Robert Tierney

The Allstate Print Communication Center sought the answer through NAPL's Management Plus program. The result? The in-plant won NAPL's top award for management excellence. "Today's in-plant must compete effectively with commercial printers or a commercial printer will take them over, and they'll be out of business." That's what Robert Tierney has observed over the years as Print Communications director for Allstate Insurance, in Wheeling, Ill. "We've always known that and sought various ways to measure our performance," he says. "But we found that the business assessment programs tailored specifically to in-plants didn't provide us with insights into where we stood as

Merging with the data center has helped in-plants improve their efficiency, increase their equipment arsenal and save their companies huge amounts of cash. Too often, managers who have grown comfortable in their jobs adopt a seven-word philosophy to justify their passive attitudes toward change: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." Sadly, by ignoring opportunities for expansion and eschewing new responsibilities, such managers, though they may get away with it for a while, impede the growth—and survival—of their operations. Conversely, managers who have embraced and even sought out new responsibilities have turned their in-plants into thriving departments. One avenue for expansion that has