Hy-Vee: Making Lives Easier

Established in Iowa in 1930 as a small general store, Hy-Vee (named for founders Charles Hyde and David Vredenburg) is now an employee-owned chain of supermarkets, drugstores and gas stations in eight Midwestern states. With corporate headquarters in West Des Moines, Iowa, Hy-Vee reports annual sales of $9.3 billion and ranks among the top 25 supermarket chains and the top 50 private companies in the United States.

Hy-Vee’s Graphic Production Department (front row, from left): Janie Garrett, Marilyn Exley, Noelle Burgett, Diane Daniel, Bob Clark, Cindy Hutchings, Mary Jackson, Samantha McDonald and Andy Kane. Back row, from left: Cheryl Kline, Greg Linn, Matt Garton, Jeff Nelson, Monte Hutchings, Mike Sims, Janiene Sotter, Brian Schreck, Angi Garton, Jamie Wilson and Krista Mundy.

More than 82,000 employees work at approximately 240 Hy-Vee stores. The largest retail location, in Illinois, is 108,000 sq. ft. Hy-Vee’s Graphic Production Department, which encompasses print production and sign shops, operates out of the company’s Chariton, Iowa-based distribution center.

The 13,600-sq.-ft. in-plant employs 22 full-time and three part-time staff members, and is overseen by Director Andy Kane. The facility generates a wide range of materials for both internal corporate use and public display, including flyers, brochures, forms, laser-engraved name tags and easels, menus, posters, banners, shelf signage, price cards, cutouts and sidekick displays.

“We laser engrave 600 to 800 name tags a week,” Kane says.

The department produces an ever-changing variety of seasonal and special promotional point-of-sale and point-of-purchase items.

“We did a lot of July rose sale and organic food promotions,” Kane adds. “We also produced a lot of specialty tags for stores’ new charcuterie areas.” The shop creates hand-painted banners for occasions such as Father’s Day, July Fourth, and back-to-school shopping.

From left: Brian Schreck, Greg Linn, Andy Kane and Jeff Nelson stand in front of the two-color Heidelberg MOZP press in Hy-Vee’s Graphic Production Department.

Meeting Individualized Needs

The Hy-Vee parent corporation prides itself on the autonomous operation of its stores; that is, each store controls its own inventory and pricing. Thus, individual stores place orders with the in-plant. In turn, the in-plant works to be increasingly responsive to stores and meet individualized needs.

“We used to just push items out to stores, breaking the stores down by size and making assumptions about what each would need — a store of one size would get 10 posters, another smaller store might get six or four,” Kane says. “Now we offer more customization options so that they can order exactly what they need. If a large store only needs two of a particular poster, it can easily choose that quantity and reduce waste.”

About two years ago, the in-plant implemented an email ordering system.

“We send item and pricing lists and they pick and choose,” he says. “We call that an e-buy.”

The in-plant promotes products via email, a catalog on the company intranet, store visits and by inviting store directors to tour the in-plant.

Cindy Hutchings hand paints horizontal paper banners for a Hy-Vee store’s Summer Muffins promotion.

“I report to the marketing side, so we get lots of ideas from them,” Kane says.

He is always looking to get the word out about the Graphic Production Department’s capabilities.

“Stores don’t always realize all the things we can do — until they spend about an hour with me in the shop,” he says.

Prevailing Over the Competition

“Stores can use any vendor,” Kane points out. “It’s up to us to provide items at a lower cost and to make sure that they know that if they call us [with a rush job] today, we can likely have a sign on the truck tonight, and that they won’t have to pay shipping.” The in-plant does not handle installations; it will make reconditions on some projects.

Screen Printer Noelle Burgett pulls the squeegee across the screen to print window banners for a Hy-Vee store’s Fuel Saver promotion.

“We ship 99% of the items we make out on our own fleet of tractor-trailers,” says Kane. Those tractor-trailers also deliver grocery, frozen and produce items to stores from the distribution centers.

