Jim Muchler

Folding machines are built to last. But many that were sold in the 1980s don't have the tools needed to handle 21st-century work. By W. Eric Martin Folding and printing go hand-in-hand. Rarely is an item delivered from the press to the end user without being manipulated: letters must fit into envelopes; brochures and magazines must be folded before being trimmed; and holiday cards must be made mantle-ready. While folding itself is fairly straightforward, knowing what you need from the equipment doing the folding can be a bit trickier. Folding equipment seems to have an amazingly long life span, creating creases for decades before

The debate about whether to institute a right of first refusal policy continues, but many in-plants find it does more good than harm. by CAROLINE MILLER Right of first refusal: Benefit or death knell? Critics of the right of first refusal claim it amounts to a monopoly and will only breed bad service; proponents say it makes in-plants even more valuable to their organizations and improves service. "The fact that we don't have right of first refusal does force us to focus on customer service more," remarks Ted Bailey, manager of Boise State University's 15-employee Printing and Graphic Services department. "I think it does

When you think of mergers, you probably picture two corporate giants shaking hands over a deal worth billions of dollars: Chase Manhattan and Chemical Bank, for example, or Viacom and CBS. But most mergers take place on a much smaller scale: Between cross-town rivals, within one company in the form of a reorganization or even—if you haven't guessed by now—involving an in-plant. As an in-plant manager, you may have the chance to do a little consolidation of your own, either merging with

Combining departments will not only boost your services, but it will save money in the long run. Marrying in-house mail and print departments requires all the foresight, planning and tact of a royal wedding—and the payoffs are just as spectacular. A more coordinated, efficient operation able to offer customers more services at a lower cost—that's the dream come true for managers of integrated in-plants. "The results [of our merger] were far greater than we ever imagined. There's a synergy from everything being together now in one wide-open space," reveals Tim Steenhoek, who manages mail and print at Equitable of Iowa in Des Moines. Operations