Divine Inspiration

By Bob Neubauer

This month’s focus on in-plants at religious organizations gave me a great opportunity to chat with managers all around the country. From massive print operations like that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (400 employees) to the one- and two-person shops in church basements, I enjoyed learning about the different ways these in-plants handle printing.

Despite their different faiths, they share many similarities, chief among them the feeling that their work fulfills a higher purpose. Many feel they are serving the Lord, a perspective that makes them put forth their best efforts.

Most of the managers I spoke with felt the atmosphere in their in-plants was friendlier than in typical print shops; customers and coworkers care more about one another, they said, and even stop working to pray for one another when the need arises. Certainly offensive language and risque artwork are nowhere to be found.

As part of my research, I took a stroll over to the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Printing Services department, which lies in the shadow of the city’s grand Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul. I spent an hour talking with manager Kevin Riley and press operator Jim Robinson. They were thrilled with their new Presstek/A.B.Dick two-color press, which has allowed the shop to bring in additional work.

Both men said they were grateful to be working for the archdiocese because of the congenial atmosphere and pleasant people they encounter. They have great respect for the outreach programs the church is carrying out, and they’re happy to be doing their part to help, even when that means working a little extra to meet tough deadlines.

I talked with more than a dozen in-plants for this issue and enjoyed hearing their perspectives. From a technology standpoint, there is a lot of new equipment being purchased by these faith-based in-plants. A number of shops have just added CTP equipment. Others have installed digital printers so they can cost-effectively handle the increasing amount of short-run work.

Why is the religious sector such a strong supporter of in-plants? Though there’s no single answer, our cover story offers a few thoughts. The fact that these in-plants are so strongly integrated into the goals and missions of their religions organizations undoubtedly plays a major role in their success.

See cover story: www.ipgonline.com/story/story.bsp?sid=56830&var=story

Small Shops Serve God in Big Ways: www.ipgonline.com/story/story.bsp?sid=56835&var=story

Religion Going Digital: www.ipgonline.com/story/story.bsp?sid=64066&var=story

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Bob Neubauer Author's page

Bob has served as editor of In-plant Impressions since October of 1994. Prior to that he served for three years as managing editor of Printing Impressions, a commercial printing publication. Mr. Neubauer is very active in the U.S. in-plant industry. He attends all the major in-plant conferences and has visited more than 180 in-plant operations around the world. He has given presentations to numerous in-plant groups in the U.S., Canada and Australia, including the Association of College and University Printers and the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association. He also coordinates the annual In-Print contest, co-sponsored by IPMA and In-plant Impressions.