Taylor Corporation is one of the largest privately held companies in the United States, providing business and personal communications products, technologies and services. Taylor Corporation is the business behind the interactive, printing and marketing solutions that help build the world’s most popular brands. Some of the companies in the family include Corporate Graphics, Carlson Craft, Lillian Vernon and Curtis 1000. Taylor Corporation is comprised of more than 90 subsidiaries, employing 10,500 professionals. Along with being one of the top ten graphics communications companies in North America, Taylor Corporation is also a Forbes Private 300 company.

The relationship between Taylor Corporation and Corporate United began in 2003 when Taylor Corporation received a telephone call from Gary Klco and Dave Plantan. Says Mr. Parker of the initial meeting, "Gary had been in procurement so I knew he understood the battles a sourcing department fights. He and Dave were a good combination. We immediately recognized the Corporate United model as a good vehicle to leverage spend."

Jay Parker is Taylor Corporation’s Vice President of Strategic Sourcing. As an internal proponent of Corporate United, Mr. Parker has spread the value of the GPO’s leveraged agreements throughout the company. "Corporate United for us has gone beyond just the procurement department; it has allowed us to leverage spend and knowledge in areas like IT, human resources and facilities within our organization.

Taylor Corporation has had the most success with Corporate United’s temporary staffing agreement with Volt Workforce Solutions. Through the Volt agreement, Taylor Corporation accomplished three main goals: to more efficiently leverage spend, manage risk and consolidate suppliers. "At one time Taylor probably had over 100 temp staffing suppliers," Mr. Parker explains. "We are now down to under a dozen thanks to Volt."

Mr. Parker has participated in Corporate United’s network by attending member meetings, both regional and national, and by posting and responding to questions on Corporate United’s members-only message board. Mr. Parker suggests that the message board is "a great way to get a quick answer to the questions that come up in sourcing and procurement."

The primary value that Taylor Corporation’s procurement department finds in Corporate United membership is the ability to participate in pre-sourced category agreements that are both managed and competitive. "Staffing to leverage a category to best-in-class standards is difficult; the challenge lies not just in hiring, but also in keeping the employees up to date on industry developments and maintaining a best-in-class contract," says Mr. Parker. After having worked with Corporate United for over five years, Mr. Parker maintains that the concept of leveraging spend with other large organizations simply makes sense. "What made the Corporate United model unique versus other GPO’s was the transparency of its agreements and processes, it makes it easy for us to participate in Corporate United’s contracts," says Mr. Parker.

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