More Responsibility, More Savings

In his 18 years with the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, Domenic Vallone has consolidated and strengthened the printing and mailing operations.

When he started at St. Joseph's College in Philadelphia in 1971, Domenic Vallone had never given printing much thought. But since he was attending school on a work scholarship, he willingly accepted his assignment to the print shop.

"I would go to classes, and then I would go there and spend three hours a day collating and delivering," he recalls. He didn't mind the work, but he admits "I don't think I would have picked printing if I had been given a choice."

Today, however, after 18 years as manager of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia's in-plant, Vallone is more than happy with his career.

"I love it," he proclaims. "It's what I do. I'm a printer."

Since he started at the Jewish Federation, a fund-raising organization that distributes money to local social service agencies, Vallone has gained many additional responsibilities, such as mailing and purchasing. In the process he has helped streamline and strengthen his operation.

A member of the International Publishing Management Association, Vallone has earned his Certified Graphic Communication Manager certification and has given presentations at several IPMA national conferences.

Vallone was born in Philadelphia, but moved to New Jersey with his family as a child. He started at St. Joseph's College (now University) in 1971 in the liberal arts program, but his career as a student was cut short when his father passed away. In need of a job, he found a full-time opening in the print shop where he was working part time. He started in the bindery and then became a press operator before eventually being promoted to assistant manager.

While at the university, Vallone took numerous evening classes in theology. He was not preparing for a career change, he says, rather he was just broadening his understanding of religion, a topic that has always interested him.

After about eight years at St. Joseph's in-plant, Vallone left to teach at the Philadelphia School of Printing and Advertising. In 1982 he was hired to manage the Jewish Federation's printing department.

Though he initially had 12 employees in the printing area alone, a lot of consolidation took place over the years, and Vallone was asked to take on additional departments. Today his operation employs just nine people and he oversees not only printing but mailing, messengers, purchasing and the volunteers who help out at the Jewish Federation.

"Downsizing made sense," Vallone says. "There were just too many people doing too many things."

He says he is glad he took over mailing because it caused him to rethink the printing process.

"That allowed me to save the organization money by being able to design a piece with a mind toward the finished piece in the mail and what it would cost in postage," he says.

Similarly, he was happy to take on purchasing because he was comfortable dealing with outside printers and could specify job requirements in printing terms. This allows him to get the best prices and save money.

Though he has always reported his expenses, detailing how much he saves the organization, Vallone's operation recently experienced its biggest challenge when the Jewish Federation decided to move its offices. Realizing that it would be difficult to give the in-plant space in the new building, upper management decided to take a close look at the shop. Vallone suggested bringing in an outside consultant to decide, once and for all, if the shop was worth keeping.

To complicate matters, Vallone was appointed move coordinator, in charge of facilitating the move of every department—except his own. Then, in the middle of the in-plant evaluation, he had a heart attack, which forced him to take extended sick leave.

In the end, though, the report came back positive, and the Jewish Federation decided to keep the in-plant. Vallone speculates that the shop will have to be located in a separate building.

Vallone says working for a Jewish organization sometimes presents challenges for a printer. For example, in the Jewish faith, anything that contains the word "God" cannot be thrown away. Called "Shamos," this material must be respectfully buried in a Jewish cemetery. For this reason all waste material printed during job setup must be collected. To avoid this situation, printed material often uses "G-D" in place of "God," he says.

While recovering at home from his heart attack, Vallone has been able to spend more time with his wife and three children. He's had to reduce his involvement with the soup kitchen that he helps run in Camden, N.J., however. Vallone founded the organization, called Cathedral Kitchen, in 1976 and serves as its president.

-Bob Neubauer