Pitney Bowes

J.R. Gaddis and his staff at University of Oregon Printing and Mailing Services run an in-plant that does it all. Of all the in-plants on the IPG Top 50, this operation provides the most services—just about every service an in-plant can offer. Here's a look at what they do: Design The in-plant employs four prepress specialists who also handle some design work when requested. It's not a service that Gaddis is ready to start pushing too hard, though. "If we're asked, we'll do it," he says. Electronic Prepress "A couple of years ago we installed an Avantra 30 [imagesetter], and we went totally

The Division of Publishing and Distribution Services for the State of Oregon has held strong for the past year, with sales steady despite an unfriendly economic climate. Manager Kay Erickson attributes the health of her facility to seeking out innovative ways to bring in extra revenue. Clocking in at three years on the job, Erickson may not be a veteran yet, but she has not let that stop her from guiding the shop through what she sees as the three main changes shaping its future. They are a transition into digital printing, a partnership with Oregon Corrections Enterprises and the addition of graphic

Mailing services are a natural addition to any in-plant. Here's a look at some of the equipment that can make your mailing operation successful. By MIKE LLEWELLYN &012;Nearly half of all in-plants provide mailing services, according to a recent IPG survey. And why not? Who better to oversee mail than the people printing it? At the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, the mailing services operation recently moved into the printing facility, bringing all 87 print and mail employees together. "We're hoping that one-stop shopping will really add to the value we bring to the university," says Robert Miller, production manager. A few months

BlueCross BlueShield is a big name in the in-plant world, with dozens of shops serving its many offices around the country. We spoke with several of them to find out why BCBS values its in-plants so much. By MIKE LLEWELLYN &012;If you were to look at a list of all the in-plants in the country, one name would pop up more than any other: BlueCross BlueShield. Because BCBS is not centrally operated, each "Blue Plan," as employees call the independent companies in the network, must produce its own marketing materials, explanations of benefits (EOBs), brochures and internal correspondence. Thus, many BCBS Blue Plans

New digital gear and a streamlined production process are propelling this Alabama in-plant to the forefront. by Bob Neubauer When Alabama's finance director mandated that all state printing be routed through the Division of Printing and Publications a few years ago, he ticked off a lot of state agencies. One of them, the Alabama Forestry Commission, grumbled for weeks, upset it couldn't keep using its long-time commercial vendor. "But they worked with us a time or two and found out that we could do the job—and we actually did it cheaper," notes Jerry Wilson, division director of Alabama's Division of Printing and Publications,

Progressive Insurance Highland Heights, Ohio True to its name, Progressive Insurance's in-plant is always on the lookout for new types of work to bring in-house and new ways to save the company money. "It's not always the obvious," remarks Jan Grega, manager of Corporate and Creative Services—like when she noticed the company was outsourcing the tipping of its plastic claims card onto a carrier sheet. The in-plant was already printing that carrier, so why not do the tipping too? "As the volume grew, we found that that was something that we could save a lot of money by bringing in-house," she says. "In

Today's digital, high-speed, black-and-white copiers provide advanced capabilities at a fraction of the cost of previous analog workhorse models. by JEFF SMITH The line between office and production equipment continues to become less and less distinct. "Distribute-then-print" has effectively replaced "print-then-distribute" for most applications in most environments. One of the primary causes of this shift in print distribution is the coming of age of digital office copiers, which, along with faster network printers, have provided an effective means to print electronically distributed documents. Today's digital, high-speed, office and production copiers are providing advanced capabilities to in-plants at a fraction of the cost of

Processing some 75,000 pieces of mail a day, University of Washington Publications Services is one of the country's busiest university mailing operations. When the Huskies went to the Rose Bowl in January, University of Washington Publications Services faced the ultimate time-sensitive project. "Printing and mailing ticket applications for a championship sporting event is completely last-minute. You have to wait until the end of the season, and the team wins, then 'Boom!' You have a matter of days to get the information in the mail," explains Frank Davis, associate director of Publications Services. "We have people on standby to mail the applications for tickets

Don't stop with merging mail and print. You can continue to bring savings and increase efficiency after the merger. So you've merged your in-house mail and print departments? You've been through turmoil and tumultuous times, and you persevered? Why stop there? With the constant changes in technology, improvements to your in-plant mail and print operations should be ongoing. Keeping on top of trends, postal regulations and new ideas can only increase your parent organization's bottom line. Take Brigham Young University, for example. The Provo, Utah, school merged its copying, printing and mail services more than two years ago and continues to

USAA San Antonio, Texas Annual Sales/Budget: $38 million Full-time employees: 305 Jobs printed per year: 36,000 For the employees at USAA Publishing Services, an increased workload is to be expected. The customer base, which stands at over 3.5 million people, grows by up to eight percent annually. But with a cap on the number of employees at the shop since 1992, that increase in work must be handled by the current staff. "We expect capacity to increase with our volume growth but expect staffing to remain constant," explains Jack Mondin, executive director of publishing output services. "That means...we cannot continue to do business the way we have