Downers Grove

In-plants that have added digital color printing capabilities are thriving—and the call for more on-demand color work is only getting louder. By Cheryl Adams ACE Hardware certainly has a loyal customer base. "We have 6.2 million customers in our ACE Helpful Hardware Club," maintains Rick Salinas, production manager at the company's in-plant in Downers Grove, Ill. He says the club—which awards customers points, and eventually store credit, for purchases—is the "second largest customer-loyalty program in the country." The company's in-plant has played a major part in creating that loyalty, chiefly through the huge number of personalized color marketing materials it produces. In 1998

Here are the winners, by category. Note that not every category recieved enough entries for judges to award a prize. 1 Stationery, Small Shop First Place: Sunkist Growers Sherman Oaks, CA Tim Criswell ______________________ 3 Flyers, Small Shop First Place: Pierce County Library System Tacoma, WA Carol L Sheehan ______________________ 4 Stationery First Place: Lehigh University Bethlehem, PA Glenn H. Strause Second Place: Boy Scouts of America Irving, TX Robert Mettee ______________________ 5 Labels, Tags First Place: Boy Scouts of America Irving, TX Robert Mettee Second Place: Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN Thomas

Ace Hardware Downers Grove, Ill. When Mark Krammer, graphic service manager at Ace Hardware, first came to the Downers Grove, Ill., in-plant 15 years ago he was on a mission. He wanted to make Ace Hardware's in-plant that best it could be, but he also wanted to do something more. He wanted to bring the company some thing extra in the form of revenue. "In any operation there are always peaks and valleys," Krammer observes. "What better way to maximize those valleys than to subsidize your company's printing by taking on commercial work?" Insourcing revenue has helped Ace Hardware's 92-employee in-plant to offset