Mass Transition

By buying blue nameplate stock, printing three per page and attaching Velcro tabs, production costs have been cut from $6.50 to $3.25 per nameplate.

As a result of the collective effort, the in-plant is now able to produce about 90 percent of Metro's printing jobs, Swagler figures.

"I've been able to reduce our operational budget from $475,000 to $210,000 without increasing our staff [of five]," he assesses. "And overtime has dropped from 140 to 150 hours annually down to about 20 to 30 hours."