Ever Changing Chambers
by W. Eric Martin
On his first day as executive director of printing and publication services at the University of Louisville, Ray Chambers learned that he would be managing a new campus-wide copier management program.
"In that first year," said Chambers, "we opened five new centers and grossed $310,000"—a 56 percent increase over the previous year.
That quick growth was just one of the reasons that Chambers shared IPG's 1992 Manager of the Year award.
Chambers' ability to rise to challenges is best shown by the creation of Cardinal Class Ware, one of the first university copyright clearance centers. It has grown ever since, becoming a profitable venture for the university.
Since being named Manager of the Year, Chambers has been promoted to assistant vice president of information technology, and the IT department was transformed from three units into twelve teams, with printing, graphic design and copying each having its own team. His promotion, he says, has given him a broader perspective.
"I was looking at a career of running print shops," he says, "but here I got the opportunity to become an assistant vice president and expand my horizons."
Now instead of just concentrating on printing, he looks at what's best for the university and how he can improve the way jobs are being output.
He recently moved mainframe printing into the 24-hour copy center to make better use of equipment that was previously being run only 30 percent of the time. The design department will also soon move closer to the copy center.
Recently, the entire print shop was moved to a new building off-campus to give the university more room for student records. To help his copier and press operators better understand each other's jobs, Chambers plans to start putting press operators to work in the copy center, and vice versa.
Chambers is excited about his plans to add a Xeikon engine to his operation to enable high-speed, color digital printing.
"Be ready to change," advises Chambers. "The manager who doesn't recognize that change is coming—and try to work with it instead of fighting it—is not going to be around very long."
