Some 30 members of the Chicagoland Chapter of the Materials Handling and Management Society toured Allstate Insurance Company's massive Print Communication Center in Wheeling. On a daily basis, the facility picks for shipping 1,500-3,000 orders from more than 20,000 SKUs and sends out more than a million pieces of mail per day.

The Wheeling facility ships all marketing materials for Allstate's entire sales force and the various companies affiliated with Allsttate. The mail is primarily billing and customized direct-mail for each of their company's agencies and individual agents.

The MHMS Chicagoland members were welcomed by Jerry Guzzard, the center's manager who provided an overview of the facility, after which the group broke into three smaller groups to tour the center's operations. Mike Dinkleman, the warehouse operations manager then detailed the picking methods, conveyers, etc. for each group. After the tour, the entire group adjourned to the nearby Bob Chin's restaurant for lunch and discussion of what was seen during the tour.

In addition to Jerry and Mike, special thanks are due the other Allstate people who made the event a rousing success. They were tour leaders Bob Bachus, Bob Ackermann, and Al Adams, as well as Mae McCoy, Barb Nay, and Al Adams who worked closely with MHMS reps to arrange the tour.