Losing Weight Is A Growing Business

THOSE LOOKING for a feel-good in-plant story, or to get back on track with a New Year's resolution, should listen up. Medifast, a portion-controlled, weight management program, is quickly becoming a leader in a competitive market. And according to Kent Hunter, supervisor at the company's Ridgely, Md.-based in-plant, MDC Printing, the various in-house services the shop provides are a key to the company's success.

"I feel like I am on the ground floor of IBM," Hunter declares. "The way this place is growing is incredible. The budget is open for the print shop and the management is very supportive."

Last year, Forbes listed Medifast at number 16 on its list of The 200 Best Small Companies, citing sales of $127 million. Medifast Meals come in individual packets and are available in a variety of foods and flavors. They are mixed with water and can be microwaved or refrigerated. They are marketed as being quick and easy to prepare, and as a healthy fast food alternative for people with busy lifestyles.

"The management realizes that we are giving them a 40 percent savings, not to mention the logistical issues of having to go out and buy print, and then moving it here and warehousing it," Hunter notes. "We can print what they need that day and get it out the door."

MDC Printing generates 95 percent of the printed material the company uses, including about 50 different guides, pamphlets, brochures and flyers. The company typically sends out more than 15,000 order forms every week.

"We send an order form with everything," Hunter points out. "Everything that goes out of this building has an order form stuck in it."

In fact, during the phone interview for this article, an in-plant employee walked into Hunter's office to let him know they were out of order forms.

"I know we had 6,000 on the shelf when I got here today, and we've gone through them already," Hunter says with a laugh. "We have a high and quick turnover of work."

Fast Acting In-plant

The Medifast product catalog recently had to be edited to include a newly marketed brownie product, Hunter says, causing the in-plant to jump into action. It produced thousands of updated catalogs and had them ready for the launch of the new product.

Hunter describes Medifast as being a fast-paced, no-nonsense company that expects and gets the best out of its employees. The fully digital in-plant consists of a Xerox iGen3, a recently installed Xerox iGen4, a Konica bizhub PRO 1050 and a 42˝ HP Designjet Z3200ps wide-format printer. The shop is also home to a full complement of bindery equipment, including a recently added used 36˝ Polar cutter.

"Xerox had a very large footprint in this shop," Hunter contends. "The iGen4 was sold to us as being able to be 20-30 percent more productive because it doesn't have to be calibrated and doesn't need as many developer changes and other operator duties. And we had operators that already had iGen4 experience."

Medifast brochures typically are 16 or 32 pages, and are saddle stitched. "The iGen4 has really fit in well with the type of printing that we are producing: full-color brochures on coated paper," Hunter explains.

Every month the in-plant pro–duces 300,000 9x6˝ direct mail postcards, which include variable data information. It also handles smaller variable data jobs, including personalized mailings for the Medifast weight control centers. Recently, the shop did about 4,000 mailers for a new center in Maryland.

"We handle a lot of repetitive work for existing customers as well as outreach and marketing campaigns to recruit new customers," Hunter confides. "For in-plant shops, unless you are a huge company like Best Buy or something, digital is the way to go."

A Veteran In-plant Manager

The shop's 12 employees run two shifts; Patty Neubaum supervises the first shift, while the second shift is managed by Hunter, a veteran in-plant manager. They report to Operations Manager John Murphy.

For the past dozen years, Hunter was the manager of Printing and Mailing Services at Prince George's Community College. After a brief, three-month retirement, he was contacted by Medifast about a part-time position in the pressroom, which he accepted.

"I was getting a little burned out at the college, and things were becoming very routine," Hunter admits. "This is a much different environment. There is a big difference from a school-based environment and a private manufacturing-based environment. It has been challenging, but it is fun, and I am having a good time here."

Within two months at Medifast, Hunter was back to working full-time, and was promoted to supervisor of the newly created second shift. In July 2009, a local commercial printer downsized, and the in-plant picked up some experienced employees. The additional employees came aboard at a very opportune time for the company, allowing Medifast to open up a second shift without having to do much training.

"There has been a screaming jump in volume," Hunter maintains. "Last year we hit 31 million and I can see us exceeding that by 30-40 percent this coming year, because last year we only had a second shift running for six months."

Jobs are printed on an ongoing basis after they are designed by the in-house marketing department. The in-plant typically will print runs of 5,000 to 10,000 at a time.

"We are an integral part of the Medifast team, and the management realizes that," Hunter says. "And that is a rarity in this day and age. It is very rare that you see a manufacturing company that is so supportive of an in-plant. It is usually schools or government shops that receive this kind of support."

The in-plant also insources printing work from a local tourism board, municipalities and religious groups. Insourcing currently makes up about 10 percent of the shop's work. Hunter points out that the in-plant recently produced annual reports for the Archdiocese of Baltimore and the Catholic Family Foundation, both of which were four-color jobs.

"You can't slouch on an annual report; they are a company's premier piece," Hunter notes.

Quality is also a concern for the shop's internal customers, Hunter says, which can be tricky when working with food items that have to look crisp and appetizing in print.

"Any printer can tell you that when you print menus or anything with food, it's one of the hardest things to print," Hunter contends. "We just did a new recipe book and it has high-end photography. We had to ensure that the photos of the shakes and the puddings looked like the shakes and the puddings in print."

Hunter notes that the shop tries to be as environmentally friendly as possible, using Domtar FSC-certified paper and by recycling paper and cardboard. Medifast also plans to place a blurb in its publications to tout the in-plant's "green" initiatives.

While the shop does a partial chargeback, it does not price out internal work on a regular basis. Third-party work, however, is priced out, Hunter says. The shop also offers photography services to its customers, as well as typesetting, graphic design, CD/DVD duplication and thermal printing of CD/DVDs.

Hunter concludes that he is thankful to be at a growing company at a time when much of the news that he hears involves downsizing.

"It's nice to be at a place that is looking to expand, and the shop is now looking to get more square footage," he says. "It's not what you usually hear about in this recessionary age. You've got to have the support of management or you aren't going to go anywhere. I feel very lucky."