Tim McDaniel and Jacob Mathias stand with the newest Canon varioPRINT iX3200 inkjet pres. Mathias is a Mail Services Associate who is cross-trained on the iX3200 and operates the printer two hours each day to provide coverage between regular print operator shifts.
As experienced print operators retire, in-plants are increasingly turning to automation and cross-training to keep their operations running efficiently. One in-plant that’s successfully doing both is The Cincinnati Insurance Companies’ 38-employee operation. The shop recently made major efficiency improvements when it combined its printing department, outbound and inbound mail center, and fulfillment department into one large team.
Overseen by Tim McDaniel, director of Print, Mail, and Fulfillment, the combined operation has weeded out redundancies, enabled staff to be cross-trained across different departments, and saved the company money.
“We started seeing a lot of … tasks that might be happening more than one time or things that were being done redundantly,” notes McDaniel, who started at the in-plant in 1990 while attending the University of Cincinnati. “And it made a lot of sense to pull them all under one umbrella and have them all as one team.”
The department consolidation was spearheaded by Roger Chamberlain, VP of Administrative Services at Cincinnati Insurance, who also serves as first vice chair of the PRINTING United Alliance board of directors.
“So far, it's been fabulous,” McDaniel says. “We've had so many opportunities to share resources and associates and do some cross-training. All the associates have been very receptive to learning new roles and becoming backups to certain areas.
“There's been cost savings [in] finding those redundancies,” he adds. “You find that somebody's doing a few tasks a day that someone else is doing, you've freed up some time for that person to help out in another area.”
Inkjet Upgrade
This consolidation followed the corporate in-plant’s installation of a new Canon varioPRINT iX3200 cut-sheet inkjet press in March, an upgraded model featuring the Pinnacle-award-winning Bag-in-Box inking system, which replaces the plastic bottle system. The new press has an inline dynamic perf unit and a C.P. Bourg bookletmaker. It joins a second varioPRINT iX3200 at the in-plant.
Over the years, the shop’s transition to inkjet has eliminated the need for 12 offset and toner devices that were previously in use, and saved the company more than $2 million, McDaniel says. The presses run two shifts per day and produce about six million impressions per month, with transactional printing making up 85% of that work. The other 15% comprises educational materials, application packets, advertising materials for agents, annual reports, and other similar work. The reliability of the inkjet presses, McDaniel says, ensures they’re always available to handle the in-plant’s heavy workload.
“We have amazing uptime with the devices,” he says.
The department consolidation is only one way the in-plant is addressing the industry labor shortage. It also participates in a company-wide intern program that trains college students for future careers. Two of the shop’s designers got their start in that program, McDaniel says.
“We've had great success with finding associates that are still in college and want to be a part of the intern program,” he says.
Cincinnati Insurance Streamlines Operations, Upgrades Inkjet
Tim McDaniel and Jacob Mathias stand with the newest Canon varioPRINT iX3200 inkjet pres. Mathias is a Mail Services Associate who is cross-trained on the iX3200 and operates the printer two hours each day to provide coverage between regular print operator shifts.
As experienced print operators retire, in-plants are increasingly turning to automation and cross-training to keep their operations running efficiently. One in-plant that’s successfully doing both is The Cincinnati Insurance Companies’ 38-employee operation. The shop recently made major efficiency improvements when it combined its printing department, outbound and inbound mail center, and fulfillment department into one large team.
Overseen by Tim McDaniel, director of Print, Mail, and Fulfillment, the combined operation has weeded out redundancies, enabled staff to be cross-trained across different departments, and saved the company money.
“We started seeing a lot of … tasks that might be happening more than one time or things that were being done redundantly,” notes McDaniel, who started at the in-plant in 1990 while attending the University of Cincinnati. “And it made a lot of sense to pull them all under one umbrella and have them all as one team.”
The department consolidation was spearheaded by Roger Chamberlain, VP of Administrative Services at Cincinnati Insurance, who also serves as first vice chair of the PRINTING United Alliance board of directors.
“So far, it's been fabulous,” McDaniel says. “We've had so many opportunities to share resources and associates and do some cross-training. All the associates have been very receptive to learning new roles and becoming backups to certain areas.
“There's been cost savings [in] finding those redundancies,” he adds. “You find that somebody's doing a few tasks a day that someone else is doing, you've freed up some time for that person to help out in another area.”
Inkjet Upgrade
This consolidation followed the corporate in-plant’s installation of a new Canon varioPRINT iX3200 cut-sheet inkjet press in March, an upgraded model featuring the Pinnacle-award-winning Bag-in-Box inking system, which replaces the plastic bottle system. The new press has an inline dynamic perf unit and a C.P. Bourg bookletmaker. It joins a second varioPRINT iX3200 at the in-plant.
Over the years, the shop’s transition to inkjet has eliminated the need for 12 offset and toner devices that were previously in use, and saved the company more than $2 million, McDaniel says. The presses run two shifts per day and produce about six million impressions per month, with transactional printing making up 85% of that work. The other 15% comprises educational materials, application packets, advertising materials for agents, annual reports, and other similar work. The reliability of the inkjet presses, McDaniel says, ensures they’re always available to handle the in-plant’s heavy workload.
“We have amazing uptime with the devices,” he says.
The department consolidation is only one way the in-plant is addressing the industry labor shortage. It also participates in a company-wide intern program that trains college students for future careers. Two of the shop’s designers got their start in that program, McDaniel says.
“We've had great success with finding associates that are still in college and want to be a part of the intern program,” he says.
Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited 200 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.