Marian Wascher was headed for a career in business. Then printing caught her fancy. Her shop is now an in-plant model.
Unlike many in-plant managers, Marian Wascher did not fall in love with printing at an early age. In fact, when she was growing up in West Point, Nebraska, printing may well have been the furthest thing from her mind. A self-described "organizer," she studied business administration and accounting, without taking even one printing class.
In the end, though, this has not mattered one bit. After seven years as manager of First Printing, the in-plant for First National Bank of Omaha, Wascher has earned industry-wide recognition for her talents. She was voted both local and regional Member of the Year in the International Publishing Management Association, and her in-plant has won numerous printing awards.
Wascher has built First Printing up from a tiny one-employee shop to a first-class operation with 16 employees and a $1 million budget. The bank recently invested a substantial sum in moving the in-plant to a larger facility, a sure sign of how valuable First Printing has become to the company.
Wascher has always been driven by a desire to move ahead. After graduating from Wayne State College, she returned briefly to her home town, but quickly realized her opportunities there were limited.
"I had to get out of the small town and get to something bigger," she recalls. "That's when I came to Omaha."
She applied for a few jobs, and took the first one that was offered, at First National Bank of Omaha. Twenty-four years later she's still a loyal employee.
Wascher gradually moved up through the ranks, working in the mortgage loan, trust and comptroller departments before finally landing in purchasing. Part of her duties there were to oversee the print shop, which consisted of just one full-time press operator.
"We were doing less than 400,000 impressions a year," she says. That soon changed. By 1992 the bank had grown and her work had increased so much that the bank decided to split her position into purchasing and printing. She quickly decided to take on the printing.
"I think it's the variety," she notes, explaining why she was attracted to printing. "You never know from day to day what's going to be happening."
High-speed Equipment
Between 1992 and 1999, First Printing experienced significant growth, both because of the bank's expansion and because of Wascher's efforts. She brought in a high-speed copier, which made an immediate difference in turnaround time. She also visited departments personally to find out what services her customers were looking for.
"Once we started showing them the type of quality we could do, people realized, 'why go outside? It's right here,' " she notes.
Today, First Printing outputs 40 to 45 million impressions annually, printing such items as disclosures for Visa and Mastercard statements, training manuals, advertising inserts, newsletters, forms and letterhead. The in-plant is currently updating its color copier to a networked Canon CLC 1000, and it's looking to get an imagesetter.
The shop's recent relocation into a 7,500-square-foot facility put it in the bank's "technology center" with the data processing and mail distribution departments. This has grouped all the paper-handling units together and helped with paper delivery and workflow. It's also given the in-plant higher ceilings and windows.
First Printing has earned management's support because of the outstanding service and quality it supplies. In addition to In-Print awards, the shop has done well in the Heartland Print Week Gallery, where it won the Best of Duplicator category the last two years, as well as judges' citations for quality.
These awards, Wascher says, are an ego boost for employees. She likes to give them even more recognition by inviting the bank's division heads to attend the awards banquets. Other employee-recognition efforts include giving out bonuses for work done over and above employees' usual tasks.
In the future, Wascher plans to become more active with Web page design. Already her department has designed some department intranet sites. She's also getting ready to hold an open house to introduce customers to the new First Printing facility.
Wascher is proud of her in-plant and has no regrets about moving into the printing world.
"The reputation of our shop, not only in our company but also in the city, has become that of a leader," she notes.
Outside of the shop, Wascher is active in the local chapter of the IPMA, where she recently served as president. She is also quite well traveled, having visited 47 of the 50 states.
Bob Neubauer can be contacted at: bneubauer@napco.com.