Innovations Abound In Washington

Numerous recent upgrades and service enhancements show why the Washington Department of Printing is one of the top 10 in-plants in the country.

by Bob Neubauer

When you sit down at the table in George Morton's office at the Washington State Department of Printing, you get the feeling there's nobody else he'd rather be talking to. His welcoming smile and direct eye contact make it clear that he really cares about the people he's with.

Perhaps that's why Morton, director of the Department of Printing for the past four years, is so popular among his 160 employees—he's concerned about them. In fact, he visits as many of them as he can each day to find out what's on their minds. When it comes to customers, his concerns are just as genuine.

"The most critical thing is to listen to your customers," he explains. "What does the customer want? What can we do to make them successful?"

The answers to those questions have been pretty clear in the department's actions over the past few months. New equipment and new services have made it easier for customers to do business with the Olympia, Wash.-based in-plant.

Take its Internet storefront, for example. Spearheaded by Larry Weber, assistant director of information and document services, the storefront has allowed customers to order anything from business cards to publications for years now. Even so, the department felt it could streamline this service.

So recently, the online business card function was revamped so that jobs are sent directly from customers' computers to a Xerox 2060, instead of having to be typeset first for output on a Ryobi press. This is speeding up turnaround time, and keeping customers happy.

New Gear Increases Productivity

On the production floor, several new pieces of equipment have helped the department increase productivity. After the operation installed a new six-color Komori press last year, 2002 saw a new Duplo System 4000 collator arrive in the bindery, joined more recently by a new MBO folder.

"Before, we could only collate one job at a time," notes Dan Swisher, assistant director. "This [new collator] allows us to run our 30 bins either direction." For example, 20 bins can handle one job and 10 can do another, he says.

Of the folder he remarks: "It allows you to program in the settings, and all the operator has to do is push the buttons. There's no manual setup."

In the prepress area, as the Department of Printing prepares to move to a computer-to-plate workflow, it has brought in a Creo Brisque 4 RIP. It can RIP multiple jobs at the same time, greatly improving efficiency.

Design Services Added

One of the department's most successful new ventures has been the addition of design services. After customers requested the in-plant to start handling design, the department put one of its staff members in charge of it. Very soon she was overwhelmed. So the department recently added a second designer. Business has been booming.

"They've responded unbelievably," Morton says of the customers.

Mostly, he adds, this is because state agencies, operating under a state budget deficit and hiring freeze, can use the in-plant's designers instead of their own, and then reallocate their own resources.

Convenience Plus Productivity

Having in-house designers provides convenience for customers looking for one-stop shopping, while increasing the in-plant's productivity by reducing design problems.

"We're designing all the work to fit our machinery," explains Swisher. The department is promoting its design services in its customer newsletter.

Another customer service enhancement has been the implementation of the shop floor data collection function of the department's Avanti system.

"It allows us to better track time on each job," notes Swisher. "It also allows our customer service reps to go in and see how a job's progressing through the plant." Then they can quickly update customers.

Though the state's hiring freeze and halt on new equipment purchases may have slowed the Department of Printing's plans somewhat, its customer focus clearly remains as strong as ever.