Customer Service Behind MU's Growth

By focusing on customer service, Rick Wise helped boost business at his university in-plant.

By Bob Neubauer

If you ask Rick Wise whether or not he has enjoyed his three decades in the printing business, you'll get an enthusiastic "yes."

"I don't have any regrets. It's been a wonderful career," says Wise, director of Printing Services at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

But like many in-plant managers, he didn't have printing in mind when he first joined the working world.

Wise was born in California—not the state, but a town by that name in his native Missouri (or "Missoura" as it rolls off his tongue). After getting his journalism degree in 1974 from the University of Missouri, Wise took a job selling advertising for the Columbia Missourian newspaper.

"That kind of evolved into being offered a job at a different newspaper in Columbia," he says—The Columbia Daily Tribune. "I had several different functions at this new job, and one of them was to develop a small print shop."

The publisher, something of an entrepreneur, charged Wise with firing up an old A.B.Dick 360 and getting a business going, using the camera and composition equipment owned by the newspaper. For the next 18 years, Wise managed that shop, Waters Printing Co., growing it into a 12-employee operation with four presses, a bindery and its own 6,500-square-foot facility.

"It was a good little shop," he reminisces. "It was excellent experience."

In 1989 Wise was hired by his alma mater's Printing Services department as its manager of customer services.

"They needed to change their philosophy and become more customer-oriented," he says. His job was to convince the staff of this. Though it was a change for them, he says, eventually employees accepted the idea that customers' demands, no matter how tough, had to be met.

"I believe, with all my heart, that you only stay successful if you meet the customer's needs," says Wise.

That philosophy paid off.

"We got a lot busier," he says. Customer service representatives went from writing up $5,000 to $6,000 worth of business a month to handling $50,000 to $60,000, over a five-year period.

"As we got busier we were able to add more equipment," says Wise. The in-plant also moved into a 53,000-square-foot plant. During this period, Wise earned his Masters of Public Administration degree.

In 1999, when Wayne Merritt retired as director, Wise was promoted to the position. He inherited all the challenges of running a large university in-plant—the seventh largest university shop, according to the IPG Top 50.

"We are a business...but we are defined as a service operation within the university," he notes. This dual role requires him to strike a balance between generating revenue and serving the university, both of which are crucial.

One of the services he is most proud of having supported is his in-plant's groundbreaking online ordering system, Quickcopy Online. Developed in partnership with T/R Systems, it automatically creates PDFs from Microsoft Word and other files. It has been a big success at the university. Also popular is a separate Web-based ordering system for offset jobs and business cards/stationery.

"My focus over the last five years on digital technology and Web-based submission is something that I'm probably proudest of," he says, crediting Heath Cajandig, digital production manager.

But he is also proud, in a more general sense, of the quality, quick turnaround times and competitive pricing provided by Printing Services, as well as the fact that he is helping to provide "a very civilized work environment for some great, great people."

A humble man, Wise is quick to dole out credit for his in-plant's success to others—previous directors Donny Wren and Wayne Merritt; his vice chancellor of administrative services, Jackie Jones; Cajandig and other staff members. But those who work with him would credit his vision and leadership skills.

This month Wise is hosting the Association of College and University Printers conference in Columbia. He can't wait to show off his operation.

"I really look forward to having that great group of directors and managers come out to our plant and meet my folks," he says. "That, to me, is the real reward."

After attending the conference for years, Wise felt that hosting it this year was a way to give something back to an organization he loves.

"I just really, wholeheartedly believe in the ACUP concept," he says.

When he's not in his office or walking the shop floor to talk with his 82 full-time employees, Rick Wise enjoys exercising in the gym or taking long walks. He also likes watching his stepson Zach's lacrosse games with his wife, Toni. Wise also has a son, Neal, from a previous marriage.

But his real passion, he admits, is playing poker, a game he takes very seriously.

"In the latter part of my life, if I can be a professional tournament poker player, then I hope that happens," he laughs.