In-plant Profiles

After moving from offset to digital printing, this in-plant slashed turnaround time and increased business. by Dan Pothier A few years ago, Portsmouth City Public Schools, in Virginia, decided it was time to transform the existing offset print shop into a digital, on-demand print center. Skipper Duck, assistant superintendent, and Dan Pendarvis, purchasing agent, hired me to run the center based on my experience as digital production supervisor at the U.S. Government's Defense Automated Printing Service (DAPS). My first act was to transform the shop from being all offset to producing 80 percent of all jobs digitally. Since then, turnaround time has

BlueCross BlueShield is a big name in the in-plant world, with dozens of shops serving its many offices around the country. We spoke with several of them to find out why BCBS values its in-plants so much. By MIKE LLEWELLYN &012;If you were to look at a list of all the in-plants in the country, one name would pop up more than any other: BlueCross BlueShield. Because BCBS is not centrally operated, each "Blue Plan," as employees call the independent companies in the network, must produce its own marketing materials, explanations of benefits (EOBs), brochures and internal correspondence. Thus, many BCBS Blue Plans

Mike Compton has been in the printing industry for almost 30 years, and he's just warming up. By MIKE LLEWELLYN Mike Compton is Chicago born and raised, and he can't hide the affection he's got for his hometown. "This is a great city," he says. "I love big cities like New York, but Chicago is beautiful." So he's stuck around. Printing first caught Compton's interest when he was still in high school. Mr. Reginald Wagner's shop class introduced him to the trade, and he began his career as a facsimile operator with Chicago's Southtown Economist press in his junior year. Staying with the

When the Missouri State Printing Center throws a party, the whole state is invited. By MIKE LLEWELLYN &012;Nearly 150 representatives from agencies at every level of the Missouri state government converged on the State Printing Center recently for a long-awaited open house. State Printer Gary Judd and his staff had been planning the event for two months—and they were not disappointed in the turnout. "All together, the Department of Health brought in the most people," says Judd. "But we also got folks from the Department of Social Services, the Department of Natural Resources, several came from the executive branch, like the Secretary of

New digital gear and a streamlined production process are propelling this Alabama in-plant to the forefront. by Bob Neubauer When Alabama's finance director mandated that all state printing be routed through the Division of Printing and Publications a few years ago, he ticked off a lot of state agencies. One of them, the Alabama Forestry Commission, grumbled for weeks, upset it couldn't keep using its long-time commercial vendor. "But they worked with us a time or two and found out that we could do the job—and we actually did it cheaper," notes Jerry Wilson, division director of Alabama's Division of Printing and Publications,

Gerlinde Williams was waitressing when a chance encounter set her on the path to eventually run the state of Oklahoma's in-plant. By MIKE LLEWELLYN To say that Gerlinde Williams has come a long way would be a big understatement. Thirty years ago, the future Administrator of Central Printing for the State of Oklahoma was working as a waitress in a hotel restaurant, having just arrived in the United States from Germany. She didn't realize it at the time, but one of her regular customers quietly noticed she worked twice as hard as her fellow employees. "They would be talking, having a cigarette, whatever,

James Mason visited the Federal Reserve Bank on a school trip. He's been at the bank ever since. by Mike Llewellyn During his senior year of high school, James Mason's class toured the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank. When the trip concluded at the bank's in-plant, the guide asked if anyone in the group thought they might like to work with that equipment. Mason was the only one in the group with a raised hand. "I graduated on a Thursday," he says. "On Friday they offered me a job." Today, Mason is the award-winning operational supervisor of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Print

Numerous recent upgrades and service enhancements show why the Washington Department of Printing is one of the top 10 in-plants in the country. by Bob Neubauer When you sit down at the table in George Morton's office at the Washington State Department of Printing, you get the feeling there's nobody else he'd rather be talking to. His welcoming smile and direct eye contact make it clear that he really cares about the people he's with. Perhaps that's why Morton, director of the Department of Printing for the past four years, is so popular among his 160 employees—he's concerned about them. In fact, he visits

Running one of the country's largest in-plants is tough work, but Craig Sedgwick manages to do it well—while winning prizes for quality. by Bob Neubauer When an in-plant wins seven In-Print awards—including three first place prizes—it's clear the shop has an awful lot of talent inside its walls. That feat was accomplished this year by the 350-employee in-plant for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Salt Lake City. Though the man behind the in-plant, Plant Manager Craig Sedgwick, would credit his employees' dedication and hard work, his own dedication to them and to the in-plant has certainly played a big

When the demand for color printing grew, Ace Reprographics took action. It installed CTP, color proofing and a new five-color press. Up until last January, whenever Ace Hardware Reprographics produced four-color offset work, the 80-employee in-plant had to print it on a two-color MAN Roland press. As the amount of four-color work increased, the operation started getting overwhelmed. "One of our biggest programs just continued to grow," says Rick Salinas, production manager, referring to Ace Hardware's two-year-old Helpful Hardware Club. Membership in this preferred customer program soared to three million, straining the in-plant's ability to continue producing quality promotional pieces for the program