Bill Boone Getting Into The Game

Bill Boone has had to be a referee for one of the biggest mergers in the in-plant business.

By Mike Llewellyn

WHEN Conoco Inc. and Phillips Petroleum merged operations last year, the move meant big changes for the in-plants at both energy companies.

Seeing the value of running an in-house printing operation, the new company, ConocoPhillips, turned to 32-year veteran in-plant supervisor Bill Boone, manager of Conoco's shop, to assist with the monumental task of merging the two operations into one.

He had a big job ahead of him.

Bob Slaughter and Paul Atkisson, both recently retired from the Phillips operation, had earned their in-plant a record three Best of Show awards in the annual In-Print contest. The most recent accolade came just last year.

With his work cut out for him, Boone, a life-long printer and father of two, relocated last October to Bartlesville, Okla., the site of the Phillips in-plant.

"Basically, upon the merger of Conoco and Phillips, studies were done to figure out whether or not the new company would need an in-plant," says Boone.

Both the Conoco and Phillips in-plants were very similar when it came to printing, Boone says. The Conoco shop had 17 employees and the Phillips shop was staffed with 22. The Conoco shop, however, supplied valuable creative services such as graphic design, photography and videography. No manager was better suited to melt that creative staff into a new operation than Boone.

To see the merger through to its completion, Boone says a decision had to be made to determine which equipment to move from his old shop.

"It turned out there wasn't a tremendous amount that we had to move," he says. Both places had similar prepress, press and bindery equipment. Whatever wasn't needed was surplused.

Boone notes that one of the reasons the two shops had so much equipment in common is that the two in-plants would occasionally compare themselves to one another to see what gear was working out well.

"It's rather ironic, actually," he muses. "Over the years [Phillips in-plant employees] would come over and look at our equipment, and we would go over and check out theirs."

Working The Kinks Out

Now that the merger has been completed, Boone says the biggest challenge his department faces is team building—getting the newly formed staff to change its old practices in order to streamline the work coming into the new, 27-employee Creative Services operation.

"We just had a team-building seminar," he reveals. It appears to have been a success, which will help greatly as the in-plant works through all the new policies and procedures of ConocoPhillips.

When the two energy companies merged, Boone says, the new ConocoPhillips in-plant was charged with supplying fresh business cards for all the employees in the company.

"You can imagine that the two companies were already quite large, so business card work is sizable," he says.

Now that ConocoPhillips is eight months old, Boone is keeping his eye on the future of the in-plant, as well.

"Right now we really have to look at synergies and do what we can to recover cost," says Boone. The in-plant has quality prepress, printing and bindery equipment, he stresses, "but the age of the presses is a concern. We've got to cost-justify a replacement [for the five-color, 25˝ Heidelberg], but the question is, 'How far do we go?' "

Boone says the shop would be interested in a direct-to-press system, but for now the cost is too substantial. Instead, he believes the next two years will see the arrival of either a new five-color, 29˝ Heidelberg or a 30˝ MAN Roland press.

Proud of Digital Changes

Taking stock of his whole career, Boone says he's most proud of overseeing the Conoco in-plant during its transition into the digital age.

"That transition is just amazing," he reflects. "The technology we have now—I couldn't have ever imagined that."

Moreover, Boone says he's immensely proud of his staff, who he says have pulled together well during what has been a stressful time.

"I've got a great staff," he reiterates.

In his well-deserved down-time, Boone says he likes to unwind with a round of golf.

"I don't want to say I'm a golfer, but I love to chase down a golf ball," he jokes. "And I'm one of the best armchair quarterbacks there ever was."

And that's more than fair, because come Monday, he's back on his feet and back in the game at one of the busiest in-plants around.