A Simple Twist Of Fate

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, while I was running around making sure all my customers were taken care of," she says, her faded German accent now tinted with a Western twang.

But Williams would soon learn that this particular regular happened to run a large printing operation in the area. He wanted her to bring the dedication she showed at the restaurant to a new position in the company's bindery.

A Strong Start To A Long Career

"I was really very nervous," she says. "At the time, I spoke very little English and I had no experience at all with printing. But I needed a job."

Williams took to the trade easily, however, and in a year's time she was transferred to the prepress area. Two years after that she was promoted to supervisor.

"I felt very intimidated being a woman supervisor," she admits. "I was supervising all men." But with her boss's confidence in her abilities, Williams rose to the challenge and accepted the position.

The experience and expertise she acquired in her supervisory role were enough to land her a position with Oklahoma's Central Printing division, which she did, 25 years ago.

Starting as a shop foreman, Williams found her biggest challenge was handling the demands of all of her employees.

"I can't let one do something, and not let another do the same thing," she says. "I always try to be fair."

Then, a few years later, the big day came.

"My promotion to administrator has been my biggest success," she says. "With the language barrier I couldn't believe it."

Today, Williams runs a 25-employee facility that handles the vast majority of the printing needs of the state—including some very difficult projects.

"Every year we get the governor's budget," says Williams. "We get it on a Saturday, and it has to be done by Monday." Each booklet is about 500 pages, and the in-plant has to produce and bind almost 1,300 copies of the two versions.

"We have to work late on weekends," she says, "but we get it done."

For the most part, though, Central Printing handles letterheads, business cards, annual reports, and the rules and regulations for the various state agencies.

Fighting A Battle On Two Fronts

In 1994, Williams oversaw the biggest change in the in-plant's history. The shop doubled its size to 1,300 square feet. But even with the facility boasting that sort of health, she was concerned about the future.

"There is always the fear of privatization," says Williams. "We always have to justify our being here." She explains that the shop is run as an independent entity with the responsibility to turn a profit. State agencies are not required to use the in-plant to get their projects done.

"So we have to do quality work," she says, "better or more quickly than anyone else."

This has not been the only challenge to the in-plant. The arrival of the Internet struck a huge blow to the shop's revenue.

"Form printing slowed down because of the Internet," says Williams. "We lost 50 percent of our printing at once."

She says most state agencies now make the bulk of their forms available electronically, eliminating the need to have them printed.

Rather than letting this setback spell the end of the facility, the in-plant began to advertise its newest service: Mailing.

"We used to outsource all of the mailing," she says. "Now that we brought it in-house, we have done very well with it."

So well, in fact, that the shop has earned back all of the revenue eaten by the Web.

With money rolling in again, Williams expanded the operation two months ago to include a Creo imagesetter and processor. Now she's in the market for a more advanced envelope-stuffing system to maximize the efficiency of the mailing service.

The in-plant isn't the only thing being upgraded. In her spare time, Williams says she enjoys remodeling her home with her husband Bobby. He was a soldier with the U.S. Army stationed in her native Germany when she married him at the age of 20. And when they're not hanging drywall, they're tinkering with a 1949 Ford coupe.

"Printing was a great opportunity for me. I can't imagine what I'd be doing now if not this," she says. "At the time I wasn't sure that it was the right choice, but I am now. I'd do the same thing all over again."