Growth Continues at Inserts East

PENNSAUKEN, NJ—Defying the challenging economic climate, Inserts East is proving that a niche and a knack for service can still be a powerful formula for growth.

Gene Maiale, company president, does not hesitate when asked how his company has kept growing in tough economic times. "This is a people business, and it's all about service," he explains.

Maiale credits his sales and customer service organization with cultivating tremendous customer allegiance. That is especially important for a printer in the insert market, where local and regional retailers and grocery chains typically sign long-term contracts for weekly or monthly print runs.

The organizational structure at Inserts East, under the direction of Vice President of Sales and COO Nick Maiale, gives the customer service reps responsibility for the production needs of each customer and frees the sales team to concentrate on selling.

The people behind the success at Inserts East also have technology on their side. Inserts East recently installed its second two-web Heidelberg V-30 press. The 108,000-square-foot facility also houses two Heidelberg NC-400 presses and a work force that has expanded from 24 people to 120 since 1996. Running nearly identical press configurations allows Inserts East to interchange crews, thereby reducing training requirements.

The choice of equipment also reflects another secret to the printer's success. This is a company that has carved out a clearly defined niche.

Concentrating almost exclusively on heatset inserts in the narrow, two-pages-across by one-page-around format makes it possible to configure equipment, workflows and personnel for maximum efficiency. A growing list of customers from New York to Florida and west to the Mississippi River appears to support management's belief that this type of specialization provides an edge in service.

"We don't compete for the large, national insert jobs that are generally printed on wider presses," notes Maiale. "We don't compete for those jobs yet."