MachTronic Products

BY CHRIS BAUER Although it may not be as flashy as a star-filled TV commercial during the last episode of "Survivor" or halftime of the Super Bowl, many companies are finding refuge from high advertising costs in a weakened economy by going a more traditional and cost-effective route—newspaper inserts. In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Livonia, MI-based Valassis Communications, a leading printer of coupons and newspaper inserts, reported it is reaping financial benefits from the slowing economy. As advertisers look for ways to lure customers into their stores with sales and other ways to save, Valassis is providing much of the printing of

"We glue things to other things." That's how Plant Superintendent Joe Carr describes the services offered at The Form House, a finishing house situated in Bedford Park, IL. Carr's description, while accurate, can be a tad misleading. True, The Form House specializes in affixing, but it's an affixer like no other. This company pushes its machinery—and people—to the hilt, coming up with solutions to seemingly impossible problems. "We're proud of our creativity," says Vice President Roger Crisman. Indeed, The Form House is stuck on creativity. The company's innovative approaches to tipping win it the jobs other finishers are afraid to touch. Often, these jobs