“We ask for 10 working days from the ‘OK’ of the project to delivery to the store, [but we] do not always get that much time, so we do whatever we can to make sure the stores get what they want when they need it.”

Distribution center warehouses have set delivery schedules for the stores.

“We look at these schedules to help us determine when we need to have a project boxed and delivered to the warehouse for shipment,” he says. “We work closely with our transportation department and warehouses, as they are critical in helping us to get our items delivered. If needed, we have routed a truck out of its way to make a delivery. If it is a rush, we will jump in a vehicle and deliver wherever needed.”

Samantha McDonald (left) and Diane Daniel stand with the in-plant’s Epilog Laser Fusion engraver. They create thousands of name tags, food case tags, easels and door signs for Hy-Vee stores.

Wide-Format Demands

In terms of what’s needed, there is “more and more demand for wide-format,” according to Kane. “When I [joined Hy-Vee], we had one large-format printer,” he says. “Now we have three producing better quality and can do things in-house that weren’t possible five years ago.”

The shop has two latex printers — an HP Designjet L26500 and an HP Latex 260 — and an EFI VUTEk QS 220 wide-format UV-curing printer. Typical wide-format products include posters on various papers, latex and vinyl; decals for inside stores; wraps and decals for catering vehicles; and vinyl banners. The in-plant is also printing on rigid stock, such as PVC, styrene, foam board, cardboard or corrugated plastic for signs and cutouts.

“Recently, we produced a series of graduation cutouts for stores,” Kane says. “Employees who had a child graduating or part-time employees that were graduating submitted a high-quality photo of the graduate, and we produced a six-and-a-half-foot tall image printed on a sheet of ‘B’ flute corrugated, which we cut back to shape, and added an easel. We did 15-20 of these.”

Matt Garton checks the take-up roll on one of the in-plant’s two HP inkjet printers, which can print on paper, vinyl banner material, adhesive vinyl, backlit and poly films.

More regularly, the shop generates cutouts of dieticians and chefs who provide in-store consulting services as part of Hy-Vee’s commitment to healthy lifestyles.

Overall, the in-plant is running about 15,000 sq. ft. a month on the large-format printers. Some jobs — such as a very large (200+) quantity of 35x45˝ posters — would likely still be outsourced, he says.

Offset and Digital

Graphic Production operates sheetfed offset presses with capabilities up to 19x25˝ two-color output. Sheetfed quantities vary seasonally, and again, very high-run jobs (such as 50,000 flyers) might be outsourced.

The department also produces about 20,000 copies per month on its new digital color printer, a Ricoh Pro C7100 with clear and white capabilities primarily for flyers, brochures, specialty signage and marketing circles.

Looking ahead, the in-plant is seeking to update its prepress software and platesetter and invest in new laminators, Kane reports, adding “we’re also talking to corporate about getting into direct mail.”

Meanwhile the parent company recently opened a new store in the Twin Cities, with another opening expected next month, a third in September, and a new Des Moines store in the beginning of 2017.

“We may need to expand equipment or personnel as a result,” Kane acknowledges.

Although the retail stores are its primary customers, the shop also does some work for other Hy-Vee-owned subsidiaries and a distribution company.

“We might also do a job for a local school or other nonprofit, if corporate asks,” Kane says.

The in-plant does not currently offer services to Hy-Vee shoppers, but Kane can envision a scenario in which a customer ordering a birthday cake might also be able to order corresponding invitations or a banner.

Hy-Vee has existed in some form for nearly 86 years and has been served by an in-plant for nearly 60 of them.

“It’s all about staying flexible, coming up with new ways to help stores advertise, and showing them how we can take on new responsibilities for them,” Kane says. The in-plant’s service to its customers reflects Hy-Vee’s corporate mission statement toward “making lives easier, healthier, happier.”

“Some of our employees are very tenured, with 40 or more years of service,” he notes. “It can be stressful because customers need items right away, but it’s a fun, upbeat place to work and I feel very fortunate.”