In the insurance industry, prioritizing recognition and instilling memorability are critical. Shelter Insurance® (Shelter) attributes its nearly 80-year success to exceptional marketing materials, designed to demonstrate unbeaten quality to prospective and existing clients.  

Founded in 1946 and now serving 21 states, the Shelter Insurance Group of Companies has grown to provide a broad range of insurance coverages, including property and casualty, auto, home, life and other options. The company is continuously recognized for excellence: J.D. Power Award winner; ranked #10 worldwide for homeowners’ insurance; reached the Forbes’ 2024 World’s Best Insurance Companies for auto insurance; consistently ranked highly by A.M. Best, a national firm that evaluates the financial strength and operating performance of insurance providers.  

A key factor in Shelter’s decades of success has been its effective, superior quality marketing materials, which facilitate engaging communications with customers. Seven operators work in the print shop, along with one lead worker and six graphic designers, who create both transactional printed materials and high-end marketing pieces for Shelter’s marketing department and agents. Transactional printing is separate from high-end printed materials, which is unusual in the insurance industry. Materials for the Records and Mailing Department and Document Services at Shelter are produced by a large in-plant production department, while the Print and Graphics Department creates eye-catching marketing collateral.  

These distinct areas require different equipment and two independent processes. In early 2020, the Records and Mailing Department upgraded to inkjet production, while the Document Services and Print and Graphics Department still employed an expensive offset press and an older digital color press. The problems began to compound, from device uptime concerns to ongoing color consistency issues for branded materials between the separate printing processes. When Shelter lost its highly skilled offset press operator, it became time to explore new technology.  

In 2023, knowing they needed help from a trusted long-term growth partner, Shelter contacted Konica Minolta’s Industrial Print team to solve their production process challenges.