckle. "They would drive somewhere to meet 150 people for a demonstration and three people would show up, but they were committed to their idea and they stuck with it." DeVos and Van

Texas Department of Health and Human Services Austin, Texas After years of fighting to keep his in-plant alive, Robert McDaniel has finally been able to spend some time focusing solely on improving his shop. Six years ago, the Texas Council on Competitive Government consolidated 31 state print shops in Travis County, in central Texas, into a mere nine shops. These in-plants, which lack right of first refusal, were also mandated to operate on a full cost recovery basis and forbidden from printing for any type of commercial operation. The result? They were left fighting each other and commercial print shops in a limited pool