Two Decades and Going Strong

TWENTY-THREE YEARS ago, Keith St. Clair got a tip that a local print shop was looking for an employee. Knowing nothing about the printing business, he thought it sounded like an advantageous career path and took the job.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” says St. Clair, now print shop production manager at Grocery Supply Co., in Sulphur Springs, Texas. “I thought I would just stand around and the machines would do all the work.”

He quickly learned he would not be doing a lot of standing around.

Born and raised in Sulphur Springs, about 80 miles east of Dallas, St. Clair graduated high school and entered the work force. In 1983, at the age of 21, he started working for the in-plant at Grocery Supply Co., a wholesale distributor for the convenience store industry.

The shop was running two Multi 1250 presses, a Pitney Bowes collator, a paper cutter and a stapler. With three employees, it was turning out some rather large jobs—like 3,200 company catalogs every two weeks St. Clair’s first job was running one of the Multi 1250s.

“We turned out a lot of work. We worked long hours,” he recalls. “Some days we would be there from five a.m. until 10 p.m.”

All of St. Clair’s printing knowledge has come from this hands-on experience, which helped him to move up in the ranks.

“The more I learned, the more job responsibilities I got, bettering my position,” says St. Clair.

During this time, the in-plant was doing mostly black-and-white work and catalog printing. St. Clair says they weren’t looking to expand their services, just gearing up for longer runs as the company’s catalog volumes increased. Upgrades were made by replacing the Multi 1250s with two Multi 1650s and adding two Davidson 702 perfectors, a Bourg 46 collator and a bookbinder.

The Grocery Supply Co. sells groceries to convenience stores and military operations, and operates a money order business. It’s customers cover the South and Southwest territories of the U.S. It operates four warehouses and a financial services business. St. Clair’s in-plant does most of the company’s printing, though there is a small printing operation in the company’s Florida warehouse.

“We are basically small and ‘old school’ but we do turn out a large quantity of work, and I am very proud of my associates and our shop,” says St. Clair.

Two Big Changes

In 1995, St. Clair’s boss was ready to retire. St. Clair knew his job inside and out. He was promoted to print shop production manager.

“I knew the business, so I basically stepped right in. It was seamless.”

The company also decided to outsource its catalog work, which was the in-plant’s biggest business.

“We sat around for two months with nothing to do,” says St. Clair.

St. Clair took it upon himself to look for work the shop could pick up and also looked at how he could save the company money. After a few months of focusing on customers and other warehouses he was able to bring envelope printing in-house. This turned into a big monthly job, which got the shop into two-color work.

“At the time it was touch and go,” explains St. Clair. “It took a few months, and I was scared of being closed down. The two Multi 1650s let us get more work done. We started doing more variety, brought more work back in-house and saved the company money—saving us too.”

Another change St. Clair had to make when he took over the shop was to improve safety. The in-plant didn’t have safety covers on any equipment, and chemicals weren’t properly stored.

“No one in the company knew what to do,” says St. Clair. “I had to protect my employees and myself. I started talking to vendors and they pointed me in the right direction. I went to seminars. It really got us on track.”

In 2001, St. Clair fell in love with the A.B.Dick 2340 digital platemaker at a conference and went to his boss to sell him on it. At the end of 2001, the shop replaced its Davis press with a Ryobi perfector and added an A.B.Dick 9995 two-color press and an A.B.Dick 9975 perfector. He says it was a good time, because the economy was on a downturn and the shop was able to afford new equipment with low interest rates. The ability to do four-color work turned the shop around, he notes, making this upgrade one of his biggest successes as a manager.

“It pretty much gave us a name around here. It made people think about us,” he says—and it made him realize “We’re here to stay.”

The shop is still run by three employees, including St. Clair. It prints anything from office forms to full-color brochures and offers collating, perfect binding, stitching, cutting, perforating, folding and booklet making capabilities. Most work is received on digital files, and plates are burned on the 2340 digital platemaker, though some plates are still made with an optical platemaker. All jobs use silvermaster plates. The in-plant rarely outsources now, and in the past year has picked up outside business from non-profits and local groups.

“A lot of times I didn’t know what I was doing, so I would talk to people, research and try to figure it out,” he shares. “I spent many an hour of my own time figuring it out. And having a good crew to back you up is always a plus.”

St. Clair has been married for 24 years to his wife, Janet. They have two daughters, Latosha, 21, and Heather, 17. He says that most of his time away from the shop is spent doing things around the house and spending time with his family.