In-plant Profiles

Amway Ada, Michigan. Amway—the little business that could—went from a basement office in 1959 to an estimated $5 billion in retail sales 40 years later. But to long-term employees like Mike King, director of paper products, Amway's success is no accident; it's a manifestation of the pure entrepreneurial spirit of Amway's two creators, Rich DeVos and Jay Van Andel. "In the beginning, everybody thought they were nutso," says King, with a chuckle. "They would drive somewhere to meet 150 people for a demonstration and three people would show up, but they were committed to their idea and they stuck with it." DeVos and Van

Texas Department of Health and Human Services Austin, Texas After years of fighting to keep his in-plant alive, Robert McDaniel has finally been able to spend some time focusing solely on improving his shop. Six years ago, the Texas Council on Competitive Government consolidated 31 state print shops in Travis County, in central Texas, into a mere nine shops. These in-plants, which lack right of first refusal, were also mandated to operate on a full cost recovery basis and forbidden from printing for any type of commercial operation. The result? They were left fighting each other and commercial print shops in a limited pool

Best Buy Minneapolis, Minn. When a business is able to grow from $160,000 in sales to over $7 million in less than a decade some people might attribute the success to a midnight deal with the devil—or at the very least a trade for some magic beans. But for Rick Fiebiger, director of Best Buy's 83-employee Print Solutions Group, all it took was focus and attention. "You really need to run your operation like you would if you were a commercial printer," declares Fiebiger. "You've got to earn the business, you have to provide top-notch service and you have to measure your contributions

Penn State University State College, Pa. Penn State Document Services faces a problem common to in-plants that lack the right of first refusal. If a department or professor needs a print job and they expect it to cost less than $5,000, they don't need to get bids on it. "They can just go to the print shop down the street because it's on the way home or their cousin's best friend works there, or whatever," laments Michael Pierick, director of Document Services. "We have to compete for every job, so we need to be concerned that every product and service line we provide

Papa Johns Louisville, Ky. It sounds like a pizza lover's dream. In addition to the standing dollar-a-slice deal available to Papa Johns employees from the on-site pizzeria at its corporate headquarters, employees can also enjoy 50 percent off all other Papa Johns pizza purchases. Though this undoubtedly adds a few pounds to workers' waistlines, the pizza chain giant has been adding much more than this lately. This month, Papa Johns' 85-employee in-plant will add a new 11,000-lb., 36˝, four-color Process King press to help it gain more control over the company's printing and marketing needs. Jack Klausing, director of

Despite the "glamorous" work going on in sound stages right down the hall, the real excitement for Paramount's director of graphic services lies in the print shop. There was a time when the sight of a Klingon chowing down in the company cafeteria would have made Hector Amaya's jaw drop in amazement. But these days the executive director of Graphic Services at Paramount Pictures would hardly give such alien tablemates a second glance. It's all part of life at the giant Hollywood, Calif., studio, where dozens of TV shows like Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Frasier and Wings are shot

Parent company mergers, diverse products and a focus on color printing for the public eye seem to typify in-plants in the wholesale and retail trades. Dean Sutera hits the nail right on the head when he comments on the importance of in-plants in the wholesale and retail markets. "Because of the wide variety of printing that is needed by the retail environment," says Sutera, manager of the corporate print shop of Fred Meyer Inc., in Portland, Ore., "in-plants for retail operations are a lot more justifiable." Retail companies like Fred Meyer need everything from large, four-color signs to small flexo labels. And

Competition among insurance companies is fueling marketing efforts, forcing in-plants to turn out more four-color work than ever. Insurance is a huge market. Its providers make up a major portion of Fortune magazine's annual Fortune 500 listing, with giants like State Farm and Prudential ranking in the top 20. Behemoths like these know how important quality marketing materials are to their businesses, and many of them turn to their in-plants to get them. Because of the competition among insurance firms, these materials must be eye-catching and colorful, a fact that is bringing more color printing work into these in-plants. "Color will sell things

Since childhood, Mike Sprayberry has loved printing. His enthusiasm has helped First Tennessee Bank's in-plant prosper. YOU MIGHT say printing is in Mike Sprayberry's blood, but even if it isn't it's definitely under his skin—and he couldn't be happier. Sprayberry, 51, is print shop manager at First Tennessee Bank, in Memphis, just down the road from his birth place of Covington, Tenn. When he was eight, his mother remarried and moved the family of two boys and five girls to Memphis, where they began working in their step-father's print shop. It was there that Sprayberry first caught the printing bug and received the ink

Old-fashioned printing techniques are kept alive at historic print shops around the country. If you're struggling with a less-than-modern press in your in-plant, take heart: Compared with the printers of old, your press is like lightning. How would you like it if your top press speed was 180 sheets an hour, and setting type for one sheet required half a day of labor? This is what being a printer meant in the 18th and 19th centuries. But while the wooden presses of Ben Franklin's day have mostly made way for today's high-speed marvels, they're not completely gone. Historic villages and museums around the country