LDS Church Captures IPMA Management Award

The Printing Division of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City has earned the prestigious 2012 IPMA Management Award. This is presented by the In-Plant Printing and Mailing Association annually to an outstanding corporate publishing and distribution operation that excels in efficient management practices to further the objectives of its parent organization.

Director Craig Sedgwick accepted the award on behalf of the 329-employee in-plant at last month’s IPMA Awards Banquet in Kansas City. Under his leadership, the operation has successfully launched numerous initiatives and improvements, making the in-plant stronger, more responsive, more efficient and more competitive.

“The LDS Church Printing Division has a climate that fosters cooperation, collaboration and open communications,” remarks Sedgwick. “The entire staff has worked together across different operational groups to define and solve problems while considering multiple perspectives.”

Some of the in-plant’s many accomplishments include:

• More than 16 percent reduction in spoilage as a result of a quality assurance/annual incentive plan.
• An increase in volume of nearly 5 percent to about 8 billion impressions due to production improvements.
• A 3 percent improvement in production cycle times to bring the on-time delivery rate to 93 percent.
• Due to the in-plant’s high safety rate, a request has been submitted to OSHA to become Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) certified.
• An in-service training program that has enabled 26 employees to earn one or more GATF certifications.

Beginning operation in 1849, the LDS Church Printing Division now occupies 400,000 square feet of space. Its impressive array of equipment includes such large presses as a five-color manroland Lithoman web press, a Timson T-32 web press and a five-color manroland 700 sheetfed press, among many others.

The Division’s Quality Assurance program includes an employee incentive reward. Management uses a spoilage expense reduction program to focus attention on the importance of quality. The incentive shares the difference between the spoilage budget and amount of actual spoilages with employees annually. In 2011, spoilage was reduced 16.8 percent from the prior year. The sources of spoilage are determined and reported to employees monthly. Efforts are then made to minimize spoilages at every organizational level.

Other significant improvements were made to the in-plant’s operational performance by developing an initiative to improve the on-time delivery rate. Production cycle times were determined, tracked and reported. The result for 2011 was an improvement of 3 percent, bringing its on-time delivery rate to 93 percent.

The in-plant places a high priority on employee improvement and understands the value of training. Graphic Arts Technical Foundation (GATF) classes are offered to employees in prepress, web, sheetfed, bindery and digital production areas. These classes meet monthly. During 2011, an additional 26 employees passed the testing and received one or more GATF certifications.

Both management and employees have worked in tandem to develop and document standard operating procedures for most of the equipment. This has helped to unify operators and supervisors between shifts, and provides standards for setting up and operating each piece of equipment.

“These accomplishments would not be possible without the dedication of the great employees that work for the LDS Church Printing Division,” says Sedgwick. “Employees have worked hard as a team to achieve this prestigious award through personal accountability to advance the mission of the LDS Church.”