Carol Stream company turns page to expanded facility

At a time of cutbacks, a 33-year-old company with 300 employees is expanding.

Team Services in Itasca and Booklet Binding Inc. in Broadview has combined its operations and now operates under one roof in Carol Stream. The 366,000-square-foot facility on Kimberly Drive represents a $21 million investment, company officials said.

Company founders Tom Patrevito and John Kosowski, say the new production facility will allow them to combine finishing, mailing and packaging services and allow the operation to run more securely. This is essential for the highly secured, independently audited facility that is certified for couponing, value-loaded cards and customer data, Patrevito said.

He said the company will be better able to integrate highly targeted traditional direct marketing efforts with various online marketing activities.

Many of their clients, including financial institutions and the automotive industry, are looking to reinvent themselves and find new ways to communicate with their customer. The Carol Stream company still does all the traditional types of direct mailing but is adding more innovative activities, such as sending personalized samples.

"The company is trying to create more of a dialogue with the customer," Patrevito said.

One of the jobs the company tackled in the past was handling the assembly, wrapping, personalizing and mailing of AOL demonstration disks. "We were sending out 10 million in a month," Patrevito said.

The company continues to see growth. Over the past five years, the firm has experienced double digit growth in sales and increased mail volume to nearly 1 billion pieces annually.

The men have not been untouched by the economy, however. "Today's a little tough," Patrevito said, but he believes the company's flexibility and ability to reinvent itself has helped remain on a course for growth.

"You have to keep your eyes open, even though the markets are compressing," Patrevito said.

The business partners, who both reside in Oakbrook, started off small in Elmhurst as a graphic finishing and book binding firm and later expanded their services to include direct mail production and distribution. They started serving local customers and then moved onto regional clients.

"Now we work nationally," said Kosowski, 64.

The company expanded slowly and for the past 12 years they has been running the business from the two buildings until the recent consolidation.

"We grew with our customer base," said Patrevito, 57.

The founders met about 35 years ago while working in the printing industry.

Their company will continue to operate as Team Services and Booklet Binding Inc. where they will focus on marketing production, data and distribution services that include data services, including programming, presorting and e-mail campaigns and packaging that includes automated assembly and custom assembly.

Lettershop and personalization, including direct mail and plastic cards as well as distribution, including mailing and bulk shipments are other aspects they tackle.

They say the large-scale finishing, affixing and packaging lines, coupled with the expansive inkjet personalization capabilities allow fast production turnaround times.

As the industry continues to experience recession-driven consolidation, the firm expects to continue to invest in expansion opportunities, the owners said.

• Kim Mikus covers small business and retail. She welcomes comments at (847) 427-4567 or kmikus@dailyherald.com